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Peru 4–2 Austria (1936 Summer Olympics association football)

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Event
  
1936 Summer Olympics

Venue
  
Stadion am Gesundbrunnen

Date
  
8 August 1936

Attendance
  
5,000

Peru 4–2 Austria (1936 Summer Olympics association football)

Referee
  
Thoralf Kristiansen (Norway)

Peru v Austria was a football match played on 8 August 1936 during the Summer Olympics in Berlin.

Contents

Background

The Peru squad mixed members of Alianza Lima, Universitario de Deportes and the 1935 league champions Sport Boys.

Austria

Austria had won its first-round match against Egypt with a 3-1 win.

Peru

In the first round, Peru had an easy win on Finland winning with 7-3, with Teodoro Fernández scoring five Peruvian goals.

First half

Walter Werginz opened scoring for Austria in the 23rd minute, to give the Austrian side a one-goal lead. Shortly after, in the 37th minute of action, Klement Steinmetz put a ball past Peruvian keeper Juan Valdivieso to double Austria's early lead. After 45 minutes of play, the scoreline was 0-2 in favour of the Austrians.

Second half

Trailing 0-2, with elimination from the tournament at stake, the Peruvians entered the second half with renewed determination to prolong their Olympic stint. In the 75th minute, the Peruvians produced their first goal as a result of an effort on net by Jorge Alcalde. Six minutes later, in the 81st minute of play, Alejandro Villanueva scored the equalizer. The remaining minutes of the match saw no further scoring, and the match went into extra-time.

Overtime

The match was highly contested, and the game went into overtime when the Peruvians tied the Austrians after being two goals behind. Peru scored 5 goals during overtime, of which 3 were nullified by the referee, and won by the final score of 4-2.

Austria protests

The Austrians demanded a rematch on the grounds that Peruvian fans had stormed the field, and so the field did not meet the requirements for a football game. Austria further claimed that the Peruvian players had manhandled the Austrian players and that spectators, one holding a revolver, had "swarmed down on the field." Peru was notified of this situation, and they attempted to go to the assigned meeting but were delayed by a German parade.

Controversial decision

At the end, the Peruvian defense was never heard, and the Olympic Committee and FIFA sided with the Austrians. The rematch was scheduled to be taken under close grounds on August 10, and later re-scheduled to be taken on August 11.

Peru withdraws

As a sign of protest against these actions, which the Peruvians deemed as insulting and discriminatory, the complete Olympic delegations of Peru and Colombia left Germany. Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and Mexico expressed their solidarity with Peru. Michael Dasso, a member of the Peruvian Olympic Committee, stated: "We've no faith in European athletics. We have come here and found a bunch of merchants." The game was awarded to Austria by default.

In Peru, angry crowds protested against the decisions of the Olympic Committee by tearing down an Olympic flag, throwing stones at the German consulate, refusing to load German vessels in the docks of Callao, and listening to inflammatory speeches which included President Oscar Benavides Larrea's mention of "the crafty Berlin decision." To this day, it is not known with certainty what exactly happened in Germany. It is popularly believed that Adolf Hitler and the Nazi authorities might have had some involvement in this situation, though this was not claimed at the time.

Peru was coached by national manager Alberto Denegri, and Austria was under the command of English James Hogan.

Aftermath

Austria won silver in the Olympics and Peru, a few years later, became South American champions.

References

Peru 4–2 Austria (1936 Summer Olympics association football) Wikipedia