Billed as ‘The Miracle of Berne’, the 1954 World Cup Final is, by many ways, the biggest upset ever in the history of football. The evidence for a David/Goliath mismatch type was overwhelming.
First, the Mighty Magyars had not lost a game since 1950 (34 wins and six draws) with memorable victories like the 1953 rout of England (6-3).
Second, the Hungarians boasted some of the biggest names in football history, Ferenc Puskas, Sandor Kocsis, Zoltan Czibor and Nandor Hidegkuti. On the other hand, the West Germans had a group of blue collar players led by skipper Helmut Rahn.
Finally, there was not a professional league back in Germany yet.
Puskas and Czibor wasted no time putting Hungary in front 2-0 after just eight minutes. And everybody started having flashbacks of the same nightmare scenario a fortnight ago in the (in-)famous drubbing of those same West Germans (8-3) in the group phase.
But, this time around, the Germans fought back and grinded their way back into the game before halftime by levelling the score, thanks to Morlock and Rahn. The Hungarians dominated the second half, but West Germany was able to withstand their assault.
Then, six minutes from regulation, Rahn fired a low shot past the Hungarian goalkeeper to give Germany a lead as improbable as unexpected. Puskas thought he had equalized in the final minute of regulation, only for the referee to rule the goal offside.
