3. Hungary National Team (post- Mighty Magyars era)
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During the 1950s, Hungary was regarded as one of the strongest teams in world football. The team known as the Mighty Magyars revolved around the dynamic quartet of strikers Ferenc Puskas (who, at that time was regarded to be the best player in the world) and Sandor Kocsis, attacking half-back Jozsef Bozsik and inside forward Nandor Hidegkuti.
This team won the gold medal at the 1952 Summer Olympics at Helsinki and had reached the 1954 World Cup Final. Earlier, this team had comprehensively beaten England 6-3 at the Wembley in a match which was called the Game of the Century. During the 1954 World Cup, Hungary were in great form as they comprehensively beat every opponent they faced to make it to their second World Cup Final.
Prior to the final, Hungary had a 31-match unbeaten streak and they had won every game in the World Cup by a margin of at least 2 goals. However, they lost 3-2 to West Germany in spite of being 2-0 up and as the rest as they say, is history.
Soon after the World Cup Puskas and Kocsis retired from the national team and the captaincy was passed from Puskas to Hidegkuti. In the 1958 World Cup, Hungary had a disappointing outing as they bowed out in the group stages.
After the generation of the Mighty Magyars fizzled out, the Hungarian side was never the same. The East European country later made it to the quarter-finals of the 1962 and 1966 World Cups and the semifinals of Euros 1964 and 1972 but they didn’t have the same killer instinct as they possessed during their glory days..
They struggled during the late 70s and 80s and after the World Cup in 1986, failed to qualify for any major tournament until Euro 2016. The current Hungarian side has ended their 30-year absence from a major tournament but it’ll take more than a Herculean task to replicate their performances of the 1950s.
