ENGLAND 3-6 HUNGARY

England's friendly match against Hungary in November 1953 would prove to be a major turning point in the football history of both nations. Despite a poor performance at their first World Cup three years earlier, England were still seen as one of the top nations in the world, while Hungary were reigning Olympic champions and unbeaten in three years. Despite the record of their visitors, England still expected a victory against opponents they knew little about, especially as they were defending an unbeaten home record against overseas teams.

Despite their pre-match optimism, England made a terrible start to the match and within a minute were a goal behind. Nándor Hidegkuti, playing in the previously unknown position of a deep-lying centre forward, gave the Hungarians the lead with a powerful shot. England hit back quickly with an equaliser from Jackie Sewell twelve minutes later, but that was not to stop Hungary from shattering their opponents with a fantastic first-half performance.

On twenty minutes Hidegkuti restored Hungary's lead, and just four minutes later Ferenc Puskás outfoxed England captain Billy Wright on the edge of the penalty area to increase the visitor's advantage to 3-1. Only three more minutes had passed when Puskás added a his second and Hungary's fourth, and in the space of seven minutes England's proud home record had been left in danger of being totally destroyed.

Shortly before half-time Stan Mortensen pulled a goal back, but England had much to do in the second half to overturn the 4-2 scoreline. England had completely failed to cope with the Hungarians' revolutionary tactics. Hidegkuti's deep-lying role had pulled English centre-half Harry Johnston completely out of position, with Puskás and fellow forward Sándor Kocsis exploiting the resulting space and leaving the remaining English defenders with no idea how to mark them.

Five minutes after the re-start, József Bozsik ended any realistic hopes of an English fightback by adding a fifth goal for Hungary, and just three minutes later Hidegkuti completed a famous hat-trick to extend the lead to 6-2. England were now in danger of being totally humiliated. The hosts were able to raise their performance for the remainder of the match, but the only impression they could make on the scoreline was through a penalty from Alf Ramsey. The final score was 6-3, and England's ideas of their own invincibility at Wembley had been torn apart. The following year, they would lose by an even bigger scoreline of 7-1 in Budapest as Hungary confirmed their status as one of the world's top sides, narrowly failing to become world champions later that year.