The English line-up was decided by a FA committee. Every player was nominated for a certain position and had to play this position.
The Hungarian line-up was decided by their coach. Especially their forwards didn´t care about positions.
You can see why Hungary won and England was very confused the whole game.
Extra info: The statistic was around 35:5 shots on goal for Hungary.
Extra info: The statistic was around 35:5 shots on goal for Hungary
And England scored 3? Damn
The Hungary coach decided to play without a keeper.
Gyula Grosics was one of the most revolutionary players on the team, arguably the first great sweeper-keeper.
I’ve heard about 100 different people be called ‘the first sweeper-keeper’ so I’ve learned to take that expression with a grain of salt
Selected like a cricket team.
1954 worldcup was for them
When I was in Budapest for the EL final I saw a huge mural of this result painted on some random residential building
Made me feel bad for Gil Merrick, who is slathered on there Even though as far as I can tell he was sort of left out to dry by a bad formation
To this day we hold “memorials” for the 3:6 but how come 7:1 doesn’t get the same treatment?
Because that was the first time England lost a game at home. The second time it happened they already knew England was bad and Hungary was very good.
*First time England lost at Wembley
Actually Ireland was the first team to beat England at home. September 1949. 2-0 at Goodison Park.
Doesn’t quite fit the narrative that they could only be beaten by the exotic Mighty Magyars though.
Playing against Ireland in Liverpool is an away game for England
😂😂
Scotland first beat England in 1877 and were the first team to beat them at Wembley. Wales and Ireland (original Ireland football team for the entire island) both beat England multiple times in England before 1953 but Hungary were the first continental European team to beat England in England which is why it’s so well known.
that was the first time England lost a game at home.
It wasn’t. It was the first home game they lost to a team from the European continent though.
The second time it happened they already knew England was bad and Hungary was very good.
I know what you mean, but genuinely that England team weren’t ‘bad’, Hungary were that good.
My grandfather was very proud of that result too. Not sure if this is true, but apparently the English training camp was in Balatonboglár, near where he lived at the time, and they were training here for a week (according to him anyway).
He kept saying a funny line in Hungarian which could be translated like this:
“Az angolok egy hétre jöttek, és 7:1re mentek”.
The english came for one week (1:7), and went back with 7:1 :)
One week sounds like “one seven” because seven and (a) week is the same word (hét) in Hungarian.
I’ve only ever known Italy vs Germany in the 1970 WC referred to as “The Game of the Century.” The stadium in Mexico even has a sign commemorating as such.
Estadio Azteca. Hosted the best team (1970 Brazil), the best match (ITA v GER 1970) and the best goal (Maradona v England)
According to Jonathan Wilson in his book “inverting the pyramid”, this game was a massive turning point in the understanding of formations. I don’t remember exact quotes but the English players were so confused by Nándor Hidegkúti’s false 9 role that they just helplessly watched unending Hungarian attacks and conceding lots of goals.
Something something Puskas and that Hungary team being really good. They would have won the final if Puskas wasn’t kicked off the field every game and there was normal refereeing in those days.
Next to Ramsey, what does ‘11-Esbol mean’?
To add on to the previous comments, 11-es is shorthand for “tizenegyes” (tizenegy means eleven). The suffix -ből means “from” in Hungarian.
Just looked it up and saw that Ramsey scored a penalty kick. 11-esbol would mean 11 meters and thus a penalty I think lol
Always forget Alf Ramsey was a player, in my head he’s always a middle aged bald man with a posh accent.
Fun fact.
The captain of the England team that lost 6-3 and 7-1 to Hungary was Billy Wright.
Billy Wright has a statue in front of Molineux Stadium in Wolverhampton.
The same Molineux where Hungary beat England 4-0 in the Nations League last year.
Maybe Billy Wright is just cursed?
Hungary beat England 4-0 at their home again in Nation league.
Why were England considered good by this time? They already had crashed out in the first round in Brazil losing two matches including against an amateur side.
The galloping major 👑
Billy Wright still at the shops decades later
born in 1924 and still in the mud. absolute shambles
My great grandpa used to tell me about Hungarian Laka Konjica when I was a wee lad. He told me that there was no football fan who didn’t love them
Was this to do with the Hungarians not using the only formation (the oddly named traditional 5-3-2) that the England players understood so they were stuck rigidly marking thin air?
In the quote he says England were playing a WM formation, which was 3-2-2-3.
Always felt bad for Gil Merrick. Very good goalkeeper by all accounts, one of the Birmingham City all time great players and managers, servant of the club for decades. Is known around the world for conceding 11 to Hungary when it probably wasn’t his fault.