User:OliverTwist88/Golden Team
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The Golden Team Hungarian: Aranycsapat are also known as the Magical Magyars.[1]
The Golden Team (Hungarian: Aranycsapat; also known as the Magical Magyars, the Marvellous Magyars, the Magnificent Magyars, or the Mighty Magyars) refers to the record-breaking and world renowned Hungary national football team of the 1950s held in esteem to be one of the greatest national sides ever in international competition. It is praised, among other accomplishments, for being the team that re-invented football in the post-war World War II era. It is associated with several of the most notable matches of all time, taking part in four historically significant games of the 20th century, including the "Match of the Century", the "Battle of Berne", a semi-final with Uruguay and the "Miracle of Berne". Asserting maiden defeats on world powers England and Uruguay, one of the side's last unified actions consigned the Soviet Union to their first defeat at home mere weeks before a spontaneous national uprising against the Soviets changed the team's equation for unity.
The team's brilliance from the spring of 1950 lasted until its subsequent partial meltdown after the ill-fated 1956 Hungarian Revolution — a flashpoint in the Cold War and a strikingly heroic, moving and historically consequential event commonly viewed as having rent the first major blow against the panoply of the monolithic communist world. It is credited with directly leading to a kind of future tense football that opened a new chapter in the game's tactical scope for positional fluidity, thus rendering contemporary form and styles of the game outmoded. It introduced a powerful revolutionary ground game with its polyvalent quasi-4-2-4 offense and an early approximation towards the famous 360-degree "Total Football" strategy that later the Dutch football scene were synonymous with. The immediate heirs to Hungary's variant 4-2-4 tactical shape were eventual world champions Brazilian teams who adopted, emulated and enriched the Europeans' legacy for the 1958, 1962 and 1970 World Cups.
One of the most technically superb teams in history, by ratio of victories per game, tactical renovation, in company with its acclaimed matches, the side ranks as one of association sports' most dominant forces in the 20th century. As the definitive sporting force from the Eastern Bloc of the era, it was also a tool used by authorities in the propaganda war with the Cold War West, held up as emblematic of socialist ideals by virtue of liberating the genius that lay dormant in the proletariat. Its sporting prominence has been a topic of debate amongst postwar historians who note its measured influence on West German political and economic trends, and nationalistic streams of consciousness after one of the most celebrated World Cup competitions in 1954.
The ensemble could call on half-a-dozen world-class players within its cast, led by its talismanic captain Ferenc Puskás, prodigal goalscorer Sándor Kocsis, the deep lying centre-forward Nándor Hidegkuti, swift and sprightly winger Zoltán Czibor, great midfield choreographer József Bozsik who set the tenor for the tactical nous going forward and a first rater Gyula Grosics who tended goal. The incomparable attacking nexus of Puskás—Kocsis—Hidegkuti provided the Magical Magyars throughout their careers a windfall of 198 goals, Mihály Lantos, Gyula Lóránt, József Zakariás and Jenő Buzánszky modelled a good and oft-outperforming defense.
The extent of the Magyars' eminent domain and sojourn as giants of world football merits a closer visit of performances. Aside from a controversial 1954 World Cup final match that this article will later cover, Hungary on the world stage would suffer no defeats for 6 years, counting 42 victories and 7 draws — that lifts the side into the sphere of the truly remarkable. Another fact worthy of mention is the unique feat of attaining the strongest rating ever recorded in history using the Elo rating system for national teams (2166 points, June 1954). The constant and their essential hard currency was cogent offensive bandwidth within a six year 50 game period that leavened the sport with an astonishing 215 goals. It was around these 50 games that their golden age was framed.