Howcome?

[Soccerfever]

All the football fans outhere know that in 1950,Brazil was the host country of the World Cup and lost to Uruguay in the final at the Maracana stadium 2-1 .But Uruguay played LESS MATCHES to reach the final and only had to defeat Bolivia to reach round 2 which they succesfully did by winning 8-0.....

Anybody knows why?Is this because some other participating countries withdrew???

[MassachusettsRef]

A number of teams had withdrawn prior to the tournament and this upset the group balances.

Scotland, Argentina, Czechoslovakia and Turkey all withdrew. France replaced Turkey (in Pool IV), but they also withdrew after protesting the travel they would have had to endure.

Anyway, this left Pools I and II with 4 teams, Pool III with 3 teams, but Pool IV (which France pulled out of very late), only had two teams, Bolivia and Uruguay.

My source is "The Story of the World Cup".

[worldsoccer-Jeff]

Originally posted by Soccerfever
All the football fans outhere know that in 1950,Brazil was the host country of the World Cup and lost to Uruguay in the final at the Maracana stadium 2-1 .But Uruguay played LESS MATCHES to reach the final and only had to defeat Bolivia to reach round 2 which they succesfully did by winning 8-0.....

Anybody knows why?Is this because some other participating countries withdrew???

India was to be in group C but withdrew due to the fact that FIFA would not let them play barefoot.

Scotland and Turkey were to be in group D with Uruguay and Bolivia but both withdrew after the draw.

Argentina did not enter the WCQ. Due to WWII many countries did not enter WCQ either, like Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia.

France and Portugal were both invited to play after the draw, but declined.

Only 25 nations world wide entered WCQ in the first placce.

[Soccerfever]

Mmmm that's why!

Okay thanks to you guys!:)