WORLD CUP REVIEW - 1950-1954

BRAZIL 1950

After a 12 year hiatus due to a little event called World War Two, and the aftermath, the World Cup returned in earnest. And it returned to the continent it all started in, South America. Because of the destruction of much of Europe, this was really the only option. The World Cup was almost not resurrected at all, because of a distinct lack of interest and enthusiasm in the world football community. This is perhaps not a surprise given what the world had witnessed. Four teams withdrew after qualifying - Turkey, India (who were told they couldn't play barefoot), Scotland declined to participate because they did not win the home nations group, finishing behind England, and France, who protested at the travelling distance their team would have to undertake. Portugal rejected the chance to replace France. Even though 16 teams qualified, only 13 travelled to Brazil. As with previous editions, there was again an element of farce. 1930 finalists Argentina withdrew from qualifying, while West Germany and Austria were not allowed to enter because of the international sanctions following the war. Not exactly the ideal conditions to start! So, this meant there were two first round groups with four teams, one with three and one group with just two teams! The only major upsets were obviously England using to the USA (although they probably wouldn't have finished ahead of a solid Spain side anyway) and reigning world champions of 16 years Italy being dumped out by Sweden. Uruguay won the two team group by thrashing Bolivia 8-0, with five different scorers on target, and Brazil qualified comfortably despite a slight slip up in a 2-2 draw with Switzerland. So, that left Brazil, Spain, Sweden and Uruguay to make up the final group. Brazil beat Sweden and Spain 7-1 and 6-1 respectively, while Uruguay struggled to a 2-2 draw with a Spain and a narrow 3-2 win over Sweden. So, in the final match, the supreme Brazil only needed a draw. As history shows up, the favourite doesn't always win! Brazil would have to wait eight years for their first triumph, while Uruguay won agains the odds, winning their second world cup. This meant just the two countries, Uruguay and Italy, won the first four world cups.

YES, IT REALLY DID HAPPEN!

India withdrew having been the qualifier from Asia, because they weren't allowed to play without boots as it contravened their Muslim religion! The Indian players were not used to playing barefoot so refused when FIFA tries to force them to play barefoot.

CONTROVERSY

This was the only World Cup where there was no final. As it worked out, the last game between Uruguay and Brazil turned into the final, as Uruguay needed to win to top the final round robin group, while the hosts Brazil only needed a draw. Although FIFA will claim they were hindered by the glut of withdrawals and the number of teams who eventually turned up in Brazil, there surely must have been an alternative to the convoluted system the governing body settled on?

GAFFE OF THE TOURNAMENT

Brazil failing to win the tournament. They were at home, were the overhwelming favourites and had the backing of almost all the 200,000 plus fans inside the huge Maracana. They also took the lead in the second half. But then it all started to go wrong. Player of the tournament Juan Schiaffino equalised before Alcides Ghiggia scored the winning goal 11 minutes from time. It was such an upset, the Brazilians have even invented a term to describe the match - Maracanazo (roughly translated from Portuguese as the Maracana Blow). There was such optimism in Brazil, that prior to the match, the press and public alike were proclaiming Brazil as the world champions, and chanting 'Brazil must win' in the street. It was understandably quiet in the streets of Rio after the match! Jules Rimet, preparing to hand over the trophy after the match, had already prepared a speech in Portuguese. All in all, one of the biggest upsets in World Cup history!

BIG UPSET

But not the biggest upset in the history of the great tournament. The United States beating their formal colonial masters England, in the latter's debut World Cup, has to rank as the biggest in history. So big, in fact, that a British newspaper thought there must have been a misprint in the press release, so they put that England had won 10-1! That's how big the shock was! Joe Gaetjens scored the historic goal in the 38th minute. The irony was that he was not even a US citizen, having been born in Haiti. His story was to meet a sad end though - a member of his family lost the Haitian Presidential election in 1957, and fled to the Dominican Republic. Gaetjens returned to Haiti in 1964. He thought the president, Duvalier, would be uninterested in him because it was his brothers who were hoping to stage a coup and he was not interest in politics. He was wrong. He was arrested and presumed killed later that year, at the age of 40.

PLAYER OF THE TOURNAMENT - JUAN SCHIAFFINO

The stand out player of the tournament, with stiff competition from the tournament's top scorer, Ademir. It probably would have been the Brazilian had his country won the tournament, as had been expected of them. A forward who had some notable success with AC Milan after moving to Europe in 1954. Able to play in a variety of positions, he held his country together. This Uruguay team was not as spectacular as the 1930 winners, but they won when it mattered most. Schiaffino scored the important equalising goal in the final game against Brazil. He would continue the trend of players who would represent two countries at international level, going on to play for Italy from 1954 to 1958 following his move to Milan.

GOAL OF THE TOURNAMENT - ALCIDES GHIGGIA

Maybe not the most spectacular goal, but it wins the award here, mainly due to the fact that it caused one of the biggest shocks in world cup history. Think Brazil in 1982, which is widely considered to be the best Brazilian team ever despite the fact they failed to even reach the semi-finals. A final solo goal, Ghiggia skipped around a Brazilian defender and slotted the ball inside the keeper's near post, silencing a previously rapturous Macarana.



SWITZERLAND 1954

The World Cup where Germany (or West Germany) found out what it was like to win - and they liked it! The tournament found a more settled format this time around, with 16 participants in four groups, followed by quarter-finals, semi-finals and a final. No one withdrew and there wasn't the long-winded process of previous events. There were even seedings for the first time - each group contained two teams based on the world rankings, as well as two unseeded team. However, rather than a conventional round robin, the seeded team just paid the unseeded teams, meaning each country played just the two matches. This certainly helped fixture congestion. Extra-time was also played in the group matches if teams were level, so the tournament was not without its quirks. The competition returned to Europe as the continent had recovered well from the war, but took up its place, quite diplomatically, in neutral Switzerland! It was an exciting World Cup, where again attack took preference over defence. Think about some of these final scores - Brazil 5-0 Mexico, Hunmgary 9-0 Korea Republic, Hungary 8-3 West Germany, Turkey 7-0 Korea Republic, West Germany 7-2 Turkey, Uruguay 7-0 Scotland, Austria 5-0 Czechoslovakia, England 4-4 Belgium. And that was just the group phases. If the action is like this in South Africa, expect record television viewing figures! Egnland would reach the last eight for the first time , courtesy of a win against the hosts Switzerland. The eventual quart-final line-up was incredibly strong, resulting in some entertaining ties. England pushed world champions Uruguay all the way, thanks to legends Nat Lofthouse and Tom Finney, before succumbing 4-2, while Hungary also defeated fellow favourites Brazil 4-2, in a match remembered for all the wrong reasons. Unfancied West Germany were progressing through the tournament quietly (remember they weren't even one of the seeded teams), narrowly defeating Yugoslavia before thrashing Austria on their route to the final. And when Hungary ended Uruguay's reign, we had the final line up - east versus west, Communism versus democracy. Hungary were clearly the stand-out team of the tournament - with Kocsis, Puskas and Hideguti pulling the strings they scored goals for fun, and the 'Magical Magyars' looked unstoppable. They scored 25 goals in their four games leading up to the final. But Puskas got injured in the group match against the Germans, and although he played in the final, his team were undeniably weakened. West Germany, on the other hand, came up on the rails and it was a massive upset when they won. Puskas scored the second goal after just eight minutes, but that was as good as got for the Hungarians. West Germany were level by 18 minutes, through Morlock and Rahn, before the latter wrote his name into German folklore with an 84th minute winner. This match had a profound effect on both countries' football teams. The Hungarians never came this close to winning an international tournament again. The team was broken up in the wake of the Hungarian Communist uprising in 1956, the top Hungarian team, Honved, were abroad playing in the newly formed European Cup. The majority of players decided against returning to Hungary - this included Puskas, Kocsis and Czibor - and found new clubs in Western Europe. Some, like Puskas with Spain, even forged a new international career. The Magical Magyars were no more. The Germans, on the other hand, got that winning feeling. West Germany became a true footballing power, and it is considered a turning point in post-war Germany. It is also referred to as Das Wunder von Bern (The Miracle of Bern), and it was not far short of that. Especially considering the group match ended Hungary 8-3 Germany! But these teams definitely took different trajectories from here on in. Four years later, with the finals again in Europe, a young 17 year old star would be born, and Brazilian football would never look back.

CONTROVERSY - THE BATTLE OF BERN

The vastly fancied Hungary defeated Brazil 4-2 in their quarter-final in Bern to reach the semi-finals. But that was only half the story. With Brazil so highly fancied in 1950, this match would not have looked out of place in the final. However, the game has become remembered for all the wrong reasons. There were two penalties, three sendings-off, and, if you think as the 1950s as an era where football was played by real men making real challenges, there was a huge total of 42 fouls. The game's English referee David Ellis said: 'I thought it would be the greatest game ever played. But it turned out to be a disgrace.' He was not wide of the mark.

PLAYER OF THE TOURNAMENT - SANDOR KOCSIS

It may not have been the glorious finale he had his team had dreamed off, but with 11 goals in just the five games, who can argue with that goal return! Maybe he didn't have the high profile enjoyed by his compatriot Puskas, but he was crucial in the quarter and semi-finals when his revered team-mate was out through injury. He scored two crucial goals in the quarte-final win against Brazil, including the 88th minute clincher, and two crucial extra-time goals in the semi-final to win a hard fought game against Uruguay. This followed on from seven goals in his two group matches! He was not a flash in the pan. He went onto forge a succesful career with Barcelona after the uprisings in Budapest, and he finsihed with an extraordinary final international goal tally of 75 in 68 caps! An outstanding goalscorer and leader of the line, his unprecedented aerial ability earnt him the nickname 'golden head.' So leave him unmarked at your peril! Unfortunately for him, he couldn't quite lead his country to the biggest prize!

GAME OF THE TOURNAMENT

There has to be a special mention for an extraordinary match, featuring 12 goals and in the balance right to the final whistle. Austria beat their neighbours and hosts Switzerland by an astonishing 7-5 scoreline. The match swung back and forwards, and summed up the 1954 World Cup as a whole. The hosts raced into a 3-0 lead inside 19 minutes. But incredibly, the Austrians scored five goals in nine minutes before Switzerland pulled a goal back to make it 5-4 at half-time. There were just the three goals in the second half, but this has to rank as one of the most extraordinary upsets in World Cup history. It's just a shame, from the tournaments point of view, that the hosts didnt come out on top.

GAFFE OF THE TOURNAMENT

The prize for gaffe of the tournament goes to English referee William Ling and his team of officials. How different could history have been if three key calls had not gone against the Magyars in the final? The Hungarian goalkeeper Grocsis was interfered with for the second German goal, Puskas had a goal controversially disallowed for offside in the 89th minute, and in injury-time, Ling missed a blatant foul on Kocsis in the German penalty area. But that happens in football, and the Germans had their share of complaints with the officiating in their next appearance in a World Cup final, in 1966!

GOAL OF THE TOURNAMENT

The goal of the 1954 tournament goes to Helmut Rahn, with the winning goal in the final. As well as being a spectacular finish, it had profound effect on the fortunes of both countries football teams. A solo effort ended with a stunning long-range finish from the edge of the area. A brilliant end to an entertaining tournament, Rahn was a surprising hero, having only been recalled to the German squad on the eve of the tournament, he wrote his name into German football folklore, and German football never looked back.