1954 – France
Background and format
In contrast to the 1950 tournament, which had been boycotted by the Eastern bloc, the return of the tournament to Europe, saw the re-entry of communist sides, as well as Germany and Japan, who had both been barred from entering the previous tournament.
In Europe, at the international level at least, the centre of gravity had begun to shift eastwards – England had been beaten by Yugoslavia at the 1950 tournament and were humiliated by the same side, as well as the Hungarians, losing their proud unbeaten home record in the process.
[1] While Italy, Spain and France remained competitive, the national sides of the nonaligned central Europeans and the socialist nations of the east, had begun to establish themselves as forces to be reckoned with, confirmed in the minds of many by the USSR, Yugoslavia, Hungary and Germany making up the last four of the 1952 Olympic tournament.
[2]
England’s defeats to both Yugoslavia and Hungary proved to be watershed moments, with the realisation that the game had moved on from the British Isles evident in the 2-0 and 4-1 defeats to both nations, and persuaded the reform-minded FA General Secretary Stanley Rous to implement coaching seminars across the board, while reducing the power of the FA selection committee and leaving the majority of power in the coaching staff’s hands.
[3]
While international football in Europe appeared to be shifting further east, the tournament was hosted in one of Western Europe’s traditional powers: France. France, in the midst of a postwar boom and political stability
[4] had emerged from the war alongside Britain as the shaper of a new European consensus, with numerous continental organisations headquartered there including the Paris Treaty Organisation,
[5] the European Council for Trade & Industry,
[6] the Council of Europe and most importantly for the World Cup, FIFA itself.
France, like Brazil, had been chosen as host in 1946, and undertook a programme of stadium renovation and expansion, including the Parc des Princes in Paris, which would host the final, while games would be staged in the capital, Marseilles, Lille, Bordeaux, Strasbourg, Le Havre, Reims and Toulouse. Unlike Brazil four years earlier however, the French public and press didn’t expect their side to emerge as champions, and the French national team prepared for the tournament with a series of friendlies which saw mixed results.
The tournament format was the same as 1950 with one exception: if sides finished level on points and goal difference, a playoff would be held to determine who would qualify for the quarter-finals. Unlike in 1950 the sides would also be seeded to ensure that they were reasonably even. Squad numbers were now made official, while squads were mandated to be 22 players in size.
[7] The tournament also saw the beginnings of increased commercialism, though these were largely French companies who provided sponsorship.
[8] The tournament was also the first to be predominantly televised, though due to the novelty of the technology most public engagement was still through radio commentary and the press.
Qualification
In contrast to the qualifying for the 1950 tournament, qualification for 1954 was broadly organised via the respective continental confederations. France as hosts and Uruguay as holders qualified automatically, leaving fourteen places to be determined via qualification: ten for Europe
[9], three for the Americas and one for Asia.
In Europe, as with 1950, the 1952-53 and 1953-54 Home Championships were used as qualifying for the British sides, with England and Scotland again qualifying as the British representatives, though in contrast to 1950 expectations were less complacent. In the other groups, Belgium surprised Sweden, who had finished fourth in 1950 to qualify for their first tournament since 1938 and ensure that Sweden failed to qualify for the first time.
Germany, who had been disqualified from 1950, comfortably won their qualifying group to take part in the finals for the first time since they had hosted it in 1938. In contrast to that tournament, the national side was no longer representing the National Socialist regime, but a re-established democratic republic. Germany’s participation at a French hosted sporting event caused widespread comment in the French media, though the two nations enjoyed reasonably civil postwar relations. Germany’s qualification saw them play a qualifying game in Saarbrücken as a celebration of that territory’s return to Germany in 1952. The Germans, despite the long wait for the return of international football, proved too strong for the Danes and Norwegians, and comfortably qualified for the finals.
Elsewhere, Italy who had underwhelmed at the previous tournament, overcame a stuttering start to comfortably top their qualifying group ahead of Portugal and Luxembourg and qualify for the finals for the first time,
[10] while Austria competed for the first time since 1938 after finishing ahead of the Soviets and Irish. The remaining European berths were secured by Hungary, Olympic champions Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia while Egypt found themselves again acting as Africa’s lone representative.
While Europe saw mostly familiar names qualify, Asia’s qualifying path was more open, though the continent’s record at the finals was not one to write home about, with no Asian side having won a match at the finals. For 1954, the qualifying round grouped Korea, Japan, India, China and Vietnam into a round-robin group, with the qualifying matches representing Japan’s first since being readmitted to FIFA and Korea’s first as an independent nation.
[11] Korea, who had competed at the 1948 Olympics alongside India, comfortably topped the group, including a 5-1 thrashing of Japan in Tokyo, much to the delight of the Korean government. India, who had been expected to be the main challengers, struggled due to internal disputes between the AIFF and clubs and often failed to field their strongest side. Korea became the fourth Asian nation to qualify for the World Cup.
Finally, in the Americas it was largely business as usual with Brazil, still smarting from the failure of 1950 and Argentina joining Uruguay as South American representatives, though Argentina were lucky to do so, having secured their place via an offside goal against neighbours Paraguay. In the North, Mexico eased to qualification ahead of the United States, Haiti, Costa Rica and Cuba to make it a fourth finals out of five. Mexico, who had been confirmed as hosts for the 1958 World Cup in 1950 (thus moving the World Cup to a continent outside of Europe or South America for the first time) were still awaiting their first victory at the finals.
The teams
- France (hosts)
- Uruguay (holders)
- Argentina
- Austria
- Belgium
- Brazil
- Czechoslovakia
- Egypt
- England
- Germany
- Hungary
- Italy
- Korea (debut)
- Mexico
- Scotland
- Yugoslavia
FIFA designated eight seeds for the tournament: Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Hungary, Italy, Uruguay & Yugoslavia, with the remaining eight sides unseeded. The draw for the tournamnent was made on May 25 1954 and was as follows:
Group 1: France, Brazil, Egypt, Scotland
Group 2: Hungary, Argentina, Mexico, Czechoslovakia
Group 3: Urugay, England, Austria, Belgium
Group 4: Italy, Yugoslavia, Germany, Korea
Tournament summary
Group 1
France kicked off the tournament with a 1-0 win over Scotland, the only goal scored by Raymond Kopaszewski, who had previously scored for his club side Reims against Celtic in a 1953 friendly. While France, the game was not high on quality, though Scottish captain George Young was denied an equaliser by a superb save from French goalkeeper César Ruminski.
In the other game, Brazil playing in a new national strip
[12] subjected Egypt to a 5-0 thrashing, with Waldyr Pereira scoring a peach of a free-kick, with the flight and curve on the ball leaving Egyptian goalkeeper Abdel Heimada no chance.
[13] Brazil, though not yet fully shifted to a back four, also played a different style than its 1950 predecessor with the midfield focusing on patient passing and intelligent movement as much as feints and trickery.
In the next round of games, Brazil and France played out a 1-1 draw in scorching conditions in Marseilles, with Jean Vicent’s late equaliser denying Brazil victory. The match, despite the heat, was a competitive one with both sides committed to attack, though as the conditions took their toll the frenetic pace of the first half wound down, with the French seemingly resigned to defeat before an error from Moacir Barbosa
[14] allowed Vincent to steal an equaliser. Scotland, meanwhile, secured their first World Cup victory with a 2-0 victory over Egypt, with Bobby Johnstone and Allan Brown scoring in either half, giving Scotland a chance of making the knockout stages if they could pull off an upset against Brazil in the final round.
The final round of fixtures saw France ease past Egypt 2-1, thanks to two goals from André Strappe, though the French struggled to maintain fluency, and were lucky that Egyptian appeals for a penalty following a robust tackle on Mohamed Diab al-Attar by French captain Roger Marche were denied by the Welsh referee. Nevertheless, the win saw France qualify for the quarter finals, and restored a measure of pride to the Egyptians who finished last.
Scotland, required a win to make the knockout stages while Brazil needed a draw – the result was a game which saw the Brazilians taken by surprise by an early lead before, eventually, securing a comfortable win over committed if limited opponents. The Scots, playing much better than they had done in Brazil four years early, began the game brightly with Waldyr Pereira largely nullified through the diligent man-marking of Scottish defender Bobby Evans, and took the lead through Ernie Copland, who was making his international debut.
[15] Despite their diligent defensive effort, Scotland began to tire in the second half before Tatu Rodrigues equalised for Brazil in the 60th minute before Brazilian captain José Bauer scored the winner.
[16] As a result, Brazil topped the group with France finishing second, while Scotland exited having restored a measure of pride following their abject performance in 1950. Egypt, Africa’s perennial representative, still awaited the opportunity to add to their sole victory in 1930.
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Points |
1 | Brazil | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 2 | +6 | 5 |
2 | France | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 5 |
3 | Scotland | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2 |
4 | Egypt | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 9 | -8 | 0 |
Results
June 16 France 1-0 Scotland
June 16 Brazil 5-0 Egypt
June 19 France 1-1 Brazil
June 19 Scotland 2-0 Egypt
June 22 Egypt 1-2 France
June 22 Brazil 2-1 Scotland
Group 2
Group 2, on paper at least, looked relatively even balanced with only perennial whipping boys Mexico not expected to offer much.
[17] Hungary, with their intelligent movement and passing played an evolved version of the 1930s Mitteleuropa style which had been common across the former Habsburg realms, while the Czechoslovaks played a more conservative version of the same style.
[18] The Argentines took an aging squad largely built around individual flair with 35 year old Ángel Labruna captaining the side. Despite the age profile of the squad, Argentina’s strong performance in Brazil four years earlier with largely the same team created expectations of success in Buenos Aires, with the government of José Tamborini declaring that the team would return conquerors of Europe.
In the opening round of fixtures, Hungary equalled the record margin of victory at the world cup, by crushing Mexico 9-0, with Ferenc Purczeld, Péter Poteleczky scoring two goals each either side of a hat-trick from Sándor Kocsis and a goal a-piece from Mihály Lendenmayer and Zoltán Czibor. Hungary’s long unbeaten run had come to an end in the 1952 Olympic final but including the game against Mexico they had scored forty goals in seven matches.
[19] In the other opening game, Argentina were rudely awakened by how far European football had advanced, as Czechoslovakia swept them aside 4-1. Indeed as Brian Glanville noted in
The Times the result could have been even harder on the Argentines if the Czechs hadn’t eased up in the last twenty minutes, with Argentina’s sluggish defence only containing one player under the age of thirty.
[20]
The second round of fixtures saw Hungary comfortably dispatch their Czechoslovak neighbours 2-0 with Nándor Hidegkuti, reprising the withdrawn role from which he had tormented England in 1953, scoring both goals either side of half time. The game, despite the routine manner of the Hungarian victory was notable for Purczeld suffering an ankle injury following a robust tackle from Czech captain Ladislav Novák.
[21] While Purczeld, would sit out the game against Argentina, he would return to the Hungary side for the knockout stage, despite being below his best.
Argentina restored a measure of pride with an 3-0 victory over Mexico, though the game was a bad-tempered affair, with both sides having a player sent off following a mass brawl sparked by a bad foul on Labruna by Mexican defender Jorge Romo, though after a degree of order had been restored by Spanish referee Manuel Asensi the remaining fifteen minutes passed without incident.
In the final round of fixtures, Hungary made several changes to their starting eleven, with József Tóth scoring twice in a 3-1 victory, sending Hungary through to the quarter-finals with an enviable record. Argentina, meanwhile, returned home in disgrace though they still had a way to go before the nadir of 1958. Czechoslovakia qualified for the quarter-finals with a comfortable 4-0 victory over Mexico who again exited the world cup without securing a point.
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Points |
1 | Hungary | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 1 | +13 | 6 |
2 | Czechoslovakia | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 3 | +5 | 4 |
3 | Argentina | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 7 | -3 | 2 |
4 | Mexico | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 16 | -16 | 0 |
Results
June 17 Hungary 9-0 Mexico
June 17 Czechoslovakia 4-1 Argentina
June 20 Czechoslovakia 0-2 Hungary
June 20 Argentina 3-0 Mexico
June 23 Argentina 1-3 Hungary
June 23 Mexico 0-4 Czechoslovakia
Group 3
Group 3 paired holders Uruguay with England, Austria and Belgium, the latter two sides returning to the tournament for the first time in sixteen years. In contrast to 1950, expectations were less triumphalist in England, though they still expected to at least make the semi-finals. Austria, still playing a version of the style introduced by Jimmy Hogan and refined by Hugo Meisl, were heirs to the 1930s
wunderteam while Uruguay contained several of the squad who had triumphed in Brazil. Belgium, returning to the tournament for the first time since 1938, had surprised Sweden in qualification, but weren’t expected to challenge for the knockout round.
Defending champions Uruguay began with a 3-2 victory over England, who had initially taken the lead through Bolton Wanderers strike Nat Lofthouse before two goals from Óscar Miguez handed Uruguay the lead. England, equalising through Ivor Broadis looked to have secured a draw, before a goalkeeping error from Gil Merrick gifted Juan Schiaffino the winner.
[22] Despite the defeat, response in the British press was broadly positive – to lose narrowly to the world champions wasn’t a disgrace.
Austria meanwhile, beat Belgium 1-0, with a wonder goal from Theodor Wagner, who having beaten two Belgian defenders, feinted onto his weaker foot and then blasted the ball from twenty-five yards past the stranded Belgian goalkeeper. The goal became immortalised in Austria, via the famous radio commentary that described it as a goal from the Radetzky march.
In the second round of matches, England struggled to a 2-2 draw with Austria, with Jimmy Mullen’s late equaliser saving England from defeat. Preoccupied by England’s struggles against the technical passing game of Hungary and Yugoslavia, and noting Austria’s ability on the ball, Walter Winterbottom had adopted a more defensive gameplan, with Billy Wright stepping up into midfield as an auxiliary midfielder in order to disrupt the Austrian passing game. Winterbottom’s tactics almost worked, but were undone by a defensive error and own goal from Jimmy Dickinson and England’s play became more ragged, requiring a late goal from Lofthouse to snatch a draw.
As England struggled, Uruguay glided, with Julio Abbadie and Carlos Borges each scoring a brace in a 4-1 victory over Belgium, which despite the scoreline, was a competitive game for the holders, with the Belgians tiring in the last ten minutes, allowing Abbadie and Borges to add gloss to the result. Nevertheless, the result put Uruguay in pole position to qualify, with Austria and England left to duke it out for second in the group.
The final round of fixtures saw England comfortably dispatch Belgium 2-0, with goals from Dennis Wilshaw and Tom Finney who had come into the side to replace Mullen, who had suffered an injury in the draw with Austria. Winterbottom, again experimented with his tactics, with the Fulham youngster Johnny Haynes making his international debut as a withdrawn forward with license to roam.
[23] Haynes, who was nineteen, was a revelation in the role, as his passing ability gifted England the ability to play a more passing style. The fact that it game so late in the tournament was an unfortunate afterthought.
If Haynes’s debut was a triumph, it was overshadowed by the best game of the group stages and one of the best of the tournament, with Uruguay and Austria playing out a 4-4 draw in Lille, a game which saw both sides commit to attacking vigour. Uruguay initially raced into a 2-0 lead, with goals from Schiaffino and Alcides Ghiggia, before Erich Probst scored twice to restore parity, to leave the score 2-2 at half-time. In the second half, Uruguay restored a two-goal cushion through Miguez, only for Ernst Stojaspal to claw one back from a corner, after Uruguayan goalkeeper Máspoli misjudged the flight and parried it into his path. Austria’s equaliser would come from Ernst Happel, who’s freekick hit the underside of the bar and evaded Máspoli’s despairing dive. As a result, Austria qualified for the quarter-finals ahead of England, who had performed better than 1950, but suffered worse results.
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Points |
1 | Uruguay | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 7 | +4 | 5 |
2 | Austria | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 6 | +1 | 4 |
3 | England | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 5 | +1 | 3 |
4 | Belgium | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 7 | -6 | 0 |
Results
June 16 Austria 1-0 Belgium
June 16 Uruguay 3-2 England
June 19 England 2-2 Austria
June 19 Belgium 1-4 Uruguay
June 22 England 2-0 Belgium
June 22 Uruguay 4-4 Austria
Group 4
Group 4 paired former champions Italy, now under the management of Luigi Bertolini who had been part of the 1934 championship side, with Olympic champions Yugoslavia, debutantes Korea and Germany who had been readmitted to FIFA in 1951. The Germans, under coach Sepp Herberger were well-organised and, through partnerships with Geda, had been provided with boots with screwable studs which allowed them to adapt to differing playing conditions, an innovation which would be come increasingly widespread as Geda began to establish itself as the pre-eminent sportswear firm.
[24] Nevertheless, Germany were not regarded as a contender, with the Italians and Yugoslavs expected to qualify for the knockout rounds.
Italy began with a comfortable 5-2 victory over Korea, with Choi Chung-min scoring his country’s first ever goals at the tournament. Italy, with Torino’s playmaker Valentino Mazzola as their
conduttore simply had too much for a committed if limited Korean side, though the ease with which Choi scored Korea’s consolations should have sounded alarm bells for the Italians.
Germany and Yugoslavia played out a sterile 0-0 in dreadful conditions in Reims, with the wet weather hampering Yugoslavia’s passing game, while Germany found themselves denied by a superb goalkeeping performance from Vladimir Beara, who would become established as one of the best goalkeepers of the decade – in a twist of fate he would end his career in Germany.
In the second round of matches, Italy narrowly lost to Yugoslavia, with the game marred by a controversial refereeing decision from Brazilian official Mário Vianna, who disallowed two Italian goals and sent off Italian captain Giampiero Boniperti following his protests against not being awared a foul for a tackle from Yugoslav defender Tomislav Crnković. Yugoslavia won 1-0 following a late goal from Branko Zebec, while the game became known as the “Sack of Toulouse” in the Italian press.
[25] Germany meanwhile, comfortably defeated the Koreans 4-0 in Le Havre, with German captain Fritz Walter, Max Morlock and Helmut Rahn on the scoresheet, leaving qualification poised between Germany, Yugoslavia and Italy as the final round of matches drew near.
In the final round, Germany pulled off a surprise which reverberated back home, by defeating the Italians 2-1, which coupled with Yugoslavia’s shock draw with Korea sent the Germans through as group winners. Italy started strongly, motivated by the injustices of their defeat to Yugoslavia and with members of the Italian royal family in attendance
[26] opened the scoring through Benito Lorenzi. Valentino Mazzola’s influence faded however, as the Germans used a combination of man-markers to mark him out of the game. Germany, whose anthem had been booed by French fans throughout the tournament,
[27] grew into the game and equalised through Morlock, whose shot deflected off Aldo Ballarin and wrongfooted Valerio Bacigalupo to leave the scores level at half-time. In the second half, Germany continued to attack aggressively, and were rewarded with a late winner from Bernhard Klodt, though it would take an excellent save from Bernd Trautmann in the German goal to preserve the victory.
[28]
If Germany’s victory over Italy was a surprise, the shock of the group (and indeed tournament) was Korea’s 2-2 draw with Yugoslavia, which saw the Koreans become the first Asian side to win a point at the finals. Yugoslavia, perhaps with an eye on the quarter-finals, rested several players, and were strangely lethargic in the first half, but nothing should be taken away from the Koreans, who were unlucky not to win. Korea, perhaps surprising themselves, took an early lead, as a miscommunication between Yugoslav goalkeeper Branko Kralj and his defence allowed Woo Sang-kwon to steal home. Korea, nearly doubled their lead five minutes later, but were denied through a superb save from Kralj, and then conceded an equaliser to leave the scores level at half-time. Korea again restored their lead in the 79th minute through Choi Chung-min and appeared to be holding on to one of the great upsets, before an error from Hong Deok-young in the Korean goal allowed Yugoslavia to cruelly snatch a point, knocking out Italy in the process.
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Points |
1 | Germany | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 1 | +5 | 5 |
2 | Yugoslavia | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | +1 | 3 |
3 | Italy | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 5 | +1 | 2 |
4 | Korea | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 11 | -7 | 1 |
Results
June 17 Italy 5-2 Korea
June 17 Yugoslavia 0-0 Germany
June 20 Korea 0-4 Germany
June 20 Italy 0-1 Yugoslavia
June 23 Yugoslavia 2-2 Korea
June 23 Germany 2-1 Italy
Quarter-finals
The quarter-finals were scheduled for four days after the conclusion of the group stages and were played on June 26 & 27, with the draw as follows:
June 27 Brazil vs. Czechoslovakia
June 26 Hungary vs. France
June 27 Uruguay vs. Yugoslavia
June 26 Germany vs. Austria
The first match, played between the hosts France and the fancied Hungarians in Paris was a goal-fest, with Hungary eventually triumphing 5-3 to send the hosts out, though the game was only decided in the last quarter of an hour of play. Hungary, having made some injury enforced changes, with Mihalj Tot replacing Purczeld, raced into a three-goal lead thanks to the superb finishing of Sándor Kocsis. France, carried perhaps by the home crowd, fought hard but managed to square the game 3-3 by the hour mark, thanks to an inspired performance from Raymond Kopaszewski who scored France’s first goal and set-up the other two. Hungary, perhaps taken aback by the ferocity of the French response initially struggled to regain the upper hand, but retook the lead through an own goal from French defender Robert Jonquet, before Gyula Lipovics scored the winner in the 85th minute. The Hungarians were cheered from the field, with the Hungarian coach comparing the scenes to the triumphant return of the French army to Paris in 1944.
[29]
The second quarter-final, pairing neighbours Germany and Austria was a less exciting affair, with the Germans triumphing 2-0 in a game that was marred as a contest by the first half injury to Austrian centre-forward Erich Probst, which hampered Austria’s attacking threat. Goals from Helmut Rahn and Werner Liebrich saw the Germans home, and the match marked the first time Germany played in their change strip of green shirts, white shorts and green socks.
[30] While the match itself was a fairly routine German win, it had drawn much commentary in both nations, due to wartime history and the changing relations between the two nations in the aftermath of the war itself.
The third quarter-final, between Brazil and Czechoslovakia is perhaps more famous for the brawl and bad-tempered nature of the match than the result itself – Brazil won the match 3-1 while the “Battle of Bourdeaux” was inconclusive. The game itself, had been viewed as one of the ties of the round – Brazil played notably attacking football and had a strong forward line, while the Czechoslovaks played a more physical variant of the traditional Danubian passing game, with many expecting the game to be a classic. Brazil led 2-1 at half-time, thanks to goals from Djalma Santos and Julinho, while the Czechs had clawed one back through Anton Malatinský and had been unlucky not equalise with Ladislav Kačáni denied an equaliser through a fine save from Moacir Barbosa in the Brazilian goal. It would be the second half however, where the descent into violence would begin, as both Czechoslovak captain Ladislav Novák and Brazilian defender Nilton Santos were sent off for fighting following a foul on Novák by the Brazilian. From here on in, the game descended into a mess of cynical fouls, bad tackles and general foul-play with the Brazilians vehemently protesting when referee Arthur Ellis failed to award a penalty for a foul on Waldyr Pereira, who himself was sent off for a foul on Malatinský. In the midst of all this, Brazil added a third through Maurinho to kill off the contest. The final whistle saw the two sides descend into a brawl, which was eventually broken up by French gendarmes – nevertheless Brazil were through.
In the final quarter-final, holders Uruguay defeated Olympic champions Yugoslavia 2-0 thanks to goals from their captain Obdulio Varela
[31] and Juan Hohberg. Yugoslavia began strongly and came close to scoring through Miloš Milutinović. The conditions, with a driving rain sweeping across the stadium in Lille, hindered the passing play of both teams, and the first goal saw Varela poke home following a goalmouth scramble, with Yugoslav goalkeeper Vladimir Beara stranded. The second however, was of real quality, with Hohberg running onto a superb defence splitting pass from Ghiggia to fire past Beara and secure the win.
Results:
June 27 Brazil 3-1 Czechoslovakia
June 26 Hungary 5-3 France
June 27 Uruguay 2-0 Yugoslavia
June 26 Germany 2-0 Austria
Semi-finals
The semi-finals, scheduled for June 30 saw a replay of the 1950 final between Brazil and Uruguay, and an all European tie between favourites Hungary and the surprise-package Germany. The first of these matches, was hotly anticipated, particularly in South America, with Brazil clamouring for revenge on the nation which had inflicted the
fantasma.
The game would see no Brazilian vengeance, as hampered by the absence of Waldyr Pereira and Nilton Santos, both of whom were suspended following the quarter-final with Czechoslovakia, Brazil struggled to break-down an obdurate Uruguay. Two goals from Juan Hohberg settled the tie in Uruguay’s favour, with Brazil, paralysed perhaps by the traumatic memories of Rio four years earlier retreated into their shells. Uruguay’s excellent record at the finals (having reached the semi-finals or final in every tournament they had competed in) and seeming hoodoo over Brazil continued.
The match between Germany and Hungary was a tight affair, with the Hungarians initially struggling to break down the dogged German defence. Purczeld, restored to the line-up, was largely subdued, and it would take a József Bozsik free-kick to break the deadlock just before half-time. Max Morlock would equalise for the Germans, and the game seemed to be heading to a replay before Zoltán Czibor scored the decisive second goal in the 97th minute to send Hungary through to their first ever World Cup final. Germany, despite the heartbreak were acclaimed back home – a symbol of a new nation, freed from the past, their time at the World Cup would come again. The Germans, would finish third having comfortably beaten Brazil 3-1 (the Brazilians suffering the after effects of another traumatic defeat to Uruguay.
Results
June 30 Uruguay 2-0 Brazil
June 30 Germany 1-2 Hungary
Third place playoff
July 3 Germany 3-1 Brazil
The final
The final was highly anticipated, with the holders Uruguay facing a Hungarian side whose style of play was revolutionary.
[32] Like in 1950, Uruguay were seen as the underdog, though in the Hungarians they faced an opponent who were nowhere near as hubristic as the Brazilians in 1950. The game should nevertheless been a real moment of apotheosis for the Hungarian golden team – that it wasn’t is one of the great cruelties of sport, though perhaps the irony of the losing side still being discussed long after the winners had been forgotten perhaps makes up for it.
[33] Uruguay, nevertheless were certainly not there to roll over – while not as reliant on individual skill as their neighbours in Brazil and Argentina, their gameplan was built around a strong defence and an improvisational attack, in contrast to the systemised, positional play of the Hungarians.
The match, played in Paris began at a furious pace, with Hungary taking the lead through Purczeld, who scored from close range after Máspoli had been unable to hold onto Kocsis’s shot. Uruguay, were a side who thrived in adversity, and motivated by their rock of a captain Varela, equalised through Ghiggia who ghosted home to score a header at the near post from a corner. The game, both sides now level, settled into a fairly even contest, though Uruguay were indebted to Máspoli for keeping the scores level at half-time, as he made a superb double save to deny Nándor Hidegkuti and Purczeld.
The second half, saw Hungary denied a second goal as Purczeld was ruled offside by Welsh linesman Benjamin Griffiths
[34], and with Uruguay deploying Rodríguez Andrade as a holding midfielder with a brief to man-mark and disrupt Hidegkuti, Hungary’s fluency in the final third began to fade, though Máspoli made a sharp save to deny Czibor in the 70th minute. The game would be won by a moment of individual brilliance from Juan Schiaffino, who running onto a pass after Varela had dispossessed Bozsik feinted with his right foot, before burying a drive beyond the despairing reach of Gyula Grosics in the Hungarian goal.
Uruguay’s triumph was greeted with an explosion of joy in Montevideo, with Juan López, the manager who had overseen their consecutive triumphs, awarded with the country’s highest civilian honour, while the squad were awarded presidential medals. Despite the triumph, it would be Hungary’s systemised approach that would become the dominant approach to football in the second half of the twentieth century, with Uruguay’s triumph, the last victory for a solely improvisational approach to football on the world stage.
Result
July 4 Uruguay 2-1 Hungary
[1] Though England had lost to Eire at home in 1948, most commentators didn’t classify this as a defeat to a foreign side, with the general public largely treating it as an extension of the home internationals, largely due to Eire’s status as a republic in the commonwealth following the 1941 constitutional changes.
[2] While Germany and Hungary were officially neutral, democratic republics their non-aligned political status saw them as a bridge between the Soviet sphere and the West. The tournament itself, saw Yugoslavia end Hungary’s long unbeaten record for their only international triumph.
[3] By the time of the 1954 World Cup, Walter Winterbottom had taken sole charge, though his assistants included Frank Swift, the former Manchester City and England goalkeeper and Manchester United coach Tom Curry. Due to the need to compromise, the selection committee remained but was largely an advisory body and no longer held a veto over selections.
[4] In governmental terms at least: while the constitutional reforms granted greater powers to the prime minister and cabinet, the country was split between left and right, while overseas French troops were in the midst of a brutal war in Indochina and facing rising tensions in North Africa.
[5] The Paris Treaty expanded the 1946 London Agreement between France and the UK to include the Low Countries and Italy. The United States, while never a member, signed a memorandum of understanding with the PTO, which essentially aligned Western Europe with the United States in the Cold War. The Americans had signed a similar memorandum with the Nordic Defence Union (Norway, Sweden and Denmark) in 1949 and enjoyed cordial relations with the non-aligned nations of Central and Southern Europe who had signed respective treaties with the US, their Western European counterparts and the Soviets, leaving postwar Europe a largely split between these three blocs.
[6] Despite the somewhat grandiose name, the CECI operated as a talking shop for intercontinental trade and economic policies. While originally envisioned as a way to establish a common economic area as envisioned by French politician Robert Schuman, opposition from the non-aligned nations in Central Europe (known as the Danubian Five) restricted its purview, though there would be convergence on some areas of trade and economics, such as standardisations, as well as membership expansion over the next few decades.
[7] Previously national sides had flexibility over the size of the playing squad they took to a tournament, with the maximum number being eighteen, including four non-travelling reserves. The rule change made the twenty-two squad size mandatory.
[8] Including some of the bigger industrial companies such as Peugeot, cigarette brand Gauloise and various household good brands. The tournament is also notable for being one of the first to feature equipment partnerships between various sporting brands and national sides including Geda, Le Coq Sportif, Umbro and Ferrino.
[9] While they partook in a loosely separate qualifying tournament, African and Middle Eastern sides were grouped with Europe as Africa’s small confederal size and opposition from both European and South American sides meant that Africa was not granted a separate qualifying spot. The Middle Eastern sides, including Turkey and Israel had not yet fully affiliated to a continental confederation and were group with Europe for geographic ease.
[10] In all three previous appearances the Italians had qualified automatically, either as hosts or holders.
[11] Korea had played matches during the period of Japanese occupation, but only following the establishment of the independent (if Soviet aligned) Korea in 1947 did a national side begin to play matches.
[12] A canary yellow shirt with green trim and three green vertical stripes across the middle, blue shorts and white socks, combining the colours of the Brazilian flag. The change was instigated due to the white strip worn in the final of 1950 being deemed insufficiently patriotic.
[13] Waldyr’s freekick style, which saw the ball additional spin as it headed towards the goal became revelatory for European sides, with the more tactically inclined also noting his deep-lying midfield role for the Brazilians.
[14] Barbosa, who had been first choice for 1950 was now behind Gilberto in the pecking order but played due to the first choice having suffered a stomach upset before the game.
[15] Copland, who was making his international debut at the age of 29, would play sporadically for Scotland up until 1957 remains the only Raith Rovers player to score at the World Cup.
[16] This would be his only international goal.
[17] Since their debut in 1930, Mexico had yet to win a game despite playing in four of the five tournaments and had in seven games at the finals had conceded 31 goals while scoring only five.
[18] Hungary were coached by former international and committed communist Gusztáv Sebes, who had adopted a version of Márton Bukovi’s 4-2-4 (though to modern eyes the formation didn’t resemble this as much – later developments in both Brazil and Central Europe would formalise the formation.)
[19] With the exception of Sweden and Poland, both of whom were competitive if limited sides, four of those games had been against the minnows of Iceland and Luxembourg and Mexico. Hungary’s goalscoring record between 1948 and 1954 is however unlikely to be matched any time soon.
[20] Pedro Dellacha, who would captain the side in 1958 was 27.
[21] There has been speculation in recent years that the tackle was a deliberate ploy to injure Purczeld, but at the time it was largely viewed as a hard but fair tackle.
[22] Merrick was one of the survivors of Hungary’s 4-1 and 6-0 victories over England (the latter of which remains England’s record defeat.)
[23] Haynes, an inside forward would as a result gradually play as what we would term an attacking midfielder/second striker, though in England’s tinkered W-M he was still recognisably an inside forward.
[24] Geda would later split in 1960 as the two brothers fell out over strategy and earnings, with Adolf Dassler forming Addas and Rudolf forming RuDa.
[25] The controversy would be reignited four years later when Vianna revealed that he should have awarded Italy for a handball from Ivan Horvat and that Boniperti’s sending off was motivated by irritation with the Italian captain rather than foul play.
[26] Speculated by some to be due to the fact that Marseille was close to Monaco and the Riviera, though in the case of the Crown Prince the royal family did contain one well-known football fan.
[27] The issue became taken up by the German government delegation attending the event with the French organising committee, with the issue later raised during an informal meeting of the French and German foreign ministers, Robert Schuman and Franz Neumann.
[28] Trautmann, who had found fame in England following his signing by Manchester City in 1949 had returned to Germany with Schalke 04 in 1952 and quickly established himself as national team first choice. While in England he had been known as Bert, but upon his return to Germany reverted to using Bernd as his shorter first name. Trautmann, would become well liked at Manchester City and would return to the club later in the decade following a falling out with the Schalke management.
[29] Sebes had played in France and had ties to the French labour movement from his time playing for a Renault factory side. A committed communist, who was often viewed with suspicion by his non-aligned government and FA, Sebes often insisted that his side played a socialist style of football, much to the chagrin of the conservative government of László Varga.
[30] The colours were those of the German football association DFB.
[31] Still captaining the side at the age of thirty-six, in contrast to his holding midfield role in 1950, he had dropped deeper into defence, operating as a third centre-half, due to his lack of pace.
[32] In Europe at least: in South America, which ironically thanks to a Hungarian coaching influence, the passing style, if not the wholly committed team ethos was well known.
[33] Somewhat unfairly to the Uruguayans who became not only the first side to win three world cups but only the second to win consecutive tournaments, as well as the first South American side to triumph in Europe.
[34] A strict disciplinarian, Griffiths was a teacher in his day job, giving his officiating a schoolmasterly air. Griffiths, who became the first Welshman to referee the FA Cup final, would later describe his experiences officiating in the cup final and World Cup final as second in pride to meeting King Edward VIII when officiating the FA Cup final,