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England 3 Hungary 6 #10. GREATEST FOOTBALL MATCHES EVER PLAYED! Voted for by over 1,000 supporters. Each programme we will run from 10 right down to the greatest ever football match played.
Friendly, Wembley, November 25, 1953 The match that changed the game. Hungary arrived in England as Olympic champions and undefeated for three years, prompting the English press to call the friendly “the match of the century”. It was England’s first defeat on home soil by continental opposition, and the emphatic 6-3 scoreline led captain Billy Wright to acknowledge: “We completely underestimated the advances that Hungary had made, and not only tactically. 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 Mortensen and said: ‘We should be all right here, Stan, they haven’t got the proper kit.” England were unprepared for the Hungarian 4-2-4 formation. Nandor Hidegkuti was wearing the No 9 shirt but played in midfield, and his marker, centrehalf Harry Johnston, ended up getting pulled out of position. Hungarian forwards Sandor Kocsis and Ferenc Puskas were continually swapping positions, confusing the English defence and prompting The Times correspondent Geoffrey Green
to describe Wright as “a fire engine heading for the wrong fire”.
Hungarians beat England again, 7-1 in Budapest.
Hidegkuti scored after just 90 seconds. England equalised through Jackie Sewell but Hungary roared back with three more goals before half-time. Mortensen added a second for England before the break but Hungary score twice more in the second half. Alf Ramsey got England’s third, a penalty.
Line-ups
Tom Finney, who watched England’s woe from the Wembley stands, spoke for everyone when he said: “I came away wondering to myself what we had been doing all these years.” Six months later the
England: Merrick - Ramsey, Eckersley - Wright, Johnston, Dickinson - Matthews, Taylor, Mortensen, Sewell, Robb. Goals: Sewell 13, Mortensen 38, Ramsey pen 57. Hungary: Grosics (Geller 76) - Lorant, Buzanszky, Zakarias, Lantos - Bozsik, Hidegkuti Budai, Kocsis, Puskas, Czibor. Goals: Hidegkuti 2, 20, 53, Puskas 24, 27, Bozsik 50. Referee: Horn (Holland). Att: 100,000.