Ricardo Zamora

Club Esportiu Espanyol goalkeeper Ricardo Zamora feels the chill in 1923.

Spain vs Brazil 1934

The knockout format of the 1934 World Cup tournament meant that Brazil, Argentina and the United States only played one match each after their transatlantic voyages.
Here is an action shot from the Brazil v Spain match played at Stadio Luigi Ferraris, Genoa (27.05.34). Leônidas da Silva shooting wide, watched by Ricardo Zamora.
Brazil were 3-0 down in half an hour, Leônidas announced himself with a 55th minute strike. Brazil were awarded a penalty in the 62nd minute, but Zamora, playing in his 43rd international, saved from Waldemar de Brito.

Top European Goalkeepers of the 1920s & 1930s

The 1920s and 1930s saw the emergence of some top class goalkeepers across Europe.
They were still vulnerable to physical assault through rushes and charges, and the emphasis, even with the advent of the 3 back game, was still very much on attack.
Here we will look at the international records of 6 notable goalkeepers.

1. Ricardo Zamora - Spain (1920-36)



   




















2. Harry Hibbs - England (1929-36)

3. Josef/ Rudolf Hiden - Austria (1928-33)*

4.Gianpiero Combi - Italy (1924-34)

5. František Plánička - Czechoslovakia (1926-38)

6. Sigge Lindberg - Sweden (1921-30)

								Clean sheets
	P	W	D	L	%W	GA	GAPG	#	%
Zamora	46	31	6	9	67.39	42	0.91	20	43.47
Hibbs	25	16	4	5	64	26	1.04	10	40
Hiden*	20	12	4	4	60	25	1.25	5	20
Combi	47	28	10	9	59.57	65	1.38	12	25.53
Plánička	73	35	16	22	47.94	120	1.64	11	15.06
Lindberg	49	23	12	14	46.93	85	1.73	10	20.4

Zamora comes out on top. His win percentage, goals against per game and percentage of clean sheets are all superior. 

*Hiden played one game for France in 1940 which is not included in these figures. 

1934 World Cup-Team of the Tournament

Ricardo Zamora (Spain)
Often cited as the greatest goalkeeper of his generation, 33 year old Zamora was playing for Madrid at the time of the 1934 finals. Spain played 2 matches in the tournament, winning one.
An interesting choice considering that 2 other legendary goalkeepers,

Gianpiero Combi and František Plánička went on to the final, both as captains.

Jacinto Quincoces (Spain)
The 29 year old Madrid defender was usually deployed in the central 'stopper' position. 

Eraldo Monzeglio (Italy)
27 year old Monzeglio of Bologna went on to be a double World Cup winner, representing Italy 35 times.

Luis Monti (Italy)
The 33 year old Juventus half back had featured in the 1930 Team of the Tournament when representing his native Argentina.

Attilio Ferraris (Italy)
The 30 year old played for Roma at the time of the World Cup win.

Leonardo Cilaurren (Spain)
21 year old  Cilaurren played for Athletic Bilbao. 

Giuseppe Meazza (Italy)
The 23 year old Ambrosiana player had already won 22 international caps by the time the 1934 World Cup came around. He went on to represent Italy 53 times and is one of the true all time greats.
 

Raimundo Orsi (Italy)
Born in Argentina, 32 year old Orsi of Juventus scored 3 goals at the finals, including Italy's opening goal in the final.

Enrique Guaita (Italy)
23 year old Guaita was another of the Orundi. A Roma player at the time of the World Cup victory, he scored 1 goal in the finals.

Matthias Sindelar (Austria)
31 year old  Sindelar (Austria Vienna) scored 1 goal at the finals. Austria were semi-finalists, losing to Italy.

Oldřich Nejedlý (Czechoslovakia)
The 24 year old Sparta Prague inside left won the Golden Boot with 5 goals, including a hat trick in the semi final. 

Spain 1929

A splendid photograph from an interesting blog.
Gorgeous strip on the Spain team that famously defeated England at Madrid's Estadio Metropolitano on May 15th 1929. The great Ricardo Zamora sports his trademark cricket sweater.

England lose to Spain, 15.05.29

Prior to May 15th, 1929 England had played 24 matches against non British teams (Ireland was a part of the UK) won 23,drawn 1 for 121, against 27.
In the summer of 1929 the FA sent an international XI to play France, Belgium and Spain. It was considered a strong side. Camsell's absence was noted and unusually a non league amateur (Edgar Kail) was included, the last non-league player to play for the full England team.
France and Belgium were duly beaten. There was acknowledgement in the lead up to the game that Spanish football was improving and that England were unlikely to find the hosts a push over (various contemporary newspaper reports).  
The match was broadcast live on Spanish radio and members of the royal family were amongst the 30-40,000 crowd at Atletico Madrid's Estadio Metropolitano. The queues were reportedly a mile long and tickets were said to have changed hands for the astronomical equivalent of £10

The temperature was high and England ran out of steam as the game progressed.  Lazcano's equalizer prompted a mass pitch invasion that was dispersed by sword wielding Civic Guards. When Goiburu, the  only amateur in the Spain team, scored the winner the crowd again flooded onto the pitch. 

Spanish football's day of triumph was tempered with tragedy- Snr Jose Maria Acha, president of the Bilbao FA, was killed in a car crash on his way to the game.

                           Spain                                                                England

Ricardo Zamora	RCD Espanyol	G	Ted Hufton	West Ham United
Félix Quesada	Real Madrid	RB	Tom Cooper	Derby County
Jacinto Quincoces	Deportivo Alavés	LB	Ernie Blenkinsop	The Wednesday
Francisco Prats	Real Madrid	HB	Fred Kean	Bolton Wanderers
Martín Marculeta	Real Sociedad	HB	Jack Hill (c)	Newcastle United
José María Peña	Real Madrid	HB	Joe Peacock	Middlesbrough
Jaime Lazcano	Real Madrid	OR	Hughie Adcock	Leicester City
Severino Goiburu	CA Osasuna	IR	Edgar Kail	Dulwich Hamlet
Gaspar Rubio	Real Madrid	CF	Joe Carter	West Bromwich Albion
José Padrón	RCD Espanyol	IL	Joe Bradford	Birmingham City
Mariano Yurrita	Real Sociedad	OL	Len Barry	Leicester City

Joe Carter - put England 2-0 up in 22 minutes.

Bradford headed England's third.

'El Rey' Gaspar Rubio started the Spain comeback

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Jaime Lazcano scored twice to level things with 3 minutes remaining...

Seve Goiburu  sent the crowd wild with his 88th minute winner

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