by ROBERT SIDAWAY

1958: TEAM TACTICS AND A NEW SYSTEM

This tournament – now looked back on nostalgically as marking the end of a simpler, less frenetic era in football – was given to Sweden now that the Swedish Federation had admitted shamateurism and gone over to professional football played by professional footballers. Raynor was called back to take charge. He was a happy manager with a happy team and in this manner Sweden were to scale the heights of World Cup football. Fifty-three nations entered for a place in the finals.

Russia was there for the first time and so was Northern Ireland. France returned with fresh and surprising results. So too did a well-behaved and richly talented Brazilian team, who introduced to the world a young Pele surrounded by names such as Didi, Zito, Garrincha and Zagalo. They also introduced to football a new system, 4-2-4. Here was planned football, four forwards, two midfield players, and four men in defence, a system which as played by Brazil made for entertainment. The footballing world took note. Team tactics were of paramount importance for all the national teams and they were beginning to replace the individual’s exploits on the pitch. This was the beginning of the end of an era.

1958 also marked the end of the great Hungarian team of the past and saw a sadly depleted England. Hungary, the proud and mighty finalists from 1954, had suffered the loss of their key players after the 1956 Hungarian uprising. Some were expatriates – Puskas and Kocsis had exiled themselves. The team that arrived was a parody of the once-great side. Meanwhile, England had been badly hurt by the Munich air disaster in February 1958, when the Manchester United side was decimated. This tragic air crash killed eight key club players, internationals Byrne, Edwards and Taylor amongst them. Matthews and Finney were considered too old and were dropped. Morale, not surprisingly, was low.

France started in devastating form by beating Paraguay 7-3 and eleven goals saw them through to the quarter-finals. Their free-scoring football netted 23 goals altogether in this tournament and their star player Just Fontaine found the target thirteen times. Northern Ireland and Wales reached the knock-out stage of the tournament but England failed 1-0 in a play-off with Russia, Hungary were out but didn’t shame themselves; they won their penultimate match against Mexico 4-0, but lost the play-off against Wales 2-1. Brazil excited the world public and marched confidently to the quarter-finals, and so did little Sweden. The Swedish crowds began to get increasingly patriotic as game after game was won. The nation was beginning to believe Raynor’s promise: ‘We’re slow, but we’ll reach the final’.

The semi-finals arrived and the strong West Germans were there, Brazil danced through, goal happy France arrived and Sweden had mastered the Russians. Now Sweden were to meet the West Germans in Gothenburg. The chants of ‘Heja! Heja! Heja!’ swirled around the stadium, the crowd incited to fervent patriotism by frisking cheerleaders. At half-time the score was I-1 and in the second half Sweden scored twice more. The ‘Tortoise Team’ had won a famous race and reached the final. So did Brazil, who ran riot in a 5-2 victory.

In crowd terms, the final in Stockholm was a quiet affair. The World Cup committee strictly forbade any cheerleaders on the pitch, and the Swedish crowd cowed to the stricture and created little atmosphere for their astonishing team. But on the pitch the match was anything but docile. David was meeting Goliath and within four minutes Brazil were one down, the first time they had been in arrears throughout the competition. The giant tottered, then hit back quickly. At half-time Brazil led 2-1, and in the second half played some wonderfully exciting football. The third goal, by Pele, was breathtaking. Catching a high ball on his thigh in a packed penalty area, he hooked it over his head, swivelled and volleyed past a helpless ‘keeper. Sweden got a consolation second goal but the final result stood at 5-2 — exciting, explosive stuff.

The Swedes were still happy, though, and the Brazilians overjoyed. For the crowd chorusing ‘Samba! Samba!’ the best team had won the World Cup. Brazil’s golden days had arrived at last with the presentation of the Rimet Trophy by FIFA’s new president, Arthur Drewry.

1962: THE CAUTIOUS SIXTIES ARRIVE

Switzerland were the hosts for 1954, and travelling for the sixteen competing finalists was far less complicated than in the previous competition. Not so FIFA’s new and complex eliminating scheme in the tournament. This time the finalists were split again into groups of four, but it was decided that two countries in each group were to be seeded and would not meet. Seedings had been worked out before the teams qualified. Spain, seeded, did not get through, so Turkey were seeded in their place above Germany. This proved to Germany’s advantage. Though losing 8-3 to Hungary, they forced a play-off with Turkey who were level on points and qualified for the quarterfinals. Germany had been welcomed back to FIFA in 1950 but for this tournament were low on the list of contenders.

The Swiss tournament was not particularly efficiently organised, but television covered the event for the first time, and it was a first-class introduction for the limited viewing public. Goal-scoring was plentiful, and in 26 games there were 140 goals, an average of over five per game.

Never has a World Cup had such hotter-than-hot favourites from the kick-off. Mighty Hungary was a team of footballing stars, with the legendary Puskas as their captain. Teamwork and discipline formed the key to the Hungarians’ success, for Iron Curtain countries took the finest talent available, put them into uniform and formed an army team, in this case Honved. All but one member of this World Cup team played for Honved. England and Scotland were present, England not as strong as in the past but still fielding Matthews, Finney, Lofthouse and an excellent captain in Billy Wright. Scotland was represented by a weak team and even Brazil arrived without their full complement of talent. Yugoslavia were still strong and France looked a firm set-up. Italy were a broken team: Pozzo had gone, and discipline and confidence had disappeared.

Excitement and drama throughout the finals was not lacking, however. Hungary hammered 17 goals in their first two matches, nine against Korea and eight against Germany. Turkey scored seven against little Korea and then lost to Germany 7-2 in the play-off of Pool 2. Uruguay crushed Scotland 7-0 and England reached the quarter-finals only to be accounted for by Uruguay as well, 4-2. Italy went out in the early stages, Switzerland emerging victorious 4-1 in a play-off. West German players gritted their teeth and muscled determinedly to the quarter-finals.

The final stages of this tournament formed a knock-out competition. Hungary was involved in the worst game of the tournament, then the best and ultimately the final itself. Brazil against Hungary, now known as ‘The Battle of Berne’, is probably the worst example of violence on and off the pitch in a World Cup game. It was a brawl and only excellent refereeing by Arthur Ellis saw it to its completion. Bozsik was dismissed from the pitch with two Brazilians. Hungary finally mastered Brazil 4-2, but the on-pitch fighting continued in the dressing rooms below with bottles. There were immediate moves to ban Brazil, who in hindsight were seen as the more guilty team, and attempts were even made to end the World Cup altogether. However, the hysteria quickly died down.

Hungary against Uruguay in the semi-final was in complete contrast to this and the match is still rated as one of the most outstanding in any World Cup. Hungary won 4-2 in torrential rain and a sea of mud. West Germany, in their semi-final, rushed to a 6-1 victory over an Austrian team which simply fell apart. The Germans showed that they could play incisive, sweeping football after all. The Wankdorf Stadium held the final, which was played on a rainy Sunday to a crowd of 60,000. Hungary gambled and played an unfit Puskas. His presence helped his team to make a devastating start, however, for within eight minutes they had scored twice and West Germany looked demoralised. But with their determination tempered with talent, they had swept back to 2-2 by half-time. By full-time they had won 4-2 and Hungarian pride felt as injured as Puskas physically looked.

In pouring rain Jules Rimet presented West Germany with the gold trophy. Rimet had shown the world, through the compelling eyes of television, a stunning tournament. Now he was ready to retire.

WINNERS AND LOSERS (VI)

1966, 1970 & 1974