A flood of 13 goals at 50 pesetas each

There were no good winds for the Selection. On the contrary. The year 1933 was advancing and the feat of Antwerp 1920 was already distant in time and in the memory of fans. Spanish football was already professional in all its senses and with the League Championship underway, the objective was none other than to form a solvent national team that managed to qualify for the 1934 World Cup in Italy, which would be the first in Spanish football, after not go to Uruguay 1930.

The Selection came to play three games in the month of March and neither the game nor the results invited the spirited public of the time to go to the old Chamartín to witness the fourth and last game of the course. In addition, the rival, Bulgaria, did not raise a minimum expectation, even if it was an unprecedented rival in the 45 duels of the National Team, with the balance of 30 wins, seven draws and eight defeats.

Despite everything, in the end, the most unconditional fans perked up and filled the stadium without the rush of other afternoons. The clouds over the capital foreshadowed that a deluge could fall and it did. Two really fell: one of water with thunder and hail and the other unexpected of goals: 13, another more annulled to Elícegui and an endless number of occasions that could have raised the number of achievers to an even greater amount.

Five o'clock in the afternoon, with less light than usual due to the closed sky, was the scheduled time for the start and the general tickets were at the modest price of six pesetas. In the preliminary stages there was talk of suspension. The state of the grass could only get worse and the Bulgarians also complained that the ball was larger in circumference than they used in their country. Useless protest. There was no alternative. Spain wore a white shirt and blue pants and jumped onto the pitch under the chords of Riego's anthem. Bulgaria with its original: red.

The national team had not started badly with their triumph in Balaídos over the most common rival at the time, Portugal (3-0). Goals by rookies Larrinaga and Elícegui (2), but 20 days later at the Colombes stadium, France won by a solitary goal and demonstrated their superiority. The third match, a week later, also showed no improvement over Mateos. Draw (1-1) in Belgrade against Yugoslavia.

The coach was accused of not hitting the key in a position then vital to the performance of the team, that of midfield. In those three encounters he had tried Solé, Ayestarán and Valle and none had convinced him so he rescued one of his own, Gamborena (Real Unión) against Bulgaria, with two dozen internationalities on his legs.

Also for that meeting he decided to make Chacho, the left inside of Deportivo, make a constant claim for the ‘strong’ Galician Press. Who was going to tell José María Mateos that his latest addition was going to score half a dozen goals, when much of the blame for his call was due to the injury to Galé (Oviedo) who had played the previous two games in that area, in both being replaced by physical problems by Goiburu. Larrinaga had played against Portugal in that position, replaced by Polo, also due to injury.

The definitive eleven, an eleven for history because of how events took place, was the one formed by: Zamora (Real Madrid); Ciriaco (Real Madrid), Quincoces (Real Madrid); Ciaurren (Athletic), Gamborena (Real Unión), Marculeta (Real Sociedad); Prat (Spanish), Luis Regueiro (Real Madrid), Elícegui (Real Unión), Chacho (Deportivo) and Bosch (Spanish). Guillermo Eizaguirre (Seville), Quesada, Valle and Lazcano (Real Madrid) were also cited.

The scoring festival started very soon. It was confirmed that Bulgaria did not have the football entity to present a battle. In 20 minutes the first three of Chacho. The first, headed, to the center of Prat and the following two to separate passes from the other end, Bosch. Just at that minute, Zamora touched the ball for the first time … to get out of goal. Before the break, another three goals. Bosch puts the fourth and fifth in the heads of Luis Regueiro and Elícegui. And Chacho gave Elícegui himself, the sixth.

After receiving the fourth goal, the Bulgarian goalkeeper asked for the change. The fame that Dermonski came from – in his country they nicknamed the Zamora of the Balkans – was not reflected and gave way to Maznikov, who was also not up to it. The rain was getting worse at times and Chamartín was left half empty. The general fans looked for the seats on the platform and those who did not find them left for their home. The game was more than sentenced and the incentive of knowing how many goals the team was going to score was also not worth it to sink to the bone.

Seven more in the second part. Before Portuguese referee Palinhas sent Efrenov off for protesting in the 55th minute and left his own with ten, defender Mitchalov had scored a goal at his own door. It was useless that Zamora asked the referee not to expel the rival so that the match with the numerical superiority did not completely fade. Goal annulled to Elícegui before the final arreón. Third of Elícegui; Chacho's room, Luis Regueiro's second, again with his head; Chacho's fifth; Bosch premiere courtesy of Regueiro and sixth of Chacho to pass from Prat, the eternal assistant of the afternoon. The only stop for Zamora, who was playing his 40th game as an international, did not arrive until nine minutes after the end of the match.

The unusual result, 86 years and seven months later, continues to be the most bulky achieved by Spain in its entire history. And for the players it meant a good financial pinch. They took advantage of the new system of prizes that the coach himself had devised with the consent of the Federation. In addition to the victory bonus, 50 pesetas would be added for each goal scored. Precisely the incentive to pay for so many had been established so that in friendly matches like that, the players had extra motivation in addition to winning the match.

The chronicles tell that the federal president, Leopoldo García Durán and, above all, the secretary general, Ricardo Cabot, was not very happy to have to pay 650 pesetas to each player for the 13 goals, plus the 100, in other information he claims they were 200, predicted by the triumph. The collection of the meeting amounted to 80,000 pesetas.