Messi and Di María, the first world and Olympic champions since 1936

There was a time, almost a century ago, when being an Olympic soccer champion was as much or more valuable than winning a world cup.

We already know about the unique and sinuous link between football and the Olympic Games. Interestingly, it is one of the sports that played for medals long before having its first world championship, in 1930.

More than that, while the first FIFA Cup was attended by only three European teams (France, Romania and Yugoslavia), two years earlier, at the Amsterdam games, the presence of that continent was as valuable as it included Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Belgium, Portugal, Yugoslavia, Switzerland and the Netherlands, among others. When Uruguayans include four stars in their jerseys -two Olympic and two world championships-, they can argue, among other things, that even with powers from the North, they won the title, in this case, at the expense of Argentina, their eternal rival.

There is a statistical fact that, to some extent, graphs how football’s interest in the Olympic competition was degrading. If we review the squads of the Uruguayan national champion in Paris 1924, Amsterdam 1928 and Montevideo 1930, we will find 7 players who won an Olympic gold and the world title: Domingo Tejera, Lorenzo Fernandez, Álvaro Gestido, Angel Melogno, Consuelo Piriz, Juan Anselmo and Hector Castro, the latter who scored one of the World Cup final goals against the Argentines. Even more important: there were 6 players who won the three titles: captain Jose Nasazzi, Pedro Cea, Pedro Petrone, Hector Scarone, Santos Urdinaran and the legendary Jose Leandro Andrade, the first great star of South American football who so conquered Paris that ended up being invited to join his cast by Josephine Baker, so handsome and good dancer that he was the Uruguayan winger. Clearly, at that time, winning an Olympic title was as much or more prestigious than winning a world championship.

In this regard, and always leaving the door open to discussion, there are not a few sports that currently consider climbing the podium of the rings more valuable than succeeding in the highest competition of their discipline. It happens in individual competitions, such as swimming, athletics or gymnastics. It happens in collective disciplines such as basketball, volleyball, handball and even rugby sevens.

A few years later, it was Italy’s turn. Always under the guidance of the legendary coach Vittorio Pozzo, they won the 1934 and 1938 world championships and, in between, the Berlin games in 1936.

However, even then, the difference in interest between the world championships and the games began to be noticed: among the 16 participants in Germany there were countries, at that time, that were football marginal countries such as Japan, Turkey, Luxembourg, Egypt, Finland, China and Peru, which became the surprise selection and was the victim of a scandalous episode that caused them to lose a match won against Austria on which we will soon give more details.

As for the names of the Italian teams, there were only three coincidences between 1936 and 1938 (no player was directly repeated in Berlin from 1934). Defenders Ugo Locatelli and Pietro Rava, stars of Inter and Juventus respectively, and Pisa forward Sergio Bertoni were the only ones to participate in both competitions.

After World War II, it became clear that the 13 Uruguayans would never happen again. And we had to wait until Qatar 2022 to cross paths with Olympic and world champions again. And what champions!

Any of us could, with just a little research on the Internet, find in video material that illustrates in an almost romantic way the deeds of the ‘20s and ‘30s. And it shows us in full the influence and genius of Lionel Messi, who scored two goals, and Angel Di Maria, owner of the masterpiece that defined the final in China against Nigeria.

Not coincidentally, the two were dazzling figures from the last world cup. Not coincidentally, they are still so valid almost 15 years after their Olympic consecration.