Article Images
Content deleted Content added
m |
|||
Line 78: The [[Royal Spanish Football Federation|Real Federación Española de Fútbol]] ''(English: Royal Spanish Football Federation)'' was founded in 1909 and became affiliated with [[FIFA]] in 1913. However, the national team did not play a full international match until 1920 when they beat [[Denmark national football team|Denmark]] 1–0 in the Olympic Games. Their first appearance at a major finals was the [[1934 FIFA World Cup|1934 World Cup]], for which they [[1934 FIFA World Cup qualification|qualified]] after 9–0 and 2–1 wins over [[Portugal national football team|Portugal]]. They beat [[Brazil national football team|Brazil]] 3–1 in the first round, before losing 1–0 in a replay to hosts, and eventual champions [[Italy national football team|Italy]] in [[Florence]]. On 3 May 1936 Spain beat [[Switzerland national football team|Switzerland]] 2–0 in [[Bern]], in what would prove to be their last game until after the [[Spanish Civil War]] in 1941. They would then play only against similarly politically-aligned countries, or Switzerland, [[Republic of Ireland national football team|Republic of Ireland]] and Portugal, neutral during World War II until 1949 when they drew 1–1 with [[Belgium national football team|Belgium]] and re-entered FIFA competition. ===The Post-Civil War National Team=== ===The Post-Civil War National Team===legs to advance to the [[UEFA]]/[[CAF]] play-off where they would beat [[Morocco national football team|Morocco]] 4–2 over two legs to advance to the finals.▼ The [[Spanish Civil War]] and World War II prevented Spain from playing any competitive matches between the 1934 World Cup and the [[1950 FIFA World Cup|1950 World Cup]] [[1950 FIFA World Cup qualification|qualifiers]], where they overcame Iberian rivals [[Portugal national football team|Portugal]], who later declined an invitation to take part, with a 5–1 win and 2–2 draw. At the finals in Brazil, they topped their group against [[England national football team|England]], [[Chile national football team|Chile]] and the [[United States men's national soccer team|United States]] to progress to the final round.
For the first, and so far only time in the history of the FIFA World Cup, the winner was decided, not by a single championship match, but via a group format involving the four teams who had won their respective groups in the previous stage. The four teams in the final group were [[Uruguay national football team|Uruguay]], [[Brazil national football team|Brazil]], [[Sweden national football team|Sweden]] and Spain. Spain failed to record a win (W0 D1 L2) and finished in fourth place. Until 2010, this had been Spain's highest finish in a FIFA World Cup finals, which had given them the name of the "underachievers." Spain's leading scorer during the 1950 World Cup was striker [[Estanislao Basora]], who ended the tournament with five goals. Under French-Argentine coach [[Helenio Herrera]] and Italian assistant coach Daniel Newlan, Spain came out of dormancy to qualify for the first [[1960 European Nations' Cup|European Championship]] in 1960. Spain beat [[Poland national football team|Poland]] 7–2 on aggregate to progress to the quarterfinals. However, Spain forfeited its quarterfinal tie with the Soviet Union because of political disagreements between Spain's dictator [[Francisco Franco|Franco]] and the Soviets. ▲ ===José Villalonga Era and the 1964 European champions=== | |||