In one of the most shocking results of its day, Hungary defeated England 6-3 at Wembley Stadium on this day in soccer history in 1953.  It was the first loss on English soil by a non-British Isles side in history dating back to 1901 and dubbed the ‘Match of the Century.’

And few people would have predicted the result with England still looked upon as one of the game’s top teams having been the inventors of the game and the Mighty Magyars still relatively unknown despite being Olympic champions.

The match line-ups feature many players that would become household names over the years such as Stanley Matthews, Billy Wright, Alf Ramsey and Stan Mortensen while Hungary’s roster included Ferenc Puskás, Sándor Kocsis, and Nándor Hidegkuti.

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Hungary stormed out of the gate and took the lead in the opening 90 seconds but the home side kept it close early with an equalizer in the 13th minute.  But then Hungary turned it up a notch and headed to the break with a 4-2 lead.  They extended the lead to 6-2 until a late penalty made the final 6-3.

"We saw a style of play, a system of play that we had never seen before,” said of the match. “None of these players meant anything to us. We didn't know about Puskás. All these fantastic players, they were men from Mars as far as we were concerned.”

“They were coming to England, England had never been beaten at Wembley - this would be a 3-0, 4-0 maybe even 5-0 demolition of a small country who were just coming into European football. They called Puskás the 'Galloping Major' because he was in the army - how could this guy serving for the Hungarian army come to Wembley and rifle us to defeat? But the way they played, their technical brilliance and expertise - our WM formation was kyboshed in ninety minutes of football. The game had a profound effect, not just on myself but on all of us."

The style of play was ahead of its time with a very fluid motion between players and there positions much like the ‘total football’ of Holland in the 1970’s and 80’s.  The style of the player’s gear was also shockingly new with a low cut boot and more tailored kits.

"We completely underestimated the advances that Hungary had made, and not only tactically,” Billy Wright said. “When we walked out at Wembley that afternoon, side by side with the visiting team, I looked down and noticed that the Hungarians had on these strange, lightweight boots, cut away like slippers under the ankle bone. I turned to big Stan Mortensen and said, 'We should be alright here, Stan, they haven't got the proper kit'."

The Mighty Magyars went on to become one of the most dominant teams in soccer history.  Between June 1950 and November 1955, Hungary won 43, tied 7 and lost 1.  Unfortunately for Hungary the one match they lost was the 1954 FIFA World Cup.

Soccer Birthdays

1976 – Clint Mathis, American soccer player
1980 – Aaron Mokoena, South African footballer
1981 – Xabi Alonso, Spanish footballer
1986 – Craig Gardner, English footballer
1988 – Jay Spearing, English footballer

Soccer Deaths

1995 – Alan Nicholls, English footballer (b. 1973)
2005 – George Best, Northern Irish footballer (b. 1946)

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