The 1930 FIFA World Cup was the inaugural world championship for international association football teams – the FIFA World Cup. It was played in Uruguay from 13 July to 30 July. Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) selected Uruguay as host nation as the country would be celebrating the centenary of its independence, and the Uruguay national football team had successfully retained their football title at the 1928 Summer Olympics. All matches were played in the Uruguayan capital, Montevideo, the majority at the Estadio Centenario, which was built for the tournament. Thirteen teams, seven from South America, four from Europe and two from North America entered the tournament. The teams were divided into four groups, with the winner of each group progressing to the semi-finals. Lucien Laurent of France scored the first goal in World Cup history. Argentina, Uruguay, the US and Yugoslavia each won their respective groups to qualify for the semi-finals. In the final, hosts and pre-tournament favourites Uruguay defeated Argentina 4–2 in front of a crowd of 93,000 people, and became the first nation to win a World Cup.

Read the rest of this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1930_FIFA_World_Cup

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1789:

French Revolution: Jacques Necker was dismissed as Director-General of Finances of France, sparking public demonstrations in Paris that led to the Storming of the Bastille three days later. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Necker

1921:

The Irish War of Independence ended with a truce between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the Irish Republican Army, resulting in negotiations that eventually led to the Anglo-Irish Treaty and the establishment of the Irish Free State. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_War_of_Independence

1960:

American author Harper Lee's novel To Kill a Mockingbird, featuring themes of racial injustice and the destruction of innocence in the American Deep South, was first published. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Kill_a_Mockingbird

1995:

Bosnian Genocide: Bosnian Serb forces began the Srebrenica massacre in the region of Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, eventually killing an estimated total of 8,000 Bosniaks. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srebrenica_massacre

2006:

A series of seven bombs exploded over a period of 11 minutes on the Suburban Railway in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, killing 209 people and injuring over 700 others. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/11_July_2006_Mumbai_train_bombings

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

profligate (adj): 1. Inclined to waste resources or behave extravagantly. 2. Immoral; abandoned to vice http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/profligate

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

I can never join with my voice in the toast which I see in the papers attributed to one of our gallant naval heroes. I cannot ask of heaven success, even for my country, in a cause where she should be in the wrong. Fiat justitia, pereat coelum. My toast would be, may our country always be successful, but whether successful or otherwise, always right. --John Quincy Adams http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Quincy_Adams