by Nick Holt
Switzerland and Italy had to play off for the last spot in the quarter-final line-up and it was the Swiss who came out on top. The win was never as comfortable as 4–1 suggests and Lorenzi – who had chased the referee across the pitch after the first game between the two – had an effort cleared off the line at 1–0 to Switzerland. Welshman Mervyn Griffiths was a better official and this match never got out of hand.
QUARTER-FINALS (all 26 June)
This World Cup saw an average of more than five goals per game. Later, in The Winning Formula, Charles Hughes ascribed the downturn in that statistic through the next two decades as an indication that standards of football were in decline. But then pretty much everything he set down in his FA manual was bunk, so we shouldn’t get over-excited. The four quarter-finals produced twenty-five goals and bags of excitement, but some of the defending was amateur hour, and none of the games was a feast of pure football. Only one has passed into legend and that for very different reasons.
Let’s start with the lowest scoring, West Germany against Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia were a good side technically, but here they looked toothless. They enjoyed plenty of possession, especially in the first half, but couldn’t convert it. Milutinovic, a promising right-winger, speedy and direct, missed a good chance when through, and Kohlmeyer headed off the line when Turek punched clear and was left stranded when the ball was promptly knocked back towards the goal. Turek was an experienced shot-stopper but a bit of a lemon on crosses.
West Germany’s goals bookmarked the match. In the tenth minute Horvat, under pressure from Schäfer, headed past his own goalkeeper, who was in no man’s land. Four minutes from time Rahn let a crossfield pass bounce before hitting it hard across Beara and in off the far post. The chunky winger gave Crnkovic a torrid time, just pushing the ball past and charging through him; this last time the full-back stood off, expecting the charge and gave Rahn room for a sweet strike.
Now the highest-scoring game. There was nothing in the group matches to suggest Austria versus Switzerland would produce twelve goals, so maybe it was the searing heat that was responsible for some school playground defending. The game was played at a very gentle pace (understandably in 40-degree temperatures), and the closing down was non-existent, allowing a succession of shots to fly goalwards from the edge of the penalty area. It was one of those days when they all seemed to find the back of the net. Ballaman’s opener for Switzerland was a good strike and Hügi added two more in two minutes, first when he was allowed to walk through the middle of the defence and then when he slammed Vonlanthen’s cutback in off the bar. Austria replicated Switzerland’s three in four minutes when Wagner, Alfred Körner and Wagner again all shot home – Parlier should have stopped both Wagner’s goals but Körner’s was the best of the day, struck from the left-hand corner of the penalty area with the outside of his left foot and in off the far post. Perfect. Now Austria were in the ascendant and took the lead five minutes later with a clinical strike from Ocwirk, and added to it when Parlier spilled the ball at Alfred Körner’s feet – although there was more than a suspicion he was fouled by the Austrian winger.
The Swiss hit back almost immediately with a close-range finish from Ballaman, and that was it for first-half goals, but only because Robert Körner, Alfred’s brother and opposite wing, missed a penalty. Wagner and Hügi completed their hat-tricks in the second half before Probst gave Austria some daylight, dinking the ball over the ’keeper after running through the inside-left channel. For running read trotting, as the game was at walking pace by now; the Swiss had no energy to muster another fightback and the twists and scoring were over. A freak game, explained largely by freak conditions and some poor goalkeeping. The Swiss were out, but hadn’t disgraced themselves in their home tournament. Austria would now face their old nemesis, West Germany, in the semi-final.
England got a tough draw in the quarter-finals against the holders. Uruguay looked strong in their second match and would surely test England’s porous defence and nervy goalkeeper. England made two changes, restoring the fit-again pair of Matthews and Lofthouse at the expense of Mullen and Tommy Taylor; Wilshaw kept his place at inside-left. Uruguay fielded their best eleven but were hampered by an early injury to Abbadíe.
Abbadíe contributed to the opening goal before his injury. Borges attacked from the left and his cross was only half-cleared to the opposite wing; whether Abbadíe meant to return the ball to Borges rather than shoot is questionable but the no.11 gleefully hooked it home. England’s reply was a good spell of attacking with Matthews to the fore and a terrific equaliser. Wilshaw ran square across the eighteen-yard line looking for a shooting angle; when one didn’t appear he cleverly reversed the ball into space where Lofthouse spun off his marker and scored with his left.
A well-balanced game swung Uruguay’s way when Varela, stepping out from the back in a way Wright never did, hit an accurate drive from the edge of the penalty area; Merrick moved late and not far enough. Within a minute Varela was hobbling, reduced to a defensive role as Andrade took his place in the middle. England failed to take advantage, their backs unwilling to advance and make the extra fit man count, and the Uruguayans dropped deeper and deeper and relied on the pace of Borges to counter. Another disastrous piece of goalkeeping effectively settled the game, when Merrick dived too early for Schiaffino’s half-hit shot and watched it roll into the corner. Schiaffino was superb, withdrawing almost to a half-back role but still able to relieve any pressure with little surging runs and accurate passing.
England continued to compete, Matthews and Finney especially, and they scored a scrappy goal when Lofthouse’s shot deflected off Máspoli’s knee to the prone Finney, who stabbed it home. Hope stirred, but England looked the more tired of the two teams, Uruguay’s walking wounded notwithstanding, and Ambrois added a fourth when the England defence was slow to close him down and Merrick stayed on his line too long. The goalkeeper had a bad game, and was – predictably, even in the 1950s – slaughtered by the press at home; it was his last international cap. A quarter-final exit was about right for England – they weren’t terrible, they just lost to a better, more tactically aware team. Uruguay looked like contenders, if they could patch up their half-fit captain.
This game, along with England’s group games, was broadcast live on British TV, the first World Cup transmissions to go out live in the UK. Football coverage began in the 1930s, and in 1938 the FA Cup Final and an England v Scotland international were both broadcast live. The BBC had gradually extended coverage after the war, but it was another ten years before their extended highlights programme Match of the Day aired for the first time.
England Squad 1954:
GK: Gil Merrick (Birmingham City, 32 years old, 20 caps), Ted Burgin (Sheffield United, 28, 0)
DEF: Roger Byrne (Manchester United, 25, 3), Ken Green (Birmingham, 30, 0), Syd Owen (Luton Town, 32, 2), Ron Staniforth (Huddersfield Town, 30, 3), Billy Wright (Wolverhampton Wanderers, 30, 58)
MID & WIDE: Ivor Broadis (Newcastle United, 31, 11), Jimmy Dickinson (Portsmouth, 29, 35), Bill McGarry (Huddersfield, 27, 0), Albert Quixall (Sheffield Wednesday, 20, 3), Tom Finney (Preston North End, 32, 51), Stanley Matthews (Blackpool, 39, 36), Jimmy Mullen (Wolves, 31, 11)
FWD: Nat Lofthouse (Bolton Wanderers, 28, 19), Tommy Taylor (Man Utd, 22, 3), Denis Wilshaw (Wolves, 28, 1)
Named as reserves but did not travel*: Ken Armstrong (MF, Chelsea, 30, 0); Allenby Chilton (DEF, Man Utd, 35, 2); Johnny Haynes (MF, Fulham 19, 0); Harry Hooper (FWD, West Ham United, 21, 0), Bedford Jezzard (MF, Fulham, 26, 1)
WORLD CUP CLASSIC No.1
27 June 1954, Wankdorf Stadium, Berne, Switzerland; 40,000
Referee: Arthur Ellis† (England)
Coaches: Gusztáv Sebes (Hungary) & Alfredo Moreira, known as Zézé (Brazil)
Hungary (2–3–3–2): Gyula Grosics (Honved); Jenö Buzánszky (Dorogi Bányász), Mihály Lantos (MTK); József Bozsik (Cpt, Honved), Gyula Lóránt (Honved), József Zakariás (MTK); József Tóth (C
sepeli), Nándor Hidegkuti (MTK), Mihály Tóth (Ujpest Dozsa); Sandor Kocsis (Honved), Zoltán Czibor (Honved)
Brazil (3–2–5): Carlos Castilho (Fluminense); Djalma Santos (Portuguesa), João Carlos Pinheiro (Fluminense), Nílton Santos (Botafogo); José Carlos Bauer (Cpt, São Paulo), Antenot Lucas, known as Brandãozinho (Portuguesa); Júlio Botelho, known as Julinho (Portuguesa), Waldir Perreira, known as Didi (Fluminense), Humberto Tozzi (Palmeiras), Aloísio da Luz, known as Indio (Flamengo), Mauro Raphael, known as Maurinho (São Paulo)
Watch the highlights of this on YouTube and you wonder what all the fuss was about. Some super football, a dodgy decision, a spectacular goal – good game, thanks very much. The full game was a different story.
The opening was good – especially for Hungary. The Brazilian stopper Pinheiro was strong in the tackle and effective, but, being a Brazilian footballer, he also liked to show off his little bag of tricks. Tricky, yes; but shrewd, no – that little dribble in your penalty area in a World Cup quarter-final was not your best moment. Hidegkuti robbed him and hit a piledriver that Castilho saved brilliantly; as Tóth ran in to follow up, the ball ran loose to Hidegkuti again and this time he made no mistake, thrashing high and hard into the goal. The second goal came three minutes later courtesy of a deep cross, some non-existent marking and a typically emphatic header from Kocsis.
Brazil decided it was time to up the ante, and the tackling became fiercer. Djalma Santos was in the thick of the action, clearing off the line, flooring Czibor with a broadside tackle and converting a penalty after Indio was brought down clumsily from behind. Hungary’s two-goal lead was restored with another penalty award as Kocsis received Czibor’s cross and tried to turn his man. There was only the minimum contact from the defender but Arthur Ellis pointed to the spot. Lantos converted as brutally as Santos before him – unusual in those days to see two full-backs taking the penalties.
The tackling got uglier. Bozsik and József Tóth both had to leave the field with injuries, and on his return Bozsik decided to dish some out with a retaliatory crunch on his opposite number Bauer. Julinho pulled one back for Brazil with a delicious strike, hit with his right foot at a sharp angle across Grosics, who was beaten for sheer pace. Five minutes later Bozsik put in another thunderous tackle and, when Nílton Santos reacted, both were escorted off by referee Ellis like a pair of naughty schoolboys. Humberto followed a few minutes later for an assault on Kocsis, and Hidegkuti and Djalma Santos were fortunate not to join the other three – Santos chased Czibor halfway up the pitch after the Hungarian winger made some derogatory remark. When the game ended the trouble didn’t. There was a fracas in the tunnel that left Pinheiro with a head wound and further fighting in the Hungarian dressing room left Tóth needing stitches.
All the blood and thunder made the game a bit messy and spoiled what was potentially a superb match between two technically gifted teams. FIFA left it to the individual countries’ authorities to deal with the culprits; irrelevant for Brazil and one could hardly blame Hungary for playing Bozsik in the next game given such a reprieve. In fairness his conduct was out of character.
In an uncomfortable coda to the match, Brazil’s populist, but increasingly unpopular President, Getulio Vargas, committed suicide (he shot himself in August that year) in the Presidential Palace; Vargas was under heavy pressure from the military to resign and opted for a melodramatic way out.
SEMI-FINAL
THIRD-PLACE MATCH
The Austrians were one of the few teams in the competition still playing in what was effectively a pre-war style – two fullbacks, a defensively minded centre-half flanked by two half-backs and five forwards. They played patient possession football, advancing with a succession of short passes, orchestrated by their centre-half Ernst Ocwirk, who captained the Rest of the World side in a celebratory friendly the previous year. It was all very pretty – and all very slow. That was their undoing.
West Germany simply had too much pace and power in the semi-final, playing at a tempo the Austrians couldn’t match. And Germany were not only tactically superior, they also showed no little creativity, contrary to some reports. Fritz Walter, quiet so far in this tournament, came out of his shell and strolled elegantly through the game, and his brother Ottmar completely dominated Ocwirk in the air. Rahn and Morlock gave the chain-smoking, elegant full-back Ernst Happel an afternoon to forget. Happel, a fine player who would take Ocwirk’s place in the middle a couple of years down the line, found even greater fame as a coach, winning the European Cup twice (the first man to do so) with Feyenoord and Hamburg, and taking Holland to the 1978 World Cup Final.
The first half was tight, but Schäfer opened the scoring when Walter squared the ball across a static defence that stood and watched as the Cologne winger touched in from six yards out. Early in the second period Morlock added another, heading in a corner; Walter’s flat, hard delivery from set pieces caused Austria myriad problems. Turek handed the Austrians a lifeline, palming a shot back into Probst’s path, but West Germany added three in ten minutes to settle the game around the hour mark. Happel and the Austrian goalkeeper gave away two penalties (both would have been red-carded for professional fouls under modern rules), which Fritz Walter put away without any fuss, and brother Ottmar scored – from another Fritz corner – with a clever flick header. In the final moments Ottmar Walter netted his second when Walter Zeman, Austria’s goalkeeper, went walkabout and Schäfer crossed for Ottmar to get ahead of two defenders and head into an empty net. All very impressive from West Germany, but Hungary would surely not be so accommodating. It was the last time Austria made serious inroads into the competition until the 1980s.
WORLD CUP CLASSIC No.2
30 June 1954, Semi-final, Olympique Stadium, known as La Pontaise, Lausanne, Switzerland; 45,000
Referee: Mervyn Griffiths (Wales)
Coaches: Gusztáv Sebes (Hungary) & Juan López (Uruguay)
Hungary (2–3–3–2): Gyula Grosics (Honved); Jenö Buzánszky (Dorogi Bányász), Mihály Lantos (MTK); József Bozsik (Cpt, Honved), Gyula Lóránt (Honved), József Zakariás (MTK); László Budai (Honved), Nándor Hidegkuti (MTK), Zoltán Czibor (Honved); Sandor Kocsis (Honved), Péter Palotás (MTK)
Uruguay (3–3–4): Roque Máspoli (Peñarol); José Santamaria (Nacional), Néstor Carballo (Nacional), William Martínez* (Cpt, Rampla Juniors); Victor Rodriguez Andrade (Peñarol), Javier Ambrois (Nacional), Luis Cruz (Nacional); Rafael Souto (Nacional), Juan Alberto Schiaffino (Peñarol), Juan Hohberg (Peñarol), Carlos Borges (Peñarol)
The best game thus far in the World Cup, and still one of the very best. Hungary picked Bozsik despite his indiscretions against Brazil, but Puskás was still unfit. Back came Honved winger László Budai, who was selected for the first game, and Palotás returned as a more conventional centre-forward allowing Hidegkuti to stay deep. Varela was still hobbling and was replaced by Carballo, while Hohberg, Argentinian-born but living in Uruguay, came in for Míguez. Both wingers were a doubt – Abbadíe didn’t make it, but a ninety per cent fit Borges was patched up and sent out. Varela never played for Uruguay again – he was thirty-six – but he remains one of their greats. Later that year Peñarol announced a shirt sponsorship deal – the first recorded. Legend has it that ten players wore the new shirt, Varela being the exception: “They used to drag us blacks around by rings in our noses. Those days are gone.” The story is from Galeano, so assume some poetic licence.
Hungary sensed Uruguay were vulnerable and went for the jugular. They had picked an attacking line-up and used it to the full. Palotás shot straight at the ’keeper early on when well placed, and shots were raining in even before Hungary took the lead. The goal was simple; a dinked ball from Hidegkuti was headed on smartly by Kocsis and Czibor hit a bobbling shot across Máspoli, which the goalkeeper ought really to have stopped.
Hungary continued to dominate possession but there were warning signs. Three times in the first half Uruguay played through the middle and found gaps between the Hungarian ful
lbacks that Lóránt couldn’t get back to plug. The big centre-half was a favourite of the team manager Sebes (who was also the Minister for Sport). In 1949 Lóránt was detained after trying to flee the newly Communist Hungary, but he was rescued by Sebes who had a role for him in his vision for the team. The centre-half was showing his years here, and looked the one cumbersome element in such a fluent line-up. Fortunately for Hungary, Grosics was alert and effective as a sweeper behind his defenders, twice coming out of his area to intercept through balls – something that most 1950s goalkeepers didn’t tend to do.
The game was being played in the right spirit and not a repeat of the Brazil match, nor Uruguay’s game against England, which got rough in the last quarter. The odd heavy challenge was dismissed with a handshake and forgotten – the appointment of Mervyn Griffiths as referee was presumably not just a happy coincidence; he had a reputation as a strict official.
Having wrested some control back before half-time, Uruguay lost it immediately after the break. Budai, a tricky customer, bent a hanging cross around Martínez that cleared Máspoli. The ball appeared to be drifting safe until Hidegkuti dived bravely, risking smacking his head on a boot or the post, and sneaked it in the corner. Uruguay were struggling, their wingers making no headway and their midfield outplayed by the masterful Bozsik and rapid passing of the opposition.
