BOOK PREVIEW: MUD, BLOOD & STUDS BY JAMES BROWN

[Note: Here, below, my good friend James Brown provides a synopsis of his newly published book, Mud, Blood and Studs, One Family's Legacy in Soccer and Rugby Across Three Continents. Primarily a story about his grandfather and fathers footballing legacy its much more than that. Its an ode to an extraordinary family of sporting talent.

I've been collaborating with James for a few years now and he gives me some credit in helping him with his research for his book, specifically around the 1930 US team but its perhaps more credit than I deserve but thats James for you, very kind and humble and one of the most generous people I have ever met. - Dean Lockyer, World Cup 1930 Project]

 

 

I embarked on this adventure some 6 long years ago. At year 5, I met my good friend Dean, and he was already deep entrenched by the mystique of the 1930 World Cup since years. I was eager to find out about the careers that I grew up hearing stories about. I needed to see photos, articles, programmes. Whatever I could. I had just jumped in with both feet, searching worldwide everywhere I could to find out information on every member of my sporting family over 3 different generations of football and rugby players: libraries in Bayonne and Plainfield, New Jersey; online archives & British Newspaper sources; English & Scottish Premiership & other league clubs like Plainfield Soccer Club, Bayonne Rovers, Newark Skeeters, NY Giants, Brooklyn Wanderers, Newark Americans, Newark City, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, Brentford, Guildford City, Clyde, Ipswich Town, Glenburn Rovers, Shawfield, Clyde, Hibernian, Dundee, Dreghorn Juniors, Kilmarnock, Troon Athletic, Partick Thistle, Chester, Swindon Town, Lovell's Athletic, Distillery (N. Ireland) and national junior and senior team sides in the United States, England and Scotland. Then over to the rugby side of the Brown and Lambie families with Jonsson College Rovers, West of Scotland, Natal, Sharks, Guy's, Kings and St. Thomas' Rugby Football Club, Sharks, Racing 92, Gala, Western Province, Marr College FP, Glasgow District, England, Scotland, South Africa Springboks, British and Irish Lions…That’s an extensive and proud list. 

6 years-worth - a mountain of research articles, documents, photos, books, etc. 

Family letters, photos and albums, interviews, memories and recollections were essential to collect, arrange and weave into this story that I spent 6 fantastic years working on. Along the way, I’ve made wonderful friendships throughout the world on all continents with soccer geeks, kindred spirit,  passionate men and women for all walks of life – but all linked to association foot-ball, soccer, football, etc – to The Beautiful Game. While I went on a search for any online references or through collections, online sales – I stumbled upon a podcast where a roundtable was taking place, talking about early US soccer and that’s when I first heard Tom McCabe and David Kilpatrick, both professors at the time in the NY/NJ area. David was talking about players’ rights and that he had a paper somewhere in his neatly organized mess of an office! And that is was about the NY Giants in 1930 having gone on strike because of pay concerns and that a young lad by the name of James Brown was the only player on the team who didn’t agree with the settled amount.  

To learn more about America’s rich soccer history, go to The Society for American Soccer History

I quickly made contact with both of them and from there, learned more about The Society for American Soccer History (S.A.S.H) and their efforts to revitalize, correct, do more research and help to educate those who wanted to know about US soccer’s rich history dating back to the 1880s. The other major reason for diving into US soccer history was coming across SASH member, Zach Bigalke’s PhD thesis called, “Anything but Ringers”, a deep analysis about the soccer lanscape in the 1920s building up to the 1930 World Cup and the US Men’s National Team with my grandfather being one of those players. The thought was that since the US was not a big player on the recent international stage (2 dismal showing at the Olympic Games 1924 and 1928) and not getting out of the pool rounds. Their run in the 1930 World Cup that got them out of the pool stage at the top of the table with 2 cleansheet wins against Belgium and Paraguay to the semis and ending with a crushing, unjust loss to Argentina, was acccentuated with suspicions because of USMNT’s drastic change in performance and british accents. Hence, federations and reporters thought the US bought their way to 3rd place, when in fact, the US players with Scottish and English origins had actually lived in the US since their teens, with my grandfather being the last immigrant to join the team when he moved to the US in 1927. Their accents always remained. You can take a man out of Scotland but you can never take Scotland out of the man!   

I must confess that once soccer moved into color from a photography perspective, I kind of stopped being interested, so from 1960 onwards! My main focus is from 1920s to the end of the 1950s. It was a period where sandlots were the main recruiting terraces and strong waves of immigration helped bolster leagues, especially on the East Coast. Balls were made of heavy leather and laced up causing a bump and often inflicting damage when heading, even-more-so when it rained the ball became a medicine ball waiting to send you to the emergency room or asylum for an early retirement – just ask Wee Willie! Boots were tough, heavy and felt like today’s security steel-toed boots.  You had to be tough, determined and ready to win at all costs back then. With S.A.S.H, I find so much joy in helping individuals or historical soccer societies find out more about their past players or relatives who played in the 1920s, ‘30s, etc or journalists who need some help gathering more info for a story.  

I’ve worked with people from North and South America to EU (Western & Eastern Europe), UK, South Africa and North Africa I’ve found my stride in researching backgrounds of players and I get such a rush from unraveling that little bit of info, photo etc that completes the puzzle of one’s career back in the day. Roger Alaway, the foremost US soccer historian recently referred to me as the Sherlock Holmes of Soccer! That’s a compliment that I can run with and I feel so fortunate to have kindred spirit in the soccer history world. Dean does some of the most in-depth analysis of the 1930 World Cup overall, and I’m astounded by what he finds and posts every week on Twitter and on his blog. I owe so much of what I know today because of him and it’s great to collaborate with him.  Whenever I send him an email with an item or tidbit I’ve come across, I always start off saying “you probably already have this…” and 9 times out of 10 he already had it!  

James with son, Aidan, in Paris, 2019

So, what started off as a pure family tree set of papers that I wanted to assemble for my son, Aidan so that he knew where he came from, from a sporting perspective, turned into something bigger, better and gave me a new focus in life. He now has a definitive look at the paternal side of the Brown. Soccer has always been in my blood and I’m just so happy to be able to share my love for the the Beautiful Game with you all and collaborate, exchange ideas and help resolve those mysteries from early periods of soccer. The main challenge in the US is finding family’s of former players to see what was passed down; see the state of preservation and help the family understand what their options are for the collection and then organize with museums, private collectors, universities, etc. 

In any event, I look forward working on 2 more books about the USMNT for 2026 and am so happy to be able to give back to a sport that I cherish so! 

You can buy the book in hardcover or Ebook - Kindle - through the following distribution points

UK – delivery already started since Sept. 1

https://www.pitchpublishing.co.uk/shop/mud-blood-and-studs

North & South America – Amazon.com (Delivery starts Dec. 1, 2022) 

Amazon.com

If you need any research help about soccer teams, clubs, players, federations – don’t hesitate to contact me on Twitter @ 1930WorldCup or by email at robyburns@hotmail.com. Of course, Dean is always keen as well digging for 1930 World Cup research, especially when relatives of players from that World Cup contact us. 

Five Facts You May Not Know About The 1930 World Cup - Part 9

 @WC1930blogger

1. The Romanian team formed a choir among the players while on their travels to Montevideo. During the train journey through Italy they impressed the Italian passengers with a rendition of 'Giovinezza' the official anthem of Mussolini's National Fascist Party.

2. During Brazil's first training session at the Pocitos stadium one of their footballs was kicked over the wire fence and had fallen into the wasteland, where some local boys grabbed it and disappeared, before any them could reach it. Given that the ball was of little value, and the difficulty of identification in a working class neighborhood, delegation chief Afranio Costa resigned himself to the loss. As there were, however, a lot of people around the camp, he was very upset that no one helped. Days later, to the Brazilians great surprise, the ball appeared at their Hotel, sent by the chief of police, who in an attentive letter told us that he had learned of the fact by people who attended the incident, had ordered a rigorous search in the immediate vicinity, where they seized the ball for its return.

3. On the outskirts of the city of Montevideo after 6 pm stood many store fronts where could be found queues of men awaiting their turn outside the brothels in what was considered controlled prostitution. To the surprise of the leaders of the Yugoslav delegation they witnessed some of their players in the queue. Not wanting to cause a scene they waited until the next day to warn the team about the dangers of such proclivities.

4. During the Brazil vs. Bolivia match, French referee Georges Balvay stopped the game in the 8th minute unable to distinguish between the white shirts that both teams wore. The Bolivians changed into the sky blue jerseys of the Uruguayan national team. However, the talents of the Olympic champions did not rub off on the men from the Andean nation as they lost 4-0.

5. In the 77th minute of the Paraguay vs Belgium game, Lino Nessi, forward for the South American team clashed with the goal post when he tried to go for a rebound ball after a save from Belgian keeper Badjou. Knocked unconscious there were grave concerns for his health as he was led to the infirmary.

Five Facts You May Not Know About the 1930 World Cup - Part 7

@WC1930blogger

1. The French Football Federation defined the features of the insurance covering the delegates and the players travelling to the 1930 World Cup. It was decided that for the players and the officials who are married, the payment in the event of death will be increased to 100,000 francs. The daily allocation for all will be 30 francs, and the amount of the bonus will be 350 francs per person.

2. The Mexican press questioned the selection process of the 'National' team since all players were from the Capital but it was practical for these amateur players with their training camp at Parque Necaxa. All players arose at 6 am, trained till 8:30 followed by breakfast before leaving for their day jobs. Returned to camp at 5pm for lectures. Had dinner at 8pm before retiring to bed. 

3. US team manager W.R. Cummings, former Secretary to Robert Lincoln, son of Abe, described the field at Parque Central as '... being a bed of wet sticky clay with pools of water too numerous to count.' The US team strategy of using long wing passes was most effective in their opening day 3-0 victory over the short passing tactics of Belgium.

4. Brazilian forward Preguinho scored the first header in World Cup history in his nation's 2-1 defeat to Yugoslavia on 14th July 1930.

CORRECTION: After further discussion it was Bert Patenaude who scored the 1st headed goal in World Cup history (13 July) vs Belgium in the 89th minute in their 3-0 victory & not Preguinho (14 July, vs Yugoslavia.) Source: La Prensa (14/7/30)

5. Two Canillitas (newspaper vendors), both disabled, made a great sacrifice to watch Argentina play Uruguay in the World Cup Final. Alfonso Lloner and Antonio Pizzano left their home city of Rosario for Sante Fe where they crossed the river by raft to Parana. They made their way to Concordia and crossed Uruguay by train via Salto, Paysandu, Fray Bentos before finally arriving in Montevideo. 

Romania, France and Belgium: The Journey To The 1930 World Cup

Twitter: @WC1930blogger 

James Brown @1930WorldCup interviews various experts in the fields of history and journalism to tell the story of the journey of the European teams onboard the S.S.Conte Verde and it's transatlantic sea voyage to the first World Cup in Uruguay. The story of Romania, France and Belgium is explored as part of the 90th anniversary for the 1930 World Cup Conference @1930Cup

Interview with untold anecdotes about @1930WorldCup EU departures on the Conte Verde (@StanJoe13) for @hai_romania, @equipedefrance, and @BelRedDevils by leading historians @stefan_vanloock, Paul Dietschy, and sports journalist, Răzvan Luţac.https://t.co/pRwZnBVZkj

— 1930 US Soccer (@1930WorldCup) June 23, 2020

Match Report - Brazil vs Bolivia; Paraguay vs Belgium (English translation from La Nacion)

@WC1930blogger

This match report covers the two games that were played one after the other on the 20th July between Brazil-Bolivia and Paraguay-Belgium at the Estadio Centenario.

Written by an anonymous reporter (most likely South American) working for cable news agency this clipping was published in the Madrid based La Nacion (21 July 1930). You can the read original report here.

All contributions are welcome to help improve the translation of this report which was interpreted via google.

Note: There are discrepancies with the spelling with some of the players' names and the identity of the goalscorers.

FutRetrô da Copa

Foi em 20 de Julho de 1930, que o Brasil conseguiu a sua primeira vitória em Copas do Mundo. Venceu a Bolívia por 4 a 0 no Estádio Centenário.

Os gols foram de Moderato 27,73, Preguinho 58 e 83... pic.twitter.com/fY7lQM9ZNH

— Luiz Otavio Oliveira📝⚽📷 (@lotaviooliveira) July 20, 2018

Brazil and Paraguay were the winners yesterday

MONTEVIDEO 21.-Yesterday, Sunday, two games were played for the world soccer championship, between the teams of Brazil and Bolivia and those of Paraguay and Belgium.

In the first game, the Brazilians won by four goals to one. Paraguay was the winner over Belgium, by a little to zero. (Associated Press.)

The superiority of Brazil

MONTEVIDEO 21.-In the first half of the game played between the teams of Brazil and Bolivia passed without great interest, although the Brazilians showed from the first moment to have a greater technique than their enemies.

Minutes after the game started, it was noted that the public was confused about the players that belonged to each team, because of the equality of the shirts, which were white for all players. In view of this, the match was interrupted, so that the Bolivians could change their uniforms. When they returned to the field they wore the blue jersey of the Uruguayan teams. The public, seeing the Bolivians appear dressed in such fashion, burst into a standing ovation.

Resumed the game, the game continued to develop without plays of great interest. Twenty-seven minutes into the first half, the Brazilian player Reco scored the first goal of the match.

The first half ended with a goal by the Brazilians, against their opponents.

🇧🇷 Moderato (1930)

Marcó sus 2 únicos goles a Bolívia en la fase grupos. Nacido en Alegrete y fallecido en Pelotas (al revés que el resto de humanos) jugó con el Flamengo días después de ser operado de apendicitis. Todavía llevaba los puntos puestos. Ahí nació su leyenda. pic.twitter.com/2Ax5efVhmc

— Cascarino (@cascarinos_) July 12, 2018

The Brazilians showed more dominance and technique throughout the game than the Bolivians, a domain that grew as the game went on, despite the enthusiasm shown by the Bolivian players. Coelhonetto played magnificently, proving to be the most effective striker of the Brazilian team, marking the second and third goal in favour of his team. The fourth goal of the Brazilians was marked by Wisintainer. The match ended with the victory of the Brazilian team, by four goals to one.

The match was attended by some fifteen thousand people. The weather (*) somewhat tarnished the game, it was dishevelled and cold .- (Associated Press.)

*Thank you to Ken Knight for this correction. See comments below.

Paraguayans and Belgians, bored.

MONTEVIDEO 21.-The second match of the afternoon was held between the teams of Paraguay and Belgium. The Paraguayan team lined up in the following way: Benítez; Flores, Olmedo; Benítez, Diaz, Garcete; Nessi, Romero González, Benítez Cáceres and Vargas Peña.

The Belgian team was composed of Badjón; Hoydonck, Dedecken; Braine, Hallemans, Moesenbal; Versyp, Delbeque, Nowens, Adams and Diden.

The Belgians started the first half with repeated attacks against the Paraguayan goal, whose defence acted well. However, shortly thereafter, midway through the second half, the forces remained balanced, after which a reaction was observed by the Paraguayan team, which twice put the Belgian gate in imminent danger.

The right wing of the Paraguayan team Nessi, at the moment of trying to score a goal, was given, driven by the impulse, a violent blow to the head against the post, falling to the ground vanished. The Paraguayans continued the game with only ten players on the field.

The public showed little interest in the game, withdrawing much of the competition before the end. The match ended with the victory of the Paraguayans by a goal against zero.

The only goal of the match was scored by Benítez Cáceres, thirty-seven minutes after the first half had started.

Although the Paraguay-Belgium party aroused little enthusiasm, it has been considered as a technical demonstration .- (Associated Press.)

#MundialesFIFA Belgica vs Paraguay en #Uruguay1930 / Ese dia los guaraníes ganaron 1-0. (Montevideo 20-07-1930). pic.twitter.com/fAdxX0Ln7Y

— Andrés Barinas (@AndresBarinas18) October 22, 2013

Match Reports: US vs Belgium & France vs Mexico (English translation from Heraldo de Madrid)

@WC1930blogger

This is an English translation of the match reports that appeared in the Spanish newspaper, El Heraldo de Madrid, on 14th July 1930, from the Associated Press, the press agency from the United States. The authors of the article are anonymous but are most likely South American journalist working on behalf of the American company. You can read the original match report in Spanish here. I have used google translate for this document and therefore may not be perfect in its translation. I have tried to keep to this translation but where there may be confusion I have offered my own interpretation. 

El Heraldo de Madrid, 14 July 1930.

US @ussoccer_mnt vs Belgium @BelRedDevils, 13 July 1930, at the first @FIFAWorldCup, #Montevideo, @Uruguay. The Americans ran out 3-0 winners, with goals by Bart McGhee, Tom Florie & Bert Patenaude. @USSoccerHistory @1930WorldCup #WC1930 #Mundial1930 pic.twitter.com/r9twFGBv62

— worldcup1930project (@WC1930blogger) March 5, 2018

THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP OF FOOTBALL:

MONTEVIDEO 13.- In the match for the football world championship played yesterday afternoon in the Stadium of this capital, between the teams of France and Mexico, the first one won by four goals against one .-- Associated Press

MONTEVIDEO 13.-In the game played yesterday afternoon between the team of the United States and the team of Belgium for the world football championship the United States scored three goals against zero their opponents. Associated Press

MONTEVIDEO 14.-With attendance of numerous public have begun the eliminatory matches for the world soccer championship.

They play, in first term (game?), the American and Belgian teams, the first of which has developed magnificent game, winning by three to zero, and showing a greater knowledge of the technique than its opponents.

The Belgians played a very fast game, which was, however, counteracted by the Americans, who shot very well, excelling in both times the extreme (winger) and the right inside. The defenses of both squads were deficient and only the good game of the Belgian goalkeeper stood out.

In the first half the forces were leveled, but since the second half began the American team showed a great super quality, which justified its triumph from three to zero, also standing out in this time the extreme (winger) and the inside right. In this second part (half) the Americans scored the goals for the far left, Mac Ghee, in brilliant and fortunate plays, being very applauded.

He also played very well in this time the right half. In general the defenses of the teams were bad and the forwards played well, being observed in the course of the game that neither of the two teams knows how to finish the plays.

At the end of the match, the critics who attend the tournament and who attended the Amsterdam Olympiad said that the current Belgian team is much lower than the one that played in that in 1928.

It can be predicted that the Paraguayans, who with the Americans and the Belgians form the fourth group, will easily defeat these two opponents and will be classified as winners of the series, since they surpass both teams.

The game between Americans and Belgians was developed without incidents or brusqueness, and the audience was produced correctly. Twenty thousand spectators attended.

Este estadio de Pocitos es famoso, pues aquí se convirtió en 1930 el 1er gol en un Campeonato Mundial de Fútbol. Lo marcó el francés Lucien Laurent en la victoria 4-1 sobre México. pic.twitter.com/c99AlmnIKE

— Viejos Estadios (@ViejosEstadios) March 8, 2018

In another field the eliminatory match between France and Mexico was also played, which was developed with very little assistance from the public. It would not exceed four thousand the total number of spectators, as the fans preferred to witness the United States - Belgium meeting, which had aroused greater interest in the nature of the competitors.

Both the Mexicans and the French played with great enthusiasm, although without good technique, although the French team proved to be far superior to the Mexican and have greater knowledge of the game.

The French superiority was evidenced in the final score, which threw four goals in favor of the French for one on the Mexican scoreboard, despite having played the French team almost the entire game with only ten players, because the team goalkeeper was injured, Thelpot (Thepot), shortly after having started the game, being replaced by the left half, Chantrel.

In general the game lacked good plays, and at times was very violent, becoming denaturalized the character of the meeting by the fury with which both teams developed their game.

Both the French and the Mexicans proved to be technically very inferior to any South American international team, especially the Mexican team, which played a completely primitive game, acting with absolute lack of any organization, which they tried to replace with a waste of enthusiasm.

Of the Mexican team the only one that was good was the goalkeeper, Bonfiglio. For the rest, the team has no defenses or attack line. The French were equally weak in the defense, owing their triumph to the work of the strikers, who, although not very regular, were outstanding and brilliant compared to the Mexicans, and gave them the victory.

However, the extremes (wingers) stood out in the winning team.

Associated Press

Soccernostalgia Podcast Part 1 - Mexico, Bolivia & Belgium

@WC1930blogger

This is part one of a three-part podcast I did with Shahan Petrossian from the Soccernostalgia blog on the subject of the first World Cup. In order to make this interview as different as possible from the podcast with the Yesteryear Footy Pod, we had agreed upon a different format where we discuss each of the individual teams in the order in which they finished in the rankings i.e. from 13th to 1st. This would me allow to include topics not discussed in the previous aforementioned podcast. In part one we discuss Mexico, Bolivia and Belgium.

Summary

Beginning with Mexico we discuss the teams' long travel itinerary, anecdotal evidence with regard to the limited education of some of the players and their training regime on board the SS Munargo. Other items include the low expectations of this very young team and of the motivating tactics of their coach Juan Luque Serralonga. There is also a brief focus of one of Mexico's star players, Juan Carreno, and his on and off the field antics. We then review Mexico's matches against France (which include the 1st World Cup goal); Chile (1st World Cup own goal) and Argentina, a game in which there are some discrepancies on how many penalties were actually awarded. 

Moving on to Bolivia we discuss the general lack of information that has been published on this team. And how only recently has new information come to light on their pre-World Cup preparations and journey to Montevideo which coincided with an ongoing coup in the Andean nation. We then take a closer look at Ulises Saucedo, the coach and World Cup referee and his possible connection to Arsenal. We then discuss the reasons why Bolivian players wore letters on their shirts which spelt out 'VIVA URUGUAY' before moving on to their matches against Yugoslavia and Brazil.

We then conclude with Belgium and their journey to Montevideo and how much of what we know comes from the accounts given by the Belgian ref, John Langenus and goalkeeper, Arnold Badjou. Despite their training regime on board the SS Conte Verde some of the players gained weight. We also look at Belgium's selection issues, especially with regard to their star man, Raymond Braine, and how this left them lacking in their attack and as we discuss their defeats against the United States and Paraguay, this affected their ability to be potent in front of goal. 

FIFA Articles Related to 1930 World Cup

In the interest of trying to collect and gather articles and online resources related to the first World Cup in one place for anyone that wants to research the competition in Uruguay in 1930 are links to four articles from FIFA's website. All published in 2016.

Better to travel hopefully than to arrive?

Journey's end for Belgium's beach boys

Centenario Celebrations set the tone

Castro's clincher secures Celeste's crown

1930 World Cup Group 4 Paraguay - Belgium (Joefa's World Cup History)

This is a youtube video of Paraguay v Belgium by Joefa's World Cup History. This blogger helped provide photographic material for his project. Special thanks also to JC Blanc for providing material.
Go like, share and subscribe to his Youtube channel.

Read a Match Report in Spanish below:
La Nacion

1930 World Cup Group 4 USA - Belgium (Joefa's World Cup History)

A new youtube video from Joefa's World Cup History of the USA v Belgium game played on the 13th July 1930 and contains rarely seen photographs. Go and check out his channel and subscribe here:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLNEmInqFbG1gElv-OMCG0w

This blogger helped provide photographic material for his project. Special thanks also to JC Blanc for providing material.

Go like, share and subscribe to his Youtube channel.
You can find videos from later World Cups that contain unique film footage and photographs and great attention to detail.

Read match reports from newspapers of the day in Spanish and Portuguese languages:

El Heraldo de Madrid (Spain) 

A Batalha (Brazil)

20 July 1930 - (World Cup Group 2) Brazil v Bolivia; (World Cup Group 4) Paraguay v Belgium (Match Reports in La Nacion/Madrid)

La Nacion, 21 July 1930

This article includes two match reports of Brazil v Bolivia and Paraguay v Belgium, both played on the 20th July 1930 and published in the 21st July edition of Spanish language Madrid based newspaper La Nacion.

13 July 1930 - (World Cup Group 1) France v Mexico; (World Cup Group 4) USA v Belgium (Match Reports in El Heraldo de Madrid)

This is an article from the Spanish newspaper El Heraldo de Madrid, published on the 14 July 1930, and contains the match reports for USA v Belgium and France v Mexico, chronicled by the news agency, Associated Press.

USA v Belgium 3-0 Match Report in Brazilian newspaper A Batalha (World Cup 1930)

A Batalha, 15 July 1930, p7

This is a match report of the USA v Belgium game played on the 13 July 1930 and published in the Brazilian newspaper A Batalha. See France v Mexico report.

Belgie in het WK 1930 (Belgium in the World Cup 1930)

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