Soccer History | Gran Parque Central — The Other Match That Started the World Cup

While France were beating Mexico at Pocitos, the United States were beating Belgium 3-0 here, at the same hour on the same afternoon. 13 July 1930. Two matches, simultaneous kick-offs, and an inaugural tournament that consequently has no single opening fixture. The American win produced the tournament's first clean sheet, kept by the goalkeeper Jimmy Douglas. It also began a run to the semi-finals that is still the best the United States men's team has managed at a World Cup. Bart McGhee scored in the 23rd minute, the second goal in the competition's history. The ground is older than the competition it helped to open. Club Nacional de Football's Gran Parque Central was built in 1900, and is generally described as the oldest stadium still in use anywhere in the Americas. It was hosting World Cup football only because the Estadio Centenario was not ready. Rain had left the main stadium five days behind the tournament, so Parque Central and Pocitos absorbed the opening fixtures between them. FIFA has returned twice to say so. The association marked the anniversary in 1987, and in 2005 a delegation led by Joseph Blatter installed a commemorative plaque at the ground. Nacional still play here, and the stadium has been rebuilt more than once since 1930. What a visitor finds is a modern club ground rather than a preserved one — the continuity is in the address and the plaque, not in the concrete. Sources: Wikipedia; Britannica; FIFA. Cover photo: YonytecuentoCNF, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.