By Ollie Irish
“We thought we would demolish this team – England at Wembley, we are the masters, they are the pupils. It was absolutely the other way.”
The late Bobby Robson on how badly England underestimated Hungary.
November 1953: Led by the great Ferenc Puskas, the Mighty Magyars – so fluid, so ahead of their time – gave stiff England an arch lesson in the perils of inflexibility. Sadly, Hungary never won the World Cup they deserved, and equally sadly, England have hardly progressed since this thrashing in their own cathedral. Inflexibility and misplaced arrogance is still the order of the day.
Some rare photos of that great game:
I think it’s safe to predict that there won’t be nine goals tonight at the new Wembley.