Friday May 14th 2021
Austria versus Hungary 1950
A belated historical defeat
The Hungarian national football team remained undefeated for more than four years from 1950. On May 14th of that year, however, the team around Ferenc Puskas made a guest appearance in Vienna – and lost. The extraordinary series ends tragically in several ways.
The 62,000 fans in the jam-packed Prater Stadium had no idea what a rare event they were attending. Actually, they just attended an international match between Austria and Hungary. The Alpine republic took the lead three times, conceded the equalizer three times and ultimately won 5: 3 (2: 2). It was a spectacular goal on May 14, 1950, a pleasure for the audience – and at the same time the last bankruptcy of the Hungarians for years.
Because after the defeat of Vienna, the Magyars ushered in a new era in world football. For years, Ferenc Puskas, Nandor Hidegkuti, Sandor Kocsis and Co. swept their opponents off the field, the team of coach Gusztav Sebes developed an unprecedented dominance. “When we attacked, everyone attacked, and it was the same in defense. We were the prototype of ‘total football’,” said Puskas later.
The Hungarians set milestones with their then revolutionary style of play. The so-called “miracle eleven” was the first non-British team to win in England in 1953 (6: 3), six months later they even inflicted the biggest bankruptcy to date on the motherland of football with a 7: 1. 31 games in a row without defeat was a world record that was only set by Argentina in 1993.
The Sebes-Elf remained bankrupt for a full 1512 days – but they were denied the coronation. After all, the run of success ended at the most inopportune time. In the final of the 1954 World Cup, they lost 3-2 after a 2-0 lead against the German team. There remains the bitter flaw of the golden Hungarian generation, which can only point to Olympic gold in Helsinki 1952 as a really tangible success.
Because as early as 1956 and thus before the next World Cup, the supremacy crumbled. Some stars fled to Western European leagues after a popular uprising and were therefore no longer considered for the national team. In addition, the successful coach Sebes was dismissed. The golden era was over, as early as the 1958 World Cup, Hungary failed quite miserably in the preliminary round – and has not returned to the top of the world to this day.
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