On this day in 1954, Hungary humiliated England 7-1 in Budapest in an international friendly.
The mighty Hungarian side had been unbeaten since May 1950 and had won Gold at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Finland under the tutelage of the brilliant Gusztav Sebes. Hungary had shocked England in 1953 by winning by an emphatic score line of 6-3 at Wembley, and in doing so, became the first country from outside the British Isles to beat England on English soil.
The Three lions arrived at the Nepstadion in Budapest hoping to return the favour.
Lining up in the then traditional WM formation, England had players like Tom Finney, Roger Byrne and were led by captain Billy Wright.
Meanwhile, Hungary’s starting XI featured some of the best players on the planet at the time including Ferenc Puskas, Nandor Hidegkuti and Sandor Kocsis.
As was expected, the Hungarians dominated the game right from the start and took the lead in the 10th minute through defender Mihaly Lantos. Puskas and Kocsis added two more to make it 3-0 to Hungary inside 19 minutes.
Puskas and Kocsis added a couple more in the second half. That coupled with goals from Hidegkuti and Jozef Toth brought Hungary’s total to seven for the night. England’s only consolation came from a Ivor Broadis strike in the 68th minute.
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