In 1953, the English football team still proudly displayed that no non-British team had won on its territory. The statistic exploded on November 25 of that year, when the best Hungarian team of all time took center stage at Wembley and won by a resounding 3-6 in front of 105,000 spectators. Hungary had won the last Olympic gold and the friendly confrontation was announced as “the match of the century.” The next day The Times certified the expression. The lucky spectators who witnessed the meeting had attended, the London newspaper headlined, at The Match of the Century. And so it went down in history.
The Hungary of the fifties was a revolutionary team, ahead of its time, facing a canonical England, which based its football on traditional weapons: speed and physical power to drive the ball as quickly as possible towards the ends and propel it to the heart of the area. . Hungary was the Ajax of the seventies, the Milan of the nineties, the Barça of the 21st century… twenty, forty or sixty years before. One of the lucky attendees of the historic match was Bobby Robson, then a 20-year-old young man who played for Fulham, and he was amazed: “It’s as if we had seen Martians play.” In less than half an hour the score was 1-4 and at the end of the match the Hungarians had shot on goal 35 times, compared to just five for the local team. The final score did not reflect the enormous superiority of football of astonishing modernity. As the chronicles reflected, Hungary constantly alternated between short and long play, apparent moments of calm with accelerations to place the ball behind the English defenders. It was an unstoppable team that also had a tactical secret that has nourished the best teams of all time: the false 9, the theoretical center forward who broke tradition and instead of fighting hand-to-hand with the tank defenders, delayed his position and dismantled the rival’s coverage.
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The Hungarians advanced to the Ajax of the 70s, the Milan of the 90s and the Barça of the 21st century
As Martí Perarnau explains in his treatise The tactical evolution of football“the best forwards in history have been false 9”. And he cites Piendibene, Messi, Sindelar, Cruyff, Pedernera, Maradona, Sárosi, Di Stéfano… before clarifying that “the majority of them did not always play as a false 9, but only on occasions.” Also at specific moments were Pelé, Kopa, Bobby Charlton, Laudrup… Cruyff was not with Ajax, but very often with Barça and with the Dutch team. Di Stéfano revolutionized the Spanish league with his delayed position. Pep Guardiola’s tactical subtlety is well remembered in the memorable 2-6 at the Bernabéu (May 2, 2009) by inventing a new position for Messi and unhinging the two centre-backs who were waiting for him in the area, Metzelder and Cannavaro. It was one of the greatest modern displays of a false 9 on a pitch.
In that Hungary that marveled at Wembley, the false 9 was one of the greatest of all time: Nándor Hidegkuti, delayed from his natural position to provide golden balls to Sándor Kocsis and Ferenc Puskás, the two advanced interiors. To further confuse their rivals, the wingers, László Budai and Zoltán Czibor, slightly delayed their position. Hidegkuti, supported by József Bozsik, fulfilled another of the false 9’s missions: it was essential to take advantage of the wide avenue that opens up due to the indecisions of the central defenders. “A false 9 without a goal is not a true false 9” (Guardiola). In the famous Wembley match, Hidegkuti scored three goals. Messi reached 73 in one season, only with Barcelona.
“A new conception of football has been born, we have witnessed the twilight of the gods,” he explained. The Times. Hungary remained unbeaten from May 1950 until the 1954 World Cup final. Before, on May 23 of that year, England asked for revenge, this time in Budapest. The Hungarians won 7 to 1.
The diaspora
From Honved to the Spanish League
In the 3-6 in London, Grosics lined up (who stood out for daring to leave the area and play with his feet!); Buzánszky, Lóránt, Lantos; Bozsik, Zakarias; Budai, Kocsis, Hidegkuti, Puskás and Czibor. The fabulous team was dismembered following the Soviet invasion of 1956. Several players were on tour with Honved and preferred not to return to their country. Puskás ended up at Real Madrid, where he played until he was 38 years old. Kocsis and Czibor joined Barcelona. Kocsis played for Barça between 1958 and 1965 and Czibor did so from the same year until 1961. Then he moved to Espanyol. Hidegkuti did not belong to Honved, but to MTK, and remained with the team until his retirement in 1958.
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