Win or Die | 1938 FIFA World Cup Final | France

On the eve of the 1938 World Cup Final, Italy's players received a telegram from Rome. It contained three words:"Win or die."Whether Benito Mussolini meant it literally remains debated. What is certain is that football and politics had become impossible to separate.Italy's captain, Giuseppe Meazza, scored the decisive penalty while holding up his shorts with one hand after the elastic snapped. Brazil left out their star player Leônidas in the semi-final, believing they would save him for the final they never reached.Italy retained the World Cup.Then the world changed.The Second World War arrived. International football stopped. Twelve years would pass before another FIFA World Cup was played.This is the story of the final World Cup before the world went to war.#FootballFiles #WorldCup1938 #France1938 #Italy #Mussolini #GiuseppeMeazza #Leonidas #FIFAWorldCup #FootballHistory #SoccerHistory #FootballPodcast