Augusto Rangone

When we think of Italian managers in the pre war era the name of Vittorio Pozzo will, of course, forever dominate, leading the Azzuri on 95 occasions including 2 World Cup wins.
In the majority of other matches in this era the team was run by a group of coaches referred to as the Technical Committee. They were also overseen by Augusto Rangone for 24 matches, of which they won 12.
The Alessandria manager first contributed to the national scene in 1922 -24 as part of the Technical Committee (along with Umberto Meazza and Augusto Galletti, with Silva and Agostini also contributing for the game on 20.01.24).

03.12.22	Italy	2	2	Switzerland
01.01.23	Italy	3	1	Germany
04.03.23	Italy	0	0	Hungary
15.04.23	Austria	0	0	Italy
27.05.23	Czechoslovakia	5	1	Italy
20.01.24	Italy	0	4	Austria

This lack of success prompted the appointment of Pozzo as national coach, a position he held for 5 games, including the 1924 Olympic tournament.
In November 1924 the Technical Committee approach was given another try. This time Rangone, Milano and  Baccani formed the triumvirate.

16.11.24	Italy	2	2	Sweden
23.11.24	Germany	0	1	Italy
19.01.25	Italy	1	2	Hungary
22.03.25	Italy	7	0	France
14.06.25	Spain	1	0	Italy
18.06.25	Portugal	1	0	Italy

In November 1925 Rangone alone was entrusted with the running of the national side. Rangone contributed to the nations first 2 international honours- he oversaw the  first 50% of Italy's victorious Coupe Internationale européenne campaign of 1927-30 and led them to a Bronze medal at the 1928 Olympics.

04.11.25	Italy	2	1	Yugoslavia
08.11.25	Hungary	1	1	Italy
17.01.26	Italy	3	1	Czechoslovakia
21.03.26	Italy	3	0	Irish Free State
18.04.26	Switzerland	1	1	Italy
09.05.26	Italy	3	2	Switzerland
18.07.26	Sweden	5	3	Italy
28.10.26	Czechoslovakia	3	1	Italy
30.01.27	Switzerland	1	5	Italy
20.02.27	Italy	2	2	Czechoslovakia
17.04.27	Italy	3	1	Portugal
24.04.27	France	3	3	Italy
29.05.27	Italy	2	0	Spain
23.10.27	Czechoslovakia	2	2	Italy*
06.11.27	Italy	0	1	Austria*
01.01.28	Italy	3	2	Switzerland*
25.03.28	Italy	4	3	Hungary*
15.04.28	Portugal	4	1	Italy
22.04.28	Spain	1	1	Italy
29.05.28	France	3	4	Italy **
01.06.28	Italy	1	1	Spain **
04.06.28	Italy	7	1	Spain **
07.06.28	Italy	2	3	Uruguay **
09.06.28	Italy	11	3	Egypt **

*Coupe Internationale européenne
** Olympic Games 

As part of Technical Committee:

P	W	D	L	F	A
12	3	4	5	17	18

As sole coach/manager:

P	W	D	L	F	A
24	12	7	5	68	44

Umberto Caligaris

Umberto Caligaris was a full back  who played for Casale (1919-28), Juventus (1928-35) and Brescia (1935-37). He won 59 caps for Italy between 1922 and 1934. This remained the record number of caps for Italy until 1971. 
Caligaris won a bronze medal at the 1928 Olympics and was part of the Italy squad that won the Coupe Internationale européenne that concluded in 1930. He was picked for Italy's 1934 World Cup Squad but didn't play in any of the matches. 
He featured in  Juventus's run of five consecutive Serie A wins (Il Quinquennio d'oro).
Notice that his name is misspelled on the card.

Lo Sport Fascista - February 1933

Mussolini, although not a great football fan, realised the propaganda potential of sport and exploited the success of Italian sportsmen during the Fascist Era for these purposes.
The player featured on this magazine from  February 1933 is Bologna centre forward Angelo Schiavio.
Schiavio spent 16 seasons at Bologna (1922-1938), scoring  109 goals in 179 Serie A appearances and 242 senior goals in a total of 348 appearances. In the 1931–1932 season he was Capocannoniere  with 25 goals. He featured in 4 scudetto winning squads and won the Mitropa Cup twice.
His international record with Italy (1925-1934) was 15 goals in 21 matches, He won Olympic Bronze (1928) and was a World Cup Winner (1934), scoring the winning goal in the final. Schiavo also featured in 2 successful  Coupe Internationale européenne campaigns. 

Meisl v Pozzo

It is a view shared by many that there were three colossal figures in European football management in the pre war era. In England Herbert Chapman changed the way in which the game was played and presented. On the continent Hugo Meisl oversaw the development of the Austrian team from keen Sunday morning amateurs to the strongest side in World football in the space of twenty odd years of absolute dedication to the game. Vittorio Pozzo led Italy to an Olympic Gold medal and two World Cup wins , taking  the concept of preparation to a new level.  The theories of all three* have influenced football right up to the present day.
During the Meisl - Pozzo era up until 1937, national teams managed by the two men met on 8 occasions:

Game 1:  3.7.12  Austria     5-1 Italy       (Olympic Games, Stockholm)

 Italy 1912

The first meeting of Meisl/ Pozzo teams came at the 1912 Olympics.

Italy were still relative newcomers to international football. It was only their 10th match. Vittorio Pozzo had been made coach for the Olympic tournament and this was his 3rd game in charge. It was Hugo Meisl's 6th game as Austrian manager, and the 4th in which Jimmy Hogan was alongside him. The outstanding player of the game was Austria's goalkeeper, Josef Kaltenbrunner.

The match was in the consolation tournament , Italy having lost 3-2 to Finland in the first round of the main tournament (a match refereed by Herr Hugo Meisl!) but defeating Sweden 1-0 in consolation round one. Austria had beaten Germany 5-1 in the first round of the main tournament before losing 3-1 to Netherlands in the second round. In consolation tournament they beat Norway 1-0 in round one and having seen off Italy they went on to lose 3-0 to Hungary in the final.

Pozzo returned to the Italian national side for the 1924 Olympics, from which Austria were absent, but his regular duties as national coach / manager did not resume until 1929.

 Game 2: 22.2.31       Italy    2-1 Austria     
 Italy's first ever win over Austria came in this Coupe Internationale européenne match in Milan, with goals from Meazza and Orsi.

 Game 3: 20.3.32      Austria   2-1   Italy      (Coupe Internationale européenne, Vienna)
Austria avenged the previous years defeat, Meazza was on the scoresheet again, but a Matthias Sindelar double won the match for the hosts.

 Game 4: 11.2.34      Italy   2-4   Austria     (Coupe Internationale européenne, Turin)
Two goals from Guaita for the Azzuri - a hat trick from  Zischek and a fourth from Binder for Austria.

Austria 1934

 Game 5:   3.6.34      Italy    1-0   Austria     (World Cup, Milan)
On form Austria should have been favourites for the 1934 World Cup. Italy appear to have enjoyed considerable home advantages during the tournament.

 Game 6: 24.3.35      Austria   0-2   Italy     (Coupe Internationale européenne, Vienna)
2 goals from Piola- Italy were on their way to a second Coupe Internationale européenne title.

 Game 7: 17.5.36      Italy   2-2   Austria     (Rome)

 Game 8: 15.8.36      Italy   2-1   Austria     (Olympic Games, Berlin aet)
Annibale Frossi scored 2 to give Italy Olympic gold.

Played: 8
Austria: wins 3 goals 15
Italy: wins 4 goals 13
Drawn 1

Hugo Meisl died at the age of 55 in February 1937. Austria's next match was against Italy in Vienna 2 months later. 

The match was abandoned after 74 minutes with Austria leading  2-0. 

The reason for abandonment was ' due to excessively hard play by Italy'.

* I am not forgetting Jimmy Hogan. His approach to coaching enabled Meisl's vision of fluid, attack based football to become a reality.

Wunderteam

1931-32

Austria had an unbeaten  run of 14 games between April 1931 and December 1932. 
In May 1931 they demolished a depleted Scotland team by outplaying them at their own game, based on short passing.

  12.4.31  Czechoslovakia 2-1 (Vienna, Coupe Internationale européenne) 
    3.5.31  Hungary 0-0  (Vienna, Coupe Internationale européenne)
  16.5.31  Scotland 5-0 (Vienna) 
    4.5.31  Germany 6-0 (Berlin)
  16.6.31  Switzerland 2-0 (Vienna)
  13.9.31  Germany 5-0 (Vienna)
  4.10.31  Hungary 2-2 (Budapest, Coupe Internationale européenne) 
29.11.31  Switzerland 8-1 (Basel, Coupe Internationale européenne) 
  20.3.32  Italy 2-1  (Vienna, Coupe Internationale européenne) 
  24.4.32  Hungary 8-2 (Vienna)
  22.5.32  Czechoslovakia 1-1 (Prague, Coupe Internationale européenne) 
  17.7.32  Sweden 4-3 (Stockholm)
  2.10.32  Hungary 3-2 (Budapest)
23.10.32  Switzerland 3-1  (Vienna, Coupe Internationale européenne)*
  7.12.32  England 3-4 (London)

*Austria winners of 2nd  Coupe Internationale européenne

The unbeaten run came to an end at Stamford Bridge - critics in England felt that they had had a narrow escape, and that had Austria played their natural game from the start that they would have embarrassed England:

English team lucky to win. There could not be the slightest doubt that as a team (Austria) were the superiors.
 Manchester Guardian

 It was victory and no more, and it was by no means easily earned.
The Times. 

The unbeaten run featured  the following personnel:

Goalkeeper: Rudolf Hiden
Right  Backs: Roman Schramseis, Karl Rainer
Left  Backs: Josef Blum, Karl Sesta
Right Halves: Georg Braun, Johann Mock
Center Halves: Josef Smistik, Leopold Hofmann
Left Halves: Karl Gall,  Walter Nausch
Outside Right: Karl Zischek
Inside Right: Friedrich Gschweidl
Center Forward: Matthias Sindelar
Inside Left: Anton Schall
Outside Left: Adolf Vogl

Manager: Hugo Meisl 
Trainer: Jimmy Hogan

Austria's place amongst the top teams in the world endured right up until the country was absorbed by Germany in 1938.
The retrospective Elo World Rankings have them briefly in top position (following a 3-2 win over France) in May 1934. They were favourites to win the 1934 World Cup, but in Italy only Italy could win. In the semi final  Enrique Guaita scored the only goal after Meazza had clattered into the Austrian keeper, Platzer, forcing him to spill the ball.

Coupe Internationale européenne

In terms of international competition at both national and club level, central Europe was very forward thinking. The  Coupe Internationale européenne was another of Hugo Meisl's contributions to the development of the game, and can be seen as a genuine  forerunner of the UEFA European Nations Cup.
In it's favour it was a credible competition that featured some of the strongest nations in continental football. On the negative side the home and away league format meant that the competition took three years to complete. In this, the first edition, begun in 1927 and completed in 1930, the last two matches were separated by 7 months!

Vittorio Pozzo began his second spell as Italy's manager in 1929, so the trophy was the first he won (followed by a further success in the Coupe Internationale européenne, an Olympic Gold Medal and two World Cup wins) . The trophy, made of Bohemian crystal, was dropped and smashed, but Pozzo  always carried a fragment of it with him.

Final Table

                    P  W  T  L   F  A  Pts   
1   Italy           8  5  1  2  21-15   11  
2   Austria         8  5  0  3  17-10   10  
2   Czechoslovakia  8  4  2  2  17-10   10  
4   Hungary         8  4  1  3  20-23    9  
5   Switzerland     8  0  0  8  11-28    0  

Libonatti and Gino Rossetti, both of Torino, were the competition's joint top scorers, with six goals each.