Match of the Century (1953 England v Hungary football match)

England v Hungary (1953) refers to a seminal and historic football match that ended England's unbeaten home run against sides from outside the British Isles that had stood since 1901.

It was an anxiously anticipated matchup between the Olympic champions, Hungary, who had been unbeaten in three years (but had survived a scare against George Raynor's Sweden a fortnight before this match) and 'the inventors of the game', England. The British press dubbed it "The Game of the Century". The result was so devastatingly unequivocal that it revolutionised the game in England, for it highlighted the naivity of perpuating a system whereby the centre-back would, obviously, 'accommodate' the opposing centre-forward. The Hungarians had developed a system of play which made such a system redundant and which allowed them to convert any weaknesses in defence by relying on an attacking formation that freed them from the encumbrance of man-for-man marking.

Hugo Meisl, the famous sport's writer, coined the phrase 'The Whirl' out of homage to the movement of the Hungarian players, especially Nandor Hidegkuti. At one time Hidegkuti would retrieve the ball from his own defence, at others be passing to the inside-forwards in the opposition penalty area. In the 1970s Holland would champion a similar style (then dubbed 'Total Football'). The Hungarians had also seen the virtue of creating fitness regimes as well as a 'club-like' policy at international level to give impetus to innumerable practice sessions; most of their players played for the State-sponsored Army team Honved. The effect of seeing such a demonstration had a shocking effect on those in attendance, not least two future England manager's Ron Greenwood (later West Ham United's influential manager) and Sir Bobby Robson.

The game took place on November 25, 1953 in English football's hallowed cathedral, old Wembley Stadium, and included many famous names that are now well-known in football lore. For England, there were players such as Billy Wright and Stanley Matthews, while Hungary fielded a talented lineup led by captain Ferenc Puskás, Sándor Kocsis, and Nándor Hidegkuti. The referee was the Dutchman Leo Horn. The differences between the two teams were apparent before kick-off. Billy Wright said "we completely underestimated the advances that Hungary had made, and not only tactically. When we walked out at Wembley that afternoon, side by side with the visiting team, I looked down and noticed that the Hungarians had on these strange, lightweight boots, cut away like slippers under the ankle bone. I turned to big Stan Mortenson and said, 'We should be alright here, Stan, they haven't got the proper kit'." (Quoted from Puskas on Puskas, Hardcover: 240 pages Publisher: Robson Books Ltd (23 Oct 1998) ISBN: 1861050836. Hungary won the kick-off and Puskas balanced the ball in the centre-circle. Something alien to English eyes.

First Half

The Hungarians took the lead within 60 seconds as Hidegkuti scored from 15 yards after receiving a pass from Boszik, but England soon equalised through Sheffield Wednesday's Jackie Sewell, who had been set up by a well-timed pass from Stan Mortensen. The Hungarians, however, were not to be outdone and three more goals followed from a team copying the 'British style' of play with great success; commentators even likened the Hungarian pattern of play to that the 'Wembley Wizards' had demonstrated back in 1928. Hidegkuti struck the first of these following an unsuccessful attempt from England to clear the ball. Ferenc Puskás added another to make it 3-1 (a goal Geoffrey Green in The Times was to famously refer to in his match report. Billy Wright (covering on the edge of the goal area raced past Puskas who dragged the ball back before shooting over Merrick) was, according to Green, 'like a fire engine going to the wrong fire'). Puskas then diverted a József Bozsik free-kick into the net to make it 4-1 to Hungary.

Shortly before half-time, Stan Mortensen scored a goal for England, giving them hope as the whistle blew.

Second Half

Ten minutes after the restart, Bozsik scored and then Hidegkuti completed his hat-trick to make the score 6-2 to Hungary. Alf Ramsey later managed to score a penalty for England, but the game ended 6-3 to Hungary and a famous victory had been won by one of the greatest football teams that century, and the centre of world football had shifted eastward across the channel. Pat Ward-Thomas in The Guardian wrote that toward the end: 'England was having more of the ball than before and Matthews was making openings in spite of rigorous attention from Lantos. But England's refusal to shoot quickly was pathetic in its pottering hesitancy, arising from that accursed disease of making sure'.

Six months later, on May 23, 1954, the Golden Team of Hungary gave a masterclass in the sport's new offensive nature in Budapest against the same outpaced English side with an 7-1 win that heralded a new world order in football. It still ranks as England's worst defeat.

Discussion

England were unprepared for the Hungarian 4-2-4 formation. With Hidegkuti playing in midfield but wearing the no. 9 shirt, Harry Johnston, the England centre half, marked him, but ended up getting pulled out of position when Hidegkuti drifted around the pitch. England were also undone by the use of Kocsis and Puskás as the main strikers. As these two were wearing nos. 8 and 10 respectively, England thought they were inside forwards. This led to uncertainty about who should mark them. To further confuse the English players, the Hungarian forward players were continually swapping positions, confusing their inflexible defence.

Sir Bobby Robson said of the game: "We saw a style of play, a system of play that we had never seen before. None of these players meant anything to us. We didn't know about Puskas. All these fantastic players, they were men from Mars as far as we were concerned. They were coming to England, England had never been beaten at Wembley - this would be a 3-0, 4-0 maybe even 5-0 demolition of a small country who were just coming into European football. They called Puskas the 'Galloping Major' because he was in the army - how could this guy serving for the Hungarian army come to Wembley and rifle us to defeat? But the way they played, their technical brilliance and expertise - our WM formation was kyboshed in 90 minutes of football. The game had a profound effect, not just on myself but on all of us." Robson went onto say: "That one game alone changed our thinking. We thought we would demolish this team - England at Wembley, we are the masters, they are the pupils. It was absolutely the other way."

http://www.zoltech.net/h/hufoci.html

But the Hungarians were to be found out later, the next year, in the World Cup held in Switzerland. Under Sepp Herberger, Germany were to beat them 3-2 in the 1954 World Cup Final. David Miller in Cup Magic referring to that defeat argued cogently that the German staff had realised that so dominant had the Hungarians become that they neglected to mark attacking players. By the time of the 1958 World Cup the core of the great Hungarian side had vanished. Brian Glanville in The Story of the World Cup, p. 67 wrote 'It seemed as if ... Hungary had found a way of preparation which was ideal. Yet when the smoke cleared, when Puskas and Kocsis decamped [in 1956], it became perfectly clear that all we had been seeing was an illustration of Walter Winterbottom's dictum that every great team is built round a core of great players. While Kocsis and company were present, every man looked a giant, Sebes was a wizard, Mandi an inspired manager. When they went, the fabulous structure of Hungarian football proved to be nothing of the sort ...'

Statistics tell the story of the game: Hungary had 35 shots compared to England's 5. The English fans lived up to their then reputation as good sports and stood and clapped as the Hungarians left the field.

When a reunion was held in the early 1970s, Sir Alf Ramsey greeted one of his team-mates on that day by saying, "Er, hello...it is Bill [Eckersley], isn't it?' This prompted Puskás to remark, "It was like that when they played us - the team hardly seemed to know each other's names!" Of England's 11 players that day, only Merrick, Sewell and Robb are still living. Hungary's team that day also has only 3 survivors: Grosics, Buzánszky and Puskás.

England v Hungary 1953

Wembley Stadium, London, November 25, 1953

England

3 - 6

Hungary

Attendance: 100 000 spectators <br\> Referee: Horn (Holland) <br\>

Scorers:
England: 3: 13' Jackie Sewell 1-1, 38' Stanley Mortensen 2-4, 57' Alf Ramsey 3-6
Hungary 6: 1'(90 seconds) Nandor Hidegkuti 0-1, 20' Nandor Hidegkuti 1-2, 24' Ferenc Puskas 1-3, 27' Ferenc Puskas 1-4, 50' Josef Boszik 2-5, 53' Nandor Hidegkuti 2-6

England: Gil Merrick (Birmingham City)(c) - Alf Ramsey (Tottenham Hotspur}, Bill Eckersley (Blackburn Rovers) - Billy Wright (Wolverhampton Wanderers) (c), Harry Johnston (Blackpool}, Jimmy Dickinson (Portsmouth) - Stanley Matthews (Blackpool), Eddie Taylor (Blackpool}, Stan Mortensen (Blackpool}, Jackie Sewell (Sheffield Wednesday), George Robb (Tottenham Hotspur} Coach: Walter Winterbottom

Hungary: Gyula Grosics (Honved) (Italic textsub Italic text Sandor Geller (MTK Budapest) , Jeno Buzansky (Dorog), Mihaly Lantos (MTK Budapest), Josef Boszik (Kispest-Honved), Gyula Lorant (Kispest-Honved), Joszef Zakarias (MTK Budapest), Laszlo Budai (Kispest-Honved), Sandor Kocsis (Kispest-Honved), Nandor Hidegkuti (MTK), Ferenc Puskas (Kispest-Honved), Zoltan Czibor (Kispest-Honved) Coach: Gustav Sebes

Footnote

1. England's first ever home defeat was by 3–1 to Scotland at Kennington Oval in 1877. Their first defeat to a team outside the four Home Nations was by 2–0 to the Republic of Ireland at Goodison Park in 1949.