Engeland - Hongarije 3-6
Londen, Wembley, 25 november 1953

“Referee Horn blew his whistle. A few short, quick passes racing down the field, and in the very first minute Hidegkuti had put the ball in the net. It was then for the first time that the thought that we might win entered my head.
That goal was a tonic. Icould feel a steadiness come over our game and our players settled down whilst England, and particularly their captain, Wright, were still very nervous. Only those actually plaing in a match notice this feeling that one gets. For us it was a very good sign.
England equalised, but we were soon ahead again and took a three-goal lwad before England scored her second. In the end we won by six goals to three.
On the field every Hungarian player was fighting like a hero. All the time we encouraged one another. ‘Come on, Sanyi!’ ‘Kick it, Nandi!’ The shouts came from all over the field. We gave all we had!

Budai got cramp in his foot and had to get massaged on the touchline. Afterwards we discovered that many of us had suffered from cramp, but carried on in spite of it. No match left me so tired as that one in London.
In my opinion the factor which determined the result was that the English defence were unprepared for the method of attack adopted by our forwards. England just could not cope with the situations we developed, and what seemed to puzzle their defence particularly was the fact that the attacks were often led from behind.

Johnston had no idea how to keep Hidegkuti, our centre forward, marked. For a few minutes Hidegkuti played a forward game. When Johnston noticed this - usually a bit too late - he followed him and left the goal open for one of our other forwards, who were all constantly on the move, racing forward into unexpected positions and taking fast, accurate passes on the run.
Later in the match Hidegkuti was shadowed by both Wright and Dickinson, but in doing this they left Kocsis and myself unguarded. Our positioning and what might be called the ‘retreating attacks’ led by our centre forward completely shattered the England defence.

Throughout the game we demonstrated the golden rule of modern football, and that is: the good player keeps playing even without the ball. All the time he is placing himself so that when the ball comes to him he is able to make good use of it. In some measure we improved the English saying ‘Kick and run’ to ‘Pass accurately and run into a good position.’
We didn't nurse the ball, but kept passing it so quickly that an onlooker might have thought that the ball was burning our feet. But however quickly we got rid of it, we saw that it usually went to one of our own side.”

Ferenc Puskas blikt in zijn autobiografie terug op de 3-6 wedstrijd tegen Engeland. Het boek verscheen oorspronkelijk in 1955 in het Hongaars. Van de Engelse vertaling verscheen oktober 2007 een herdruk in pocket-versie.

uit: Ferenc Puskas
Captain of Hungary
(Tempus Publishing)
isbn: 9780752444352)
prijs: € 15,95
paperback; 192 pagina's
verschenen oktober 2007
Engelstalig