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.

Nita Carmona

Apparently Ana Carmona Ruiz, known as Nita Carmona, played for Sporting Club Malaga in the 1920s in the guise of a man.

Samitier

It seems that the transition from club to international football is not always easy! 
Between 1919 and 1932 Josep Samitier scored 333 goals in 454 games for Barcelona (strike rate 0.73 goals per game). In his 21 internationals (1920-1931) he netted just twice. In the 21 matches he played Spain scored 38 goals and lost only 3 times. Samitier played at right half in the Spain team.  He also played for Catalunya.

Patrick O'Connell

The above sculpture celebrates Betis Balompié's La Liga win in 1935. Among the names on the sculpture is that of Betis' manager- former Manchester United captain Patrick O'Connell.  The team (currently Real Betis) had been promoted as winners of the 1931–32 Segunda División.

Patrick O'Connell wasn't among the 7 players suspended as a result of the Football Association's investigation into the 1915 betting scandal. There must have been some doubts, however, over his penalty miss in the Good Friday match against Liverpool that gave rise to the charges. 

Liverpool Daily Post - 03.04.15

O'Connell was raised in Dublin but began his professional football career with Belfast Celtic. 
After spells with The Wednesday (where he struggled to hold a first team place) and Hull City, O'Connell joined Manchester United in 1914, by which time he had represented Ireland 6 times. 

O'Connell was captain of Manchester United at the time of the match fixing affair.
 In 1919 he moved to Dumbarton.
 O'Connell returned to England in 1920, joining Ashington of the North Eastern League. The following season Ashington joined the Third Division (north) and O'Connell was player manager.

O'Connell moved to Spain in 1922 and was manager of Racing Santander for 7 years. he then moved to Real Oviedo before joining Betis in 1932. Following the La Liga success O'Connell moved on to Barcelona. He continued coaching in Spain until 1949.

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.

Montes

Arturo Montesinos Cebrián , usually called Montes, also known as Tellà, was one of the early greats of Valencia. A prolific centre forward, Montes scored 254 goals in 259 games  for Valencia. His most successful seasons were :

1922-1923- 49 goals in 46 games
1924-1925 - 45 in 47 
1925-1926  - 37 in 30

He scored the first ever goal at the Estadio de Mestalla.

Alcántara for Spain

Paulino Alcántara first represented Catalunya as an 18 year old in 1915. He also represented the Philippines in the 1917 Far Eastern Games. It is likely that he played in all 3 of the Philippines' games, the last of which was abandoned due to fighting.
On returning to Europe he continued to represent Catalunya.
He would have been expected to represent Spain when they made their entry into international football at the 1920 Olympics, but he was unavailable due to his medical studies.
 Alcántara made his Spain debut in 1921. He played 5 internationals, scoring 6 goals:

09.10.21	Spain	2	0	Belgium	Bilbao
Alcántara captained Spain on his debut and scored both goals (55 & 80 min)
18.12.21	Spain	3	1	Portugal	Madrid
Alcántara scored Spain’s 2nd and 3rd  (23 & 50 min)
20.04.22	France	0	4	Spain	Bordeaux
Captain for the 2nd time, Alcántara scored the 2 opening goals (20 & 27 min)
04.02.23	Belgium	1	0	Spain	Antwerp
16.12.23	Spain	3	0	Portugal	Seville
Alcántara was captain, Español’s Zabala scored all 3 goals.

British coaches in the Copa

The development of Spanish Football was always heavily influenced by Britons. As was so often the case they founded the earliest clubs and spread the enthusiasm for the Association game among the locals.
English players (and officials) were very much in evidence in the formative years of the game in Spain. In the 1910s, when the game was more solidly established and less and less English names appeared on the teamsheets, Englishmen showed their influence in another sphere- appearing as coaches at the leading Spanish clubs.
Looking at the teams competing in the Copa del Rey (and later the Copa del Presidente de la República) shows us the following coaches from the United Kingdom.

1916
Athletic Club (Bilbao) defeated Madrid FC (later Real Madrid) 4-0 in the final. Both teams were led by Englishmen.

Barnes

Billy Barnes was at the helm for Athletic. Born in London in 1879 Barnes played for Thames Ironworks, Sheffield United, West Ham United, Luton Town, Queen's Park Rangers and Southend United.
He scored the winning goal for Sheffield United in the replay of the 1902 FA Cup Final.
He managed Athletic from 1914 to 1916 and again from 1920-21.

Johnson

The man in charge of Madrid FC was Arthur Johnson. He was Madrid's first full time coach. Appointed in 1910, he served until 1920. He had also been a player with the club, appearing in their first ever fixture and played in 4 winning Copa del Rey teams. Johnson, who was also born in 1879, later managed Athletic Club.

1917
Madrid beat Arenas Club de Guecho in extra time of the replayed final, giving Arthur Johnson a Copa win as a coach to add to his 4 as a player.

1918
Johnson led Madrid to a third successive Copa final, but they lost 2-0 to Real Unión.

Greenwell

1919
Barcelona were beaten 5-2 in the final by Arenas Club de Guecho. 
The manager  of Barcelona was the former Crook Town wing half Jack Greenwell.  Greenwell had also played in the West Aukland team that won the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy in 1909. 
He joined Barcelona as a player in 1912, became coach in 1917.six Catalan titles and two Copa del Rey victories.
As well as 2 spells at Barcelona Greenwell coached Unió Esportiva Sants, Club Deportivo Castellón,  Español, R.C.D Mallorca, Valencia, and Real Sporting de Gijón. He then moved on to Peru. 

1920
Greenwell and Barnes were the adversaries as Barcelona beat Athletic Club 2-0 in the final. 

1921
Barnes was in charge of Athletic Club , who ran out 4-0 winners against Atlético Madrid. Some sources mistakenly identify the manager of the Madrid side as former Manchester United defender Vince Hayes However, Hayes was engaged at Preston North End until 1923. 

1922
Another win for Greenwell- Barcelona beating Real Union 5-1.

1923
Athletic Club won their ninth  Copa, beating Barcelona's Club Deportivo Europe 1-0. Both sides were led by Englishmen.
Fred Pentland won 5 England caps in 1909 (including 3 on a tour of Austria-Hungary) and played most of his  League football for Blackburn Rovers and Middlesbrough. he was interned at Ruhleben during the war, having gone to Germany to coach the national side. After the war his managerial career resumed, following a rather strange trajectory- he led France in the 1920 Olympics and retired as manager of Barrow 20 years later. in the interim he had spells coaching Racing  Santander, Athletic Club Bilbao (2 ), Atlético Madrid (3) and Real Oviedo. 

In charge of  Club Deportivo Europe was Conyers 'Ralph' Kirby, a winger who made 1 league appearance for Birmingham. He later joined Barcelona. 


1924
Real Unión Club (Irun) beat Real Madrid 1-0 in the final.Real Unión Club was coached by Steve Bloomer, the legendary Derby County and England goalscorer. 

Steve Bloomer

1926
Barcelona beat Atlético Madrid 3-2 in the final, which featured the same managers as 1923- Kirby leading Barcelona and Pentland Atlético.

1932
Spain was now a Republic, and the national cup competition was rebranded as Copa del Presidente de la República. A final between Athletic Club (who won their 12th Copa with a 1-0 win) and Barcelona saw 2 by now familiar faces in charge. Pentland (Athletic Club) and Greenwell (Barca). 

Valencia

A lovely, dynamic poster from the pre Civil War era. A balletic Valencia player heads the ball under pressure. 

A friendly in April 1929 against a selection from The Royal Navy. The Navy were great ambassadors for football, and there are records of them playing numerous matches in Spain in the 1920s.

Valencia used this poster throughout the 1920s and 30s. The games advertised were played at the Mestalla. Inaugurated in 1923 the grand stadium was developed during the 20s, the capacity growing from 17,000 to 25,000. During the Civil War the ground fell into disrepair when it was used as a prison camp. 

This match ended in a 1-1 draw. Real Madrid were officially Madrid Football Club at the time, as Spain was a republic. Madrid went on to win the title.  

Valencia's goal was scored by Sanchez Pia.

A 0-0 draw was the outcome of this match. Barcelona finished 3rd in the league, and Valencia 7th (from 10),

Capillas was Valencia' leading scorer in the 1931-32 season (9 goals in 10 matches).

Former Derby County player Randolph Galloway was the manager. 

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

•  

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

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

•  

Spain v Portugal 1921

Alberto Augusto

Portugal's first international was against neighbours Spain. It was Spain's 7th outing. In their previous 6 games they had only been defeated once. They had played 5 games at the 1920 Olympics. 

Spain were 3-0 up when Alberto Augusto got Portugal's first ever international goal with a 75th minute penalty. The man affectionately known as Batatinha (small potato) was a Benfica player at the time. He represented 8 clubs in a 20 year career and was capped 4 times. 

In 1924-25 Alberto Augusto played for América (Rio de Janeiro), making him Portugal's first football 'export'. There are also sources that have him playing for Santos in Brazil. 

Spain		3	1	Portugal
18.12.21 Campo de la calle O`Donnell, Madrid (14000) Manuel Meana                                                                                     Alberto Augusto  (pen) Paulino Alcántara  (2)
Ricardo Zamora	Barcelona	G		Carlos Guimarães	C.I.F
Pololo	Athletic Club	RB		António Pinho	Casa Pia A.C
Arrate  (c)	Real Sociedad	LB		Jorge Vieira	Sporting C.P
Balbino	R.C. Fortuna de Vigo	HB		João Francisco	Sporting C.P
Manuel Meana	Sporting de Gijón	HB		Vítor Gonçalves	Benfica
Fajardo	Athletic Club	HB		Candido De Oliveira (c)	Casa Pia A.C
Pagaza	Racing Santander	F		José Gralha	Casa Pia A.C
Arbide	Real Sociedad	F		António Augusto Lopes	Casa Pia A.C
Sesúmaga	Barcelona	F		Ribeiro dos Reis	Benfica
Paulino Alcántara	Barcelona	F		Alberto Augusto	Benfica
Luis Olaso	Athletic Club	F		Artur Augusto	F.C. Porto