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Puskas' insistence on playing in the 1954 final made him a scapegoat for Hungary's shocking defeat. Allsport Hulton/Archive |
With a left foot as good as any that has ever kicked a ball, Puskas was the star player of Hungary's great side of the early 1950s.
Nicknamed the "Galloping Major," Puskas played for the Hungarian army side Honved and led the "Magical Magyars" to victory at the 1952 Olympics, and then its famous 6-3 win over England at Wembley in 1953.
By the 1954 World Cup, Hungary had been unbeaten for four years and its pioneering style of play, which encouraged freedom of movement and expression, had astonished the soccer world. Yet, novel as the Hungarian version of "total football" was -- with players such as Puskas, Hidegkuti and Kocsis -- the system was always secondary to the quality of personnel.
The Hungarians started the tournament at a frightening pace, thrashing nine goals past South Korea and then destroying West Germany 8-3. But Puskas picked up an injury against the West Germans and sat out as his teammates forged their way to the final with tough wins over Brazil and Uruguay.
If Puskas had one flaw it was a confidence in his own ability that verged on arrogance, and he insisted on playing in the final, knowing that coach Gusztav Sebes couldn't refuse his request. Puskas scored after just six minutes and Hungary was soon up by two goals, but a cataclysmic collapse followed as the West Germans, humiliated in the first round, somehow rallied to win 3-2.
Puskas had been unfortunate to have a late effort disallowed on a tight offside call but his decision to play despite being unfit made him a scapegoat for Hungary's defeat and a target for some vitriolic criticism on the squad's shameful return to Budapest.
Puskas was on a Spanish tour with Honved when Soviet tanks crushed the 1956 uprising in Hungary, and he opted to stay in Spain, eventually signing for Real Madrid where he played alongside Alfredo di Stefano in Real's great European Cup-winning side of the late '50s.
In 1962 he returned to the World Cup stage in Spanish colors, but a first round group that included eventual finalists Brazil and Czechoslovakia proved beyond even the Galloping Major's command.
