 Stade du Parc Lescure, venue | |||||||
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| Date | 12 June 1938 | ||||||
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| Venue | Stade du Parc Lescure,Bordeaux | ||||||
| Referee | Pál von Hertzka (Hungary) | ||||||
| Attendance | 22,021 | ||||||
TheBattle of Bordeaux (Czech:Bitva u Bordeaux,Portuguese:Batalha de Bordéus,French:Bataille de Bordeaux) is an informal name for theWorld Cupfootball match betweenBrazil andCzechoslovakia on 12 June 1938 in theParc Lescure inBordeaux,France, one of the quarter-finals of the1938 World Cup finals. The match had a series of brutal fouls by both sides, due to the lax officiating of HungarianrefereePál von Hertzka.
At the match, which also opened the rebuiltStade du Parc Lescure, Brazil took the lead 1–0, with Czechoslovakia equalizing on apenalty kick for ball handling byDomingos da Guia. The BrazilianZezé Procópio was sent off after fourteen minutes. The BrazilianArthur Machado and the CzechoslovakJan Říha were sent off just before full time.[1] It was the first time that three players were sent off in a World Cup match, a record that was equalled at theBattle of Berne 1954 between Hungary and Brazil, and exceeded at the2006 World Cup match between Portugal and Netherlands. CaptainFrantišek Plánička andOldřich Nejedlý from Czechoslovakia suffered a broken right arm and right leg respectively in the mayhem. Their teammateJosef Košťálek was injured in the stomach.
The match was drawn 1–1 after 90 minutes of full-time, and a 30-minute extra time had to be played. Nejedlý had abandoned the game before the end of regulation time due to his injury, but Plánička stayed at the Czechoslovak goal in pain through the rest of the second half and the extra time. Three other Brazilians, includingLeônidas andPerácio, also left the field with injuries.[2][3][4][5][6][7]
Because of the troubling effect of the first game, both teams had to make many changes to their line-ups (nine for Brazil and five for Czechoslovakia). Czechoslovakia took the lead throughVlastimil Kopecký in the 25th minute, but in the second half, stand-in captain Leônidas levelled the score for Brazil. Soon after, the referee disallowed a goal byKarel Senecký, despite the Czechoslovak players stating that it had crossed the line. The European representatives continued to attack following that moment, leaving space for the Brazilians to swiftly counter, which debutantRoberto took advantage of to score his nation's second goal.[8] Brazil won and advanced to the semi-finals, where they faced eventual championsItaly.[2][3][7]
         Brazil |   Czechoslovakia
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Assistant referees: |
1938 FIFA World Cup finalists | |
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| Champions | |
| Runners-up | |
| Third place | |
| Fourth place | |
| Quarter-finals | |
| First round | |
