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undertow

undertow

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Today marks the 60th anniversary of one of the most famous football games, England-Hungary 3-6.

How well remembered is it in England? I can tell you, there no chance Hungary will ever forget it ;)

 
It's still talked about as the day England were taught a footballing lesson. It was a historic defeat that made England take a real look at how they were being left behind in world football terms. It may well have helped them win the \world cup 13 years later, but it's debatable whether England has ever taken on board that their football is not as good as they'd like to think it is. Although, with the current team, manager and set-up, I don't think there are too many fans or journalists who have a high opinion of the national team.

It is a great shame that Hungary are no longer a football force. They should have won the world cup in 1954, so I'm told.

 
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For us it is still THE moment, though no wonder it is a sweeter memory than losing the WC final the next year.

Since then it's downhill, at the moment the English FA has a stellar performance compared to ours.

In '53 there was no TV service yet in Hungary so the whole country was glued to the radio broadcast (which was an iconic one). There was no video with Hungarian commentary until '96 when BBC donated one of their copies to MTV (Hungarian Television) and the original radio commentary was synced to it.

 
^
Arrogance/hubris is a nasty thing. World Cup history is peppered with spectacular downfalls resulting from it: Brazil in 1950, Hungary in 1954 (more like over confidence), Netherlands 1974 and arguably France 2006. Netherlands in 1978 wasn't far off either, the Argies made a good job of getting under their skins.

As for Hungary... they had been pissing on every side in sight for years. They had just won the 'Match of the Century' as you say against the only side unbeaten in World Cups and which they expected to be the biggest test for them. They had won 8-3 during the group stage...

Over-confidence, tiredness after a grueling ET win, and thus relaxing and taking their eye off the ball to some extent.

There's huge merit in Germany coming back for more after that 8-3 and succeeding, but don't underestimate how much the Magyars switched off.

 
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It seemed to be mostly about tiredness and energy levels to me. The Germans showed much higher stamina in the final than in the previous match. There are some conspiracy theories how that could be, though I never really believed them. They were better on that day so congrats to them.

 
Well, that was somewhat of a factor, I also think the weather worked massively in Germany's favour. It would have been very tough to beat Hungary on a modern pitch.

What's more is that Germany from 54' are the only WC winners to have not played a single team not from their own continent. If I recall correctly Turkey beat South Korea and lost to Germany and the Germans knew they had to play Turkey again if they lost the game to Hungary. Thus they fielded a reserve team in that 8-3 loss (one reason why I suppose you shouldn't read too much into it) and concentrated on the second game against Turkey. They won 7-2.

Cunning - get an easier draw, rest players and avoid injuries and lure the opposition into a false sense of superiority. The fixtures and group stage rules were truly f**ked up though. The whole thing about 1950 being a quadrangular to determine the champion was rubbish as well.

 
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Speaking of the weather having drastic effects on the pitches... one should also take into account how different the balls back then were from today. Nowadays they hardly absorb water and stay more-or-less the same throughout the match. Back then the keepers had incredible difficulty punting the balls out because they were so damned heavy and water-logged. When there was heavy rainfall the balls got heavier by the minute of course. If you mistimed your header you'd sort of stand there, groggy and all, for a few moments before you recovered. :laugh2:

Makes you wonder how much joy the likes of Puskas, Di Stefano, Charlton and Eusebio would have with today's balls.

 
Cheers for that, ersk. The Jimmy Hogan article was very good, and the point about the Magyars paving the way for what came to be known as total football in the 70s was spot on.

Taking a look at that 74' final in fact, both Bayern/Germany and A**x/Netherlands were at the heart of turning the game on its head. I've always held the opinion that the main difference was that at the heart of it all, the Dutch genius was a 'forward' and the German genius a 'defender', and that in that final steel and organisation prevailed over creativity and flair. A preview to the much more poignant and extreme example in 1982.

 
Teritus: No probs. I really enjoy reading good articles on football history.

Good points re the 1974 Final.

My old man has always stated that the worst thing that happened in that for the Dutch game was the fact that they scored so early.

 
erskblue said:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25055156

Good article on Jimmy Hogan

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/25060954

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazinee-25033749

Decent articles on 6-3 game.
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Thanks, good reads. The first one had a quote from Sándor Barcs (president of the Hungarian FA back then) but another could have been added from Gusztáv Sebes (I gues I don't have to tell he was the our coach :): "We played football as Jimmy Hogan taught us. When our football history is told, his name should be written in gold letters."

 
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