The United States' 1930 Post-World Cup friendly against Brazil - Part One

This is the first of a series of articles that will chronicle the Rio de Janeiro press coverage of the friendly international between Brazil and the United States that was played on the 17 August 1930. Although not directly related to the 1930 World Cup, I hope that it will enrich your knowledge of the two nations that played in Montevideo, Uruguay. It will deal with articles that previewed the game as well as match reports and photographs of those involved and the action on the field.

After the United States lost 6-1 to Argentina in the World Cup semi-final they played a series of friendlies before they returned to the US. Before they set sail for Brazil, they played twice in Montevideo, losing both to Nacional (2-1) and Penarol (4-1). Before they played the Brazilian national team, they had arrived in Santos and drew with Santos F.C. 3-3 on August 9th and then the next day in Sao Paulo they lost 5-3 to Sao Paulo F.C. The Americans were scheduled to play Botafogo F.C. on August 19th.

After their shock World Cup elimination to Yugoslavia, the Brazilians had organized three friendlies that included the US. On August 1st, they had defeated France 3-2, and then got some measure of revenge against Yugoslavia, 4-1, on August 10th.

The article above is from Diario da Noite, 15 August 1930. It informs it readers that the Americans, scheduled to play at Fluminense Stadium, on Sunday, were a team that plays football ''very unlike our own'', characterized by long wide passes. They play safe and even, they are a ''machine without alternatives''. When facing stronger opponents they may not be able to keep to the same rhythmic style in their play. They ''[a]re physically fit individuals'' who ''fight without discouragement and sustain the struggle throughout the fray.''

The article also notes their strong performances at the World Cup. Their victories over Belgium and Paraguay, both by 3-0, were well deserved according to local journalists, but they eventually ''succumbed to the powerful Argentine squad''.

The referee for the match will be Sr. Carlos Martins da Rocha, ''specially invited by Botafogo F.C.''. He was considered to be ''one of the best referees in Rio''.

The organizers of the match had discussed how to encourage those in the American colony in Rio, who were interested in attending the match, to buy their tickets in advance in order to get the best seats.

The article also list the provisional squad for the match selected by the Brazilian sports federation, the CBD:

Joel de Oliveira, Luiz Gervazoni, Jose Luis de Oliveira, Newton Barbosa, Alfredo de Almeida Rego, Carlos de Carvalho Leite, Joao Coelho Netto, Theophilo Bethencourt Perreira, Oswaldo de Barros Velloso, Antonio Ariza Filho, Benedicto Menezes, Nilo Murtinho Braga, Angenor Machado e Octacilo Pinheiro Guerra; Martin Mercio Silveira, Humberto de Araujo.

(It should be noted that the spelling of names differ from newspaper to newspaper)

The Americans pose for the Diario da Noite photographer in the lobby of their hotel in Sao Paulo. It is hard to determine the identity of many of the players in the grainy image. Bert Patenaude is on the right of the picture (sitting). Andy Auld is the first one on the left (sitting) and Bart McGhee is third from right (standing). Bob Millar is third from left (standing).

This photo shows Elmer Schroeder (left, sitting) and W. R. Cummings (middle, sitting), composing a greeting note to be published by Diario da Noite (displayed below).

Both images above were published in Diario da Noite, 16 August 1930

This is a transcript of the greeting note above, however, I was unable to decipher all but two words which are indicated by brackets, and if anyone knows what they read please leave a comment below.
UPDATE: Thanks to James Brown, grandson of US 1930 World Cup player, Jim Brown, for helping to decipher the text below.

To ''Diario da Noite'' of Rio,

The football delegation of North America look forward with great pleasure to [their] [visit] in Rio de Janeiro. We hope our games here will strengthen the bonds of friendship which already exist between Brazil and the United States of North America. We take this opportunity to thank the people of Brazil for the great kindness and many courtesies which have already been extended to us since we have been in this great South American Republic. We know we will be able to leave behind us as good an impression of South America as we carry away with us of the people of Brazil.

UNITED STATES FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION
W. R. Cummings and Elmer Schroeder (signatures)

8/11/30