The 1952 Olympic football tournament signalled the arrival (to Western Europeans at least) of the 'Golden Team'; the 'Magical Magyars': Hungary. Ferenc Puskás, the great Hungarian known as the 'Galloping Major' for his military title, said of the 1952 competition: "It was during the Olympics that our football first started to flow with real power." It was during the Games, too, that Stanley Rous of the Football Association, taken by the impression the Magyars were leaving on everyone present, first invited the Hungarians to play a friendly at Wembley the next year.
[edit] Background
By the time of the competition the Hungarians had developed into one of the great sides in history. They had amassed an incomparable record, undefeated since May 14, 1950, but had been largely confined to the Eastern European Communist satellite states. When they had ventured outside their ken they had pulverised the Finns and Swedes. But these were mere glimpses. Their reputed supremacy was still a matter of some conjecture.
The competition also saw the first real mass entry from Eastern Europe. 6 nations from beyond the Iron Curtain were competing, all drawn to play in the preliminary round. The Soviet Union being drawn with Bulgaria and the Hungarians with Romania. Meanwhile the Scandinavian countries were exempted into the first round.
[edit] Squads
[edit] The Competition
There was nothing convincing about their win against the Romanians whom they were first drawn up against. Kocsis' goal in the second half enabled the Hungarians to record a narrow victory. In Lahti, Great Britain had succumbed to Luxembourg in an eight goal encounter and elsewhere there were solid victories for the Italians and Brazilians (5-1 victors over the Dutch). In Helsinki the Yugoslavs were drawn up against the Indians. The Indians, for whatever reason, had dispensed with the need to wear boots; a decision that cost some players frost-bite, most of them bruising and contributed to the size of their 10-1 loss.
Hungary now made three changes when drawn against Italy and all was different, running out clear winners by 3 goals to nil. Of the rest it appeared that their likely challengers would be the Austrians who were defeating the Finns and the Swedes, managed by George Raynor; easy winners against Norway. Yugoslavia, meanwhile, were having a torrid time against Russia. 5-1 up with 15 minutes of their first round match to go, the Yugoslavs, understandably, put their feet up. Arthur Ellis, the match referee, recorded what happened next in his book 'The Final Whistle' (London, 1963): 'Russia forced the most honourable draw ever recorded! Bobrov, their captain, scored a magnificent hat-trick. After Russia had reduced the lead to 5-2, he, almost single-handed, took the score to 5-5, scoring his third in the last minute. For once, use of the word sensational was justified'. Although Bobrov's early goal in their replay presaged a miraculous recovery, Yugoslavia recovered sufficiently to put out their opponents easily in the second half. The Soviet side had been expected by Moscow to win the 1952 Games, and their defeat by Yugoslavia was not mentioned in the Soviet press until after Stalin's death the following year.
The Yugoslavs took care of the Danes and Germans to reach the final. Hungary, scoring freely, against the Turks then the Swedes, would join them. And they would easily beat Yugoslavia, silver-medallists for the second successive Games, 2-0 in the Helsinki final with goals from Puskás and Zoltán Czibor. In the third place game Sweden would defeat the Olympic amateur team from Germany (de:Deutsche Fußballnationalmannschaft der Amateure) .
[edit] Preliminary round
[edit] First round
[edit] Quarter-finals
[edit] Semi-finals
[edit] Bronze medal match
[edit] Final (Gold medal match)
[edit] Medalists
[edit] References
