1922 FIFA World Cup

The 1922 FIFA World Cup was the fourth edition of the FIFA World Cup, a tournament that was organised by FIFA since it's inception in 1906 and it was the first tournament after World War One. The tournament compared to the previous one in 1914 saw the tournament be reduced to only ten teams with all of them being neutral nations in the World War.

With the lowest amount of teams in the tournament's history, the format of the tournament changed to be a straight knock-out tournament with six of the ten teams receiving byes in the first round, while the remaining four (all being debutants) competed in the opening round. In the final, took home their first (and to date only) World Cup defeating the  2-1. came in third place after they defeated in the third-place playoff.

Background
After World War One, the main football nations of the British Isles (, Scotland, Wales and Ireland) stayed in Britain while Germany, Austria and Hungary who was defeated in WW-1 were expelled from FIFA. None of the Americas countries turned up in Europe to compete.

European infrastructure was also a problem for this World Cup with it not being effective and secure after WW-1. The host nation of the Netherlands, being neutral during WW-1, was the suitable host for the fourth edition of the World Cup.

Round 1
The opening round of the 1922 edition saw four teams who were making their first appearance at World Cup taking on each other in two matches to book a spot into the quarter finals. In the first match of the tournament, and  played in what was the only match that went into extra time during the tournament with Yugoslavia player  scoring the winning goal in the 109th minute of play. Spain attempted to get a goal back but with no success.

The following day at the same venue saw showed the damage that they could do in the tournament as they scored a 4-1 win over. scored two goals in the match while Luxembourg midfielder scored a late goal in the 86th minute to at least some pride for Luxembourg.

Quarter-finals
The Quarter Finals began on May 12 with two matches being played in Rotterdam and Zwolie. The first that was being played was between the and Yugoslavia. For the Dutch, they got over the Yugoslavia team who had play in extra time in their opening match. Goals from (2 goals) and  gave the Netherlands, their first semi-final appearance at a World Cup. In the other match that was played, book their first semi-final spot after defeating  with the winning goal coming from an Swedish defender with the cross being directed from  boot to give Switzerland the win.

In the most ingest battle for a spot in the semis, it was between Belgium and France in the capital. The match of the tournament showed what could be seen for the future of Belgian football. But France gave a fight to Belgium when they took a two goal lead at half time with (who was on debut) and  scoring the goals. But that didn't stop Belgium from trying to gain control of the game in the second half and with two goals from and  to level it with 10 minutes to go.

In what was the deciding factor, the Belgian midfielders of, and  helped  scoring the winning goal for Belgium. The French defensive struggle to past the midfielders of Belgium and the goal was scored from Michel to give Belgium the victory and spot in the Semi Final for the third time.

In the final quarter final, Italy got through to their second Semi Final after defeating Czechoslovakia 2-0 with and  scoring the winning goals. But the result was dampen by an injury from ending his tournament and his international career.

Semi-finals
The two semi-finals of the World Cup was both held on the same day. In the opening the semi-final between the Netherlands and Switzerland which was held in Rotterdam, the favorites were the Netherlands who had defeated Yugoslavia in the quarter-finals. In the eleventh minute, almost secured the opening goal for the Dutch, as they went past Swiss keeper  to only just miss the goal. This wouldn't matter as two minutes later, scored the opening goal of the game getting past  to give the Netherlands the lead. With the Netherlands putting some pressure on the Swiss, they would breakthrough once again in the 31st minute with scoring his first for the World Cup.

The second half saw the Swiss play a little better compared to the first half as they pressured the Dutch including some shots that was safely kept by keeper. Around the 70th minute though, mistakes started to creep in before eventually Walder would score the winner seven minutes later to score his second and the Dutch, their third as they would lead to a spot into the final while Switzerland had to settle for third-place playoff.

The capital saw the other semi-final between Belgium and Italy with a crowd of 18,000 attending the game between the two teams. Most of the 18,000 being Belgian supporters who had traveled over the border to see their team. What they got was a pressured match between the two teams as the first half with the best chance of the half being a opportunity in the 28th minute when hitting the cross-bar. The second-half saw Italian goalkeeper, getting bundled with  as  scoring the opening goal in the 56th minute.

Despite protests from the Italian team, the goal had stood and a second from George Michel, twenty-five minutes later would secure the Belgium team a spot into their second World Cup final and what would be a repeat of the Olympic final from two years earlier. For Italy on the other hand, they were in disbelief as they thought that the first goal shouldn't have been counted especially as Piero would later be injured for the third-place playoff against the Swiss.

Third Place Playoff
Before the final, the third place playoff was played in Rotterdam. For Italy, a goal in the 43rd minute from meant that Italy would finish in third place for the second time in a row after finishing in that position at the last World Cup. Switzerland did get close in the second half but they couldn't break through the defense of the Italian goalkeeper in would make his first and only appearance at the international level.

Final
The final of the 1922 FIFA World Cup saw the Netherlands and Belgium play off to compete for their first World Cup trophy. With a crowd of 29,220 watching the match, the favoritism was more leaning towards the Dutch but the Belgian supporters was in force in their section of the grandstand.

Though the first goal of the game wasn't from the hosts but for Belgium as they scored the opener in the eleventh minute with passing it to  as he scored the opener for the match. This goal didn't put a damper on the hosts with the host fans supporting louder, hoping to get the Dutch back in. Belgium was having none of that though when almost scoring the second if it wasn't for  who kept the Dutch to only one goal down heading into the half.

and had kept the defense together so no goal was being let through. Despite the Dutch holding the line at the back, they could get one shot off within a thirty minute period. Eventually in the 74th minute, disaster struck with tackling Rik Larnoe down to the ground in the penalty box. This meant a penalty for Belgium and scoring his shot at the goal to double the lead for Belgium. For the Belgium fans, they could see glory if they held on for another seventeen minutes especially after the disappointment of twelve years earlier.

Though the Netherlands weren't giving up with hitting the side netting in the 82nd minute before a corner kick came in the 86th minute. The goal would come from the corner with header gave hope for the home crowd to possibly push it to extra time. But in the end it was a consolation, with Belgium defending the goal in the last four minutes to take home the World Cup for the first time and for Armand Swartenbroeks, he would retire from international football only one year later while still playing for his local club. Netherlands though would have to wait another four years for the chance to shine in Spain.