July 17, 1930 – Bert Patenaude completes first World Cup hat trick. U.S. 3:0 Paraguay, Parque Central (Att.: 18,306)

Bertrand Arthur Patenaude (b. Nov. 4, 1909 in Fall River, Mass.) scored in the 10^th, 15^th and 50^th minutes as the U.S. produced its second successive 3-0 result, advancing to the semifinals of the inaugural World Cup. Patenaude, 20, was the youngest player on the U.S. roster, and ended up third in scoring with four goals in the World Cup.

According to team manager W.R. Cummings’ report: “ … after gathering three markings which [Patenaude] crashed against the rigging from wing centers we rested on our oars to sort of save ourselves for the semi-finals.”

Three of the top U.S. players were also the team’s youngest: James Brown and Billy Gonsalves (Patenaude’s teammate with Fall River FC), both 21, and Patenaude.

On the return trip, Patenaude scored twice (and Gonsalves once) as the U.S. lost, 4-3, to Brazil in Rio de Janeiro. Patenaude had four goals in five matches against club teams (Nacional, Peñarol, Santos, Sao Paulo, Botafogo) as the U.S. competed in Brazil and Uruguay. Remarkably, Patenaude had eight goals disallowed (the U.S. had 10 goals negated) in return trip games, according to Cummings.

Only Gonsalves remained with the team for the 1934 World Cup, Brown having moved on to play for Manchester United and Patenaude being suspended by his club team, so not selected by the U.S. national team. The Brazil game would be Patenaude’s final international appearance – he totaled six goals in four U.S. national team matches.

Patenaude converted 119 goals in 125 games with five teams from 1928-31 in the ASL, according to Colin Jose’s “American Soccer League 1921-1931/The Golden Years of American Soccer.”

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