lucien laurent scored the first-ever goal in world cup history in the match between france and mexico.
lucien laurent scored the first-ever goal in world cup history in the match between france and mexico.
who scored the first-ever goal in world cup history in the match between france and mexico?
lucien laurent
in july 1930, france appeared in the inaugural fifa world cup, in uruguay. france was the only group with four teams, along with argentina, mexico, and chile. in their first world cup match, france defeated mexico 4–1 at the estadio pocitos in montevideo. lucien laurent scored not only france's first world cup goal, but the first goal in world cup history. in the 40th minute, marcel langiller scored the second goal in world cup history, a minute before bart mcghee's goal for the united states against belgium. despite the dream start, france were beaten by the eventual group winners argentina losing 0–1 after a goal by luis monti in the 81st minute. they later lost by the same scoreline to chile.
history of the france national football team
certainly one of the most important dates in bulgarian football history is 17 november 1993, a date where emil kostadinov scored two goals in the 90th minute to beat france in paris, allowing bulgaria to qualify for the world cup in the united states in 1994. under the management of dimitar penev, the bulgarians, led by players such as hristo stoichkov, yordan lechkov, and krasimir balakov, along with a multitude of other talented players remembered in bulgaria as the "golden generation", made a strong impression by surprisingly reaching the semi-finals and earning the bronze medal. they entered a very tough group d with 1990 world cup runners-up argentina with diego maradona at the helm, african nations cup champions nigeria, and balkan rivals greece. the first match ended with a 3–1 defeat to nigeria. stoichkov scoring the only goal for bulgaria off an incredible 40 yard curling free-kick in the 32nd minute to tie the game at 1. despite the bad start, the team made quite a huge statement by winning 4–0 against their balkan rivals greece and increasing their goal difference. their third and final match came against power house and world cup favorites argentina. the powerful bulgarian side came away with a shocking 2–0 victory. argentina had actually been winning the group going into injury-time. a 91st minute strike from nasko sirakov, however, meant that they'd drop two places and finish third. bulgaria continued to the round of 16, where they faced mexico. stoichkov opened the scoring in the 6th minute with an incredible strike off a break away from outside the box, tallying his fourth goal. the match ended 1–1 and after no goals were scored in extra time, penalties decided which team would go through. team captain borislav mihaylov made a very shocking performance by saving the first three penalty kicks in a row, and breaking the world cup record. bulgaria won 3–1 on penalties with mihaylov becoming the hero for the bulgarian lions. in the quarter-finals, bulgaria faced the defending world cup champions germany. at the start of the match held in giant's stadium, the bulgarians were dominating impressivley, hitting the post twice in the process. a majority of the world's football fans were rooting for the legendary bulgarian side until lothar matthäus silenced them by scoring from a penalty to open the scoring. the bulgarians, however, managed to turn the game over with a swerving free kick by hristo stoichkov and a flying header by yordan lechkov, giving them a 2–1 win and recording one of the most memorable wins in world cup history. millions of bulgarians celebrated this win in the bulgarian capital city of sofia along with other notable bulgarian cities. having reached the semi-finals, this had become the best bulgarian performance in their world cup history. in the semi-finals, they controversially lost 2–1 to italy. stoichkov scored bulgaria's only goal in the first half to tally his seventh goal, which led the tournament. in the second half, bulgaria were waved off a penalty in which the italian defender had clearly committed a handball in the box, off a kostadinov cross. despite the unfair officiating, the bulgarians shocked the world with their entire world cup performance and were eventually given the bronze medals. hristo stoichkov was awarded the golden boot as the top scorer in the tournament with his seven goals, along with making the world cup's top ten best goals list. krasimir balakov was named in the all-star 1994 world cup dream team along with stoichkov. later on in december, stoichkov was awarded the fifa ballon d'or trophy for his great skill and leadership, becoming the first bulgarian and third barcelona player to win it in history.
bulgaria olympic football team