"We will play in Glasgow..."
Jean Eskenazi | 01/10/1933

Come get me one morning at the Federation, Hugo Meisl had told me. We will have lunch together and we will talk a little.

I went to the invitation of the secretary general of the Austrian Federation and while eating wiener schutzer, we chatted a lot about football obviously and also a little about international politics which is the sweet hobby of Hugo Meisl.

The World Cup.

— What do you think of the World Cup? I said.

Meisl: In what respect?

— In all respects.

Meisl: Listen, I'm going to give you an idea for a contest. Ask this question: How much will the World Cup deficit be? Try it, you will see, you will have answers of a pessimism which will surprise you.

— From a sporting point of view?

Meisl: Certainly, it will be a very beautiful thing, but I am afraid that Italy will suffer the backlash.

The golden age of Italian football.

Meisl: Italian football has had a dangerous prosperity. Patronage in any form has never yielded good results.

» The players in Italy are overpaid, overwhelmed with gratuities, gifts. I'm going to quote you a very suggestive detail: a player like Orsi earns more on his own in a month than the eleven men of Wacker put together.

» Isn't that exaggerated? Huge mistakes are made in the clubs: Argentinian or Uruguayan footballers are hired almost with their eyes closed for periods of two or three years. They are now languishing, handsomely paid, in the reserves, parasites which seriously burden the budgets, which we cannot get rid of. I believe that the World Cup will mark the end of this situation, it would be a huge blessing to give back to Italian football.

— Ascended on the ridge, one yearns to descend.

Meisl: In Italy, continues Hugo Meisl, it is the dictatorship of the players. An Orsi brings rain and shine.

» We are in difficulty to find dates for the final of the Central European Cup because Meazza does not want to cut short his stay at sea! But I do not believe that similar practices lead to the desired outcome.

London-Vienna!

— So, after England, you're going to conquer Scotland?

Hugo Meisl smiles.

Meisl: We will try to do in Glasgow as well as in London. If we don't, it won't be, I'm sure, a lack of preparation. For this purpose I have specially arranged the calendar of the Austrian Championship.

— When will the match be played?

Meisl: November 29, at Hampden Park.

— You will play other matches?

Meisl: December 5 in London, and December 10 in Amsterdam against Holland.

— Against whom in London?

Meisl: Arsenal reinforced with players from West Ham, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspurs. It will mainly be an Arsenal team.

— You're not afraid to risk a national team against a club team?

Meisl: Why? I have always heard that Arsenal are better than the England team. And then that day we want to demonstrate the failure of a system: the W-tactic. As bizarre as it may seem to you, it is the best stimulant for us.

The future Wunderteam.

— Are you already thinking about the future Wunderteam?

Meisl: These are not the elements that are missing! Jimmy Hogan has promised to give Hiden to me until Glasgow, if he's fit.

— Major changes in perspective?

Meisl: The match takes place in November... but, barring unforeseen events, barring a sudden return to form, I think we'll see two new names: Stroh and Binder, who are precious for their shots.

— Gschweidl?

Meisl: I'm afraid his career is over. But anyway, until then, water has time to flow under the bridges, as we say back home.

» Against Scotland, as against England, we will sell our skin dearly.

» We saw, last year, at Stamford Bridge, that Austrian footballers are not that clumsy!