00:05The list of the greatest sides never to win the World Cup is usually headed by the Dutch
00:10teams of the 1970s or Hungary in the 1950s. But increasingly forgotten to history is Austria's
00:18Wunder Team of the 1930s, a victim of both fascism and Nazism. At the 1934 World Cup, Hugo Meisel's
00:30squad was among the favourites, after beating Italy to win the 1932 Central European International
00:36Cup and demolishing Germany both 5-0 and 6-0. But they only made it to the semi-finals, where
00:46they lost by a single goal to hosts Italy. The decision to award the goal was controversial
00:52and not the only questionable call of a tournament used by dictator Benito Mussolini to promote
00:58fascism. Worse was to follow. Austria qualified for the 1938 World Cup in France to be staged
01:07in June of that year, but they withdrew after the Anschluss to Nazi Germany in March. Not
01:13only did Austria not compete, some of the best Austrian players were compelled to represent
01:17their invaders. But unlike Italy's triumph overseen by Mussolini, Germany would have no such good
01:26fortune falling in the opening round to Switzerland. It was Germany's worst ever World Cup finals performance
01:33until 2018. The star player of the Wunder Team was Matthias Sindelar, nicknamed the Paperman for his slight
01:43build. He won the World Cup silver ball in 1934, but refused to play for Germany in 1938. In 1939,
01:53he was found dead in Vienna of carbon monoxide poisoning that some believe was not an accident.
01:59Foreigner is the first station ofندrod.
02:00He was the Atlantic City in England in 1934, but only stopped by the Northern foreign units
02:00trolled. If nobody was a member of...
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