#2 Cuba – 1938
The tiny island nation of Cuba took advantage of the withdrawal of the rest of the Cental/North American nations from the 1938 World Cup in France to qualify unopposed. The Cubans were drawn against a strong Romanian side in the first round.
The plucky Caribbean nation took the lead twice before settling for a 3-3 draw against the Carpathians after extra time. Hector Soccoro (2) and Jose Magrina would be the scorers for Cuba. With no penalty shootouts in practice then, the match was replayed at the Stade Chapou in Toulouse.
Stefan Dobay would give the Romanians a 1-0 advantage at half time, but Soccoro would even things up five minutes after the break.
In the 57th minute, Cuba would score the second past the Romanians and the match would finish in favour of the Americans. The scorer of the second goal is still unknown with many official records contradicting the name of the player as Tomas Fernandez and Carlos Oliveira.
Cuba would face Sweden for a place in the semi-finals, but their luck ran out at the Stade du Fort Carre. Gustav Wetterstrom would score a hattrick in 12 minutes and Harry Andersson would bag a hat-trick of his own as the Swedes brushed aside Soccoro and co. 8-0 to book a semi-final date with Hungary.
