England v Hungary (1953) refers to the first time the England football team were beaten at home by continental opposition.
The game took place on November 25, 1953 at Wembley Stadium and included many names that are now well-known to football fans. For England, there were players such as Billy Wright and Stanley Matthews, while Hungary - who were Olympic champions and undefeated in three years - fielded Sandor Kocsis, Nándor Hidegkuti and Ferenc Puskás.
First Half
The Hungarians took the lead within 60 seconds as Hidegkuti scored, but England soon equalised through Sheffield Wedenesday'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 'English style' of play with great success. 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 and then he 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 great football teams.
Discussion
According to some sources, 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.
Statistics tell the story of the game: Hungary had 35 shots compared to England's 5.
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, 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!"
Although information about the England players on that day has been hard to obtain, it is known that only 3 of Hungary's starting 11 that day are still alive: Grosics, Buzanszky and Puskás.
Teams
Hungary:
- Scorers: Hidegkuti (3), Puskás (2), Bozsik
England:
- Scorers: Sewell, Mortensen, Ramsey
Footnote
- 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 1948.
Last updated: 06-06-2005 01:59:18
