Uruguay Seal Olympic Glory

By Gordon Fleetwood writing from NYC

South American U20 Championships: Day 14

The year was 1928, and Uruguay’s football team had made it to the Olympic games for the second time in a row. They went to Amsterdam to defend the title they had won so convincingly four years earlier. With the nucleus of that triumphant squad in tact, Uruguay were a good bet to retain their title, and so they did. It was a duplicate of their performance in 1924, as La Celeste swept aside all comers, only encountering resistance in the final against Argentina. It took two games, but the Olympic trophy was draped in sky blue once again. The win put another exclamation mark on what was a golden era for Uruguayan football, where they were arguably the best team on the planet. As a result of the 1928 Olympic victory, Uruguay was given the privilege of hosting the first World Cup in 1930. The first two World Cups went to the men in sky blue, but the Olympic trophy, the instigator that catapulted their meteoric rise was never to be theirs again. Uruguay did not qualify for another Olympic tournament after 1928.

(Source: matchcentre)