|
WEST GERMANY'S
REVENGE
Switzerland was the obvious
choice of venue
for the fifth World Cup. FIFA's headquarters were in Zurich
and 1954 marked the 50th anniversary of its formation. The
Swiss had been granted the tournament at FIFA's first post-war
congress in 1946, and they had spent eight years building new
stadiums for the great occasion. They did not live up to their
promise and were not really up to the organizational
requirements of such a tournament. Nevertheless, the
competition proved to be a financial success, despite the fact
that most stadiums had small capacities. The tournament
received limited TV coverage for the first time and the Swiss
showed a piece of marketing know-how by having special
commemorative coins minted.
FIFA now had a new president, Rodolphe Seeldrayers of Belgium,
and once more the governing body found it necessary to change
the format, reverting to a pool and knock-out system. The 16
teams were divided into four groups with two teams in each
group seeded. The two seeded teams, strangely enough, did not
need to play eachother in the group. Also remarkable was that
extra time was needed if the scores were level in the group
matches!
In this first World Cup held in Europe after World War II,
Hungary were the new force to be reckoned with. They banged in
goals with a frequence never seen before in a World Cup. They
beat West Germany 8-3 and South Korea 9-0. Never has a team
been a bigger favourite to win the cup than this. The world
was introduced to players like Puskas, Kocsis, Hidegkuti and
Czibor. Another team among the favourites was Uruguay. They
still hadn't lost a match in World Cup history at this stage
and their run continued also after the groupstage after
beating Czechoslovakia and Scotland.
The quarterfinal match between Austria and
Switzerland brought a new World Cup record. Austria won 7-5,
that's the highest number of goals ever in a World Cup match,
it's still unbeaten. Uruguay beat England 4-2, and Hungary
beat Brazil by the same score in one of the most brutal
matches ever. It's later dubbed "The Battle of
Berne", as three players got sent off and the fighting
continued also after the final whistle. West Germany who had
recovered after they got trashed by Hungary in the first
round, beat Yugoslavia.
The semifinal between Hungary and Uruguay, who participated in
a World Cup on European soil for the first time, is regarded
to be one of the best ever in a World Cup. Hungary won 4-2
after extra-time and with that, Uruguay's unbeaten run was
broken. The Germans had hit topform and trashed their
neighbours Austria by 6-1 and the stage was set for a great
final. Austria recovered quickly and surprisingly beat Uruguay
and secured the bronzemedals. The final turned out to be
dramatic. Hungary were leading 2-0 early on and everything
looked safe, but then West Germany in well-known style pulled
back both goals and scored a winner to win their first World
Cup. Read more about the final by clicking on the
"Final" link in the left column.
|
