Past World Cup tournaments at a glance

[Kire]

Past World Cup tournaments at a glance
Chris Lehourites And Stuart Condie, Canadian Press
Published: Monday, May 22, 2006

Capsules on each of the previous 17 World Cup tournaments:

Uruguay 1930

Uruguay was chosen as the host of the first World Cup largely because of its status as Olympic champion.

The decision was not overly popular, however, because of the long travel for European teams.

There was no qualifying tournament then, so teams were invited to play. Only four European teams accepted: France, Romania, Belgium and Yugoslavia. The rest of the field came from North and South America.

Uruguay faced Argentina in the final at Centenario stadium and trailed 2-1 at halftime. But three second-half goals lifted the hosts to the title with a 4-2 win.

July 31, the date of the final, was made a national holiday in Uruguay.

More: http://www.canada.com/topics/sports/story.html?id=f9977315-fb58-4205-a531-198b7f6048a9&p=1