Netherlands 1900

Netherlands played their first international fixture in 1905. Prior to this All Netherlands select teams had played against foreign clubs and selections. Examples of  English opponents include Maidstone Church Institute Wanderers (1894), Felixstowe (1894) , English Wanderers (1896-1899) and London Caledonians (1905).
The team pictured above faced the German side Berliner F.C. Preussen on 30th December 1900.
The Netherlands won 5-1.
Headwear seems to have been de rigueur and the man standing on the far left seems to also be wearing  spectacles.
The line up:
Cramer (Ajax Leiden), Mundt (HVV), Van der Linde (RAP), Carli (HBS), Hartog (RAP), De Stoppelaar (Ajax Leiden), Jongheer Meyer (HBS), Hesselink (Vitesse), Sol (HVV), Offers (Victoria Wageningen) & Goedvriend (Vitesse).

Italy 1936

Berlin (Olympia Stadion) – Saturday, 15th August 1936.
Vittorio Pozzo celebrates with his gold medal winners after the Azzurri had beaten Austria 2-1 in the Olympic Final in front of an 85,000 crowd. 
Italy lined up: Venturini (Sampierdarenese), Foni (Juventus), Rava (Juventus), Baldo (Lazio), Piccini (Fiorentina), Locatelli (Ambrosiana), Frossi (Ambrosiana), Marchini (Lucchese), Bertoni (Pisa), Biagi (Pisa),Gabriotti (Lazio).

Sergio Bertoni, Alfredo Foni, Pietro Rava and Ugo Locatelli went on to feature in Italy's World Cup win in 1938.

Trinidad and Tobago

I love the way that this team group is set up in the 2-3-5 pyramid formation.
Test cricketer Ellis Achong is at outside left.
It's also good to see a player in spectacles at left half.

Poldi Kielholz

Footballers who wore spectacles. It's been a pet subject of mine for many years. Nearsighted footballers in the pre war years didn't have the option of contact lenses or corrective surgery. If you've ever played with glasses on (and remember these were heavy glass lenses) you'll appreciate what a challenge it is.

It didn't seem to hamper Leopold 'Poldi' Kielholz. He played at the highest level in Switzerland and France for 18 years and appeared at 2 World Cups. In the pre Challenge National era  Kielholz played for BSC Old Boys Basel (1927-28), Black Stars Basel (1928-30) and FC Basel (1930-32). He joined Servette in 1932.

In 1933 the Challenge National kicked off, and Kielholz was top scorer with 40 goals. This haul has never been bettered. In all he played 188 league games, scoring 101 goals.

In 1935 Kielholz became player coach at FC Bern, a role he also undertook at Stade Reims . In 1937 he returned to Switzerland where he played for St. Gallen and later Young Fellows Zurich.

 Kielholz represented Switzerland 17 times, scoring 12 goals.

Spectacles

During my lifetime I can think of at least three players wearing spectacles at a high level of the game- Jef Jurion (Belgium), Joop Van Daele (Feyenoord) and Edgar Davids (numerous clubs and Netherlands).

Before the introduction of contact lenses (Jack Howe wore them playing in 1948), I'm sure that many more footballers must have taken to the pitch wearing their glasses. There are already a couple of unknown examples on this blog- see the OLLS and Tokyo Soccer Club pictures.
Here are two notable examples:

J.F Mitchell played in goal for Preston North End and Manchester City. He won one England cap (v Ireland, 1925) and wore spectacles throughout his career. In the 1922 Preston v Huddersfield FA Cup final Mitchell employed, albeit unsuccessfully, 'Grobbelaar'-type tactics in an attempt to put off a penalty taker. 

 Annibale Frossi was an Italian forward who played most of his career with Società Sportiva Ambrosiana (now Internazionale Milano). He won 5 caps for The Azzuri, scoring 8 goals, including 2 in the 1936 Olympic Final.