In 1930, Patenaude was called into the
U.S. national team for the
1930 FIFA World Cup. In that cup, he scored a goal in the U.S. opener against
Belgium, then a hat trick in the 3–0 victory over
Paraguay. Following the U.S. elimination by
Argentina in the semifinals, the U.S. went on an exhibition tour of South America, ending with a 4–3 loss to
Brazil in which Patenaude scored his sixth and final U.S. goal and never again appeared with the national setup. Patenaude's record of four goals in one World Cup remains the standard for an American player. Additionally, his total stood as the all-time career mark for an American player until
Landon Donovan notched his third, fourth, and fifth career World Cup goals at the
2010 edition.
World Cup hat-trick Patenaude's historic day came on July 17, 1930, as the United States played
Paraguay in the
inaugural World Cup. Patenaude scored the opening goal in the tenth minute. A second goal in the fifteenth minute had been credited several different ways: as an own goal by
Aurelio González (according to the RSSSF), a regular goal by the U.S.'s
Tom Florie (according to the official FIFA match record), or as Patenaude's second goal (according to the
United States Soccer Federation). A fiftieth-minute goal by Patenaude gave the U.S. a 3–0 win over the South Americans. The dispute and discrepancies over the second goal had led to confusion over the first-ever World Cup hat-trick, as Argentina's
Guillermo Stábile scored one against
Mexico just two days after the U.S.-Paraguay game. FIFA announced on November 10, 2006, that Patenaude was the first person to score a hat-trick in World Cup play, confirming that he scored all three goals. Patenaude was inducted into the
U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame in 1971. He died in Fall River on his sixty-fifth birthday. ==Career statistics==