Golden Team

As a Golden Elf ( Hungarian Aranycsapat ), the Hungarian national football team is known from 1950 to 1954. Between 14 May 1950 and 4 July 1954, the team remained undefeated in 32 competitive games in a row.

Team

1949 Gusztáv Sebes was appointed national coach of Hungary. Around captain Ferenc Puskás, he formed the team to the best Hungarian team that ever existed. The preparation of this legendary team knew all Hungarian citizens, and most football fans abroad by heart: Grosics Buzánszky, Lóránt, Lantos, Bozsik, Zakariás, Budai, Kocsis, Hidegkuti, Puskás, Czibor. Three of the choices players were of German origin, whose last names were Magyarised: Alexander Wagner, Sándor Kocsis as Ferdinand Kaltenbrunner Nándor Hidegkuti and Franz Purzeld as Ferenc Puskás. Outstanding players were captain Puskas, midfielder Bozsik, head specialist Kocsis, Striker Hidegkuti, Left Wing Czibor and goalie Grosics.

Training was the team of Gusztáv Sebes, who had carried out three footballing reforms largely: he had introduced new fitness concepts for his team, he played with a hanging tip, a center forward, the balls also from midfield won and also against the ball worked. Furthermore Sebes took the idea of the flexible footballer: Everyone should be able to perform various tasks; for example, defenders should move up in the attack to midfield and put further pressure on the opponent. Occasionally acted even goalkeeper Grosics as an additional defender, he came far out of his goal and also had footballing talent. While Sebes ' time played most of the teams in the so-called World Cup lineup, where the center forward was the attack lines in the center of two wingers. In the concept of the golden elf all three strikers could drop back into midfield, which is a very flexible 2-3-3-2- enabled system. Striker could change quickly between attack and defense and defense took over tasks of the attack with. The Golden Elf echoing one of the first, the concept of total football.

"If we are attacked, everyone attacked with when we were defending, it was the same. We were the prototype of total football. "

Olympic and European Cup victory

The series began on June 4, 1950, when they defeated in Warsaw Poland 5-2.

The first big title celebrated this so-called Wunderelf 1952 at the Olympic Games in Helsinki, as you could defeat 2-0 and thus win the gold medal in the final of Yugoslavia. Hungary had won every game and scored 20:2 goals.

They recorded the next success in 1953, when they won the European Cup has been held since 1948 the national soccer teams; a precursor of the European Football Championship, which was attended by addition Hungary Italy, Austria, Switzerland and Czechoslovakia. The decisive last match was won against Italy on 17 May 1953 in Rome, in front of 80,000 spectators 3-0. Puskás was with ten goals scorer of the competition.

Victory at Wembley

On November 25, 1953, was followed by the most spectacular play of the Golden Team, which one soon only the match of the century or just the 6:3 called. Hungary met at Wembley Stadium to the English national football team, which until then had never lost a home game against a team from outside the British Isles. The result was a superior 6-3 win. The Hungarians showed exciting attacking football and a 4 -2-4 lineup, which was considered revolutionary for its time. But the game system of the Golden Team was usually a 3-2-5, so with five forwards. The England football legend Sir Stanley Matthews said after the game: "They were the best team I've ever faced. They were the best of all time. "

World Cup 1954

The Hungarian national team eventually traveled in 1954 as the favorite for the World Cup in Switzerland. The group stage was survived easily outclassed in the second game with Germany 8:3. In the quarterfinals, they defeated vice world champions Brazil in the semifinals world champion Uruguay 4-2 each. In the final in Bern they met again on the German team. In a dramatic finale, the Hungarians lost entirely surprising for a 2-0 lead even with 2:3.

End of the era

The first defeat of the Golden Team for over four years sparked throughout Hungary disappointment and bitterness. The players were harassed by the Hungarian government and threatened with punishment. Members of the players, such as the father of the goalkeeper Gyula Grosics, lost her job. Goalkeeper Grosics had to leave Honvéd Budapest and play in a small provincial club. Nevertheless, the team began a new course of victory: Between July 1954 and February 1956 Hungary won 19 games 16 times and played in a draw. The series continued until 1956, when they lost against Turkey. Coach Sebes was dismissed despite this series in June 1956 and replaced by Márton Bukovi. Following the events after the suppression of the uprising in Budapest returned many players no longer of a trip to an away game of Honvéd Budapest at Athletic Bilbao back, played from then on Western European, especially Spanish clubs and were no longer considered for the national team. At the World Championship 1958 in Sweden the time of the golden elf was already over: Hungary failed in the first round.

Worth mentioning

• World record: 42 wins, 7 draws and one defeat ( World Cup Final 1954) of 4 June 1950 to February 19, 1956 (profit rate of 91 percent)
• World record 31 consecutive games undefeated ( June 4, 1950 to July 3, 1954 )
• World Record: 4 years and a month long undefeated ( June 4, 1950 to July 3, 1954 )
• World record: Most consecutive games in which at least each time a goal is scored: 73 ( April 10, 1949 to June 16, 1957 )
• The most successful striker pair Ferenc Puskás and Sándor Kocsis (159 goals)
• Most international goal in the 20th Century: Ferenc Puskas (84 goals)
• Most goals in a World Cup: 27 goals ( an average of 5.4 goals per game )
• Best goal difference in a World Cup tournament: 17
• Best goal - per - game average: Sándor Kocsis (2.2 )
• The only player to reach two hat-tricks in a World Cup tournament: Sándor Kocsis
• Hungarian National record: highest win a Hungarian Elf: 12:0 against Albania (23 September 1950)