Legend PUSKAS Dies

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(ONLY THE REAL OLDIES ON THIS FORUM MAY REMEMBER THIS GUY, FERENC PUSKAS, BUT HE WAS A STOCKY LITTLE GENIUS WHO SHOT CANNONBALLS.

PUSKAS, PRON. “PUSH-KASS”, LED HUNGARY AT A TIME WHEN ENGLAND WERE CONSIDERED THE GREAT POWER OF EUROPEAN SOCCER, WITH THE LIKES OF SIR STANLEY MATTHEWS ON THE RIGHT WING. BUT PUSKAS’S UNHERALDED TEAM BELTED ENGLAND 6-3 AND THEN 7-1 IN THE RETURN GAME IN BUDAPEST WITH A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT STYLE OF ATTACKING GAME. WOW . kk)

Hungary legend Puskas dies at 79

Puskas led Hungary’s greatest team
Hungary and Real Madrid legend Ferenc Puskas has died at the age of 79.
Puskas, who was in hospital for six years with Alzheimer’s disease, died in Budapest at 0600 GMT on Friday after suffering from a fever and pneumonia.

Puskas led Hungary’s golden team of the early 1950s, before taking Spanish citizenship and becoming part of Real Madrid’s all-conquering team.

Puskas scored 83 goals in 84 games for Hungary from 1945 to 1956 and later played for Spain in the 1962 World Cup.

Interview: Sir Tom Finney pays tribute to Puskas

After leading Hungary to the 1952 Olympic Gold medal, he was part of the Mighty Magyars who became the first overseas team to beat England on home soil in 1953, scoring twice in the 6-3 win at Wembley.

[ FERENC PUSKAS FACTFILE
Born: 2 April 1927, Budapest, Hungary
Nicknames: The Booming Cannon & The Galloping Major
Clubs: Kispest Honved (354 apps, 357 goals) & Real Madrid (528 apps, 512 goals)
Honours: Hungarian league (5), Spanish league (5), Spanish Cup, European Cup (3), Intercontinental Cup, Olympics ]

Hungary then rolled England over 7-1 in Budapest and were consequently installed as favourites for the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland.

But injury to Puskas severely hampered the Magyars and they lost in the final to Germany.

Puskas joined Real Madrid and, along with Alfredo di Stefano, was the inspiration behind a string of domestic and European titles.

He scored four goals in Real’s 7-3 win over Eintracht Frankfurt in a remarkable final at Hampden Park in 1960, and won the European Cup three times with the Madrid side.

606: DEBATE
A true legend of football for both club and country

FM
606: Have your say

In all, he scored 512 goals for Real in 528 matches and in 1962 he took out Spanish citizenship in time to play for his adopted country in the 1962 World Cup.

Puskas retired in 1967, going on to coach clubs in several countries, leading Greek side Panathanaikos to the European Cup final in 1971.

As the last millennium drew to a close, Puskas was voted the 20th century’s sixth best player by the International Federation for Football History and Statistics.

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How good was Puskas?

Hungary and Real Madrid legend Ferenc Puskas died on Friday at the age of 79. But just how good was the man they called ‘Galloping Major’?

REAL MADRID TEAM-MATE ALFREDO DI STEFANO
The man was a supertalent.

REAL MADRID PRESIDENT RAMON CALDERON
This is one of the saddest days for Madrid fans, I can assure you it is the most painful day since I took the presidency.

606: DEBATE
Most certainly in the top three of all time great players

GH
606: Have your say

He had many friends and was a man liked by everyone, admired as a professional and a person.

The Madrid fans in general, and those of my age in particular, will feel a great emptiness for the loss of one our childhood heroes.

I want to send a big hug to his all of his family and friends in these very painful moments.

HUNGARY TEAM-MATE NANDOR HIDEGKUTI
Of all of us, he was the best.

He had a seventh sense for soccer. If there were 1,000 solutions, he would pick the 1,001st.

HUNGARIAN PRIME MINISTER FERENC GYURCSANY
There is not one Hungarian who would be left untouched by the death of Ferenc Puskas.

The best-known Hungarian of the 20th century has left… Ferenc Puskas has left us, but “Puskas Ocsi” the legend will always stay with us.

HUNGARIAN JOURNALIST ART SZOCZI
He was always looked up to as a role model for anyone who wanted to do anything in sport.

He left this amazing legacy - this was a guy who at 31 defected from Hungary, had to sit out a Fifa ban and came back to be a great star at Real Madrid, becoming one of the best players in the history of the game.

I spoke recently to two members of the West Germany team that played Hungary in the 1954 World Cup final, and they don’t think there will ever be anyone like him ever again.

ENGLAND LEGEND TOM FINNEY
We’d never seen the likes of that Hungarian side of 1956 before and Ferenc truly was just a wonderful player.

He had a roly-poly physique but a wonderful left-foot and he was a brilliant finisher.

After losing 6-3 at Wembley we went to Budapest and lost 7-1. They were a wonderful side that day, not just Puskas, although he had a fine game as per usual.

I would put Puskas in any list of all-time greats. A wonderful player and a wonderful person and he really enjoyed playing the game.

JIMMY HILL, WHO LOOKED ON AS HUNGARY BEAT ENGLAND 6-3
It took my breath away to see someone who could manipulate a football and play passing movements against an England team and beat them 6-3.

It was just quite staggering. I paid my own money to go and I was only a supporter but it took my breath away that a country could produce 11 players like that and one stood out above the rest .

He had such control of the ball and so much skill. He could make long, accurate passes and could score goals.

OLALLA MARANON, A FORMER NEIGHBOUR IN MADRID
Although he was a famous footballer he seemed very normal compared to today’s modern stars.

He lived in a modest flat below ours and was very generous. He often brought home footballs from training for the kids in the block to play with.

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Friday, 21 November, 2003, 13:40 GMT

Hungary’s football masterclass

Hungarian captain Ferenc Puskas scored twice at Wembley
Tuesday marks the 50th anniversary of a game in which Hungary’s national football team changed the game forever.

On 25 November 1953 Hungary played England at Wembley and, although they were Olympic champions and undefeated in three years, no one gave them a chance.

This was, after all, an England side that had never lost on home soil to an overseas team.

Walter Winterbottom’s side were made up of players with world-wide reputations, like Stanley Matthews, Billy Wright and Stan Mortensen.

The Hungarians, on the otherhand, were unknown in England.

As Wright pointed out to Mortensen as they took to the field that day, the Hungarians did not even have the proper kit.

But the pre-match ball juggling of captain Ferenc Puskas - a sight fans and players had never seen before in this country - was an indication of what was to come.

We thought we were the masters, they were the pupils - it was absolutely the other way"

Sir Bobby Robson

England were not merely beaten, but absolutely outclassed.

The visitors brought a new vision of the game to Wembley. Their 4-2-4 system was based on first-time passing by players who ran hardest when they were nowhere near the ball.

Hungary waltzed to a 6-3 victory, with Puskas scoring two goals.

The defeat caused a complete re-think of the English game and had a lasting-effect on all those who witnessed it.

One face in the crowd on that grey November afternoon was a young Sir Bobby Robson.

“We saw a style of play, a system of play that we had never seen before,” Robson told BBC One’s Football Focus.

"None of these players meant anything to us. We didn’t know about Puskas. 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.

England’s WM formation was exposed by the Hungarians

"They called Puskas 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 90 minutes of football.

“The game had a profound effect, not just on myself but on all of us.”

The defeat started a revolution in English football. After 90 years of supremacy, England had been forced to concede that another country could play the game better than they could.

Over the next few years Winterbottom, who was also director of coaching for the Football Association, slowly introduced what he had learned from the Hungarians into English football.

The face of the game in this country developed into the 4-4-2 formation used by teams all over the world today.

“That one game alone changed our thinking,” says Robson.

“We thought we would demolish this team - England at Wembley, we are the masters, they are the pupils. It was absolutely the other way.”

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Obituary: Ferenc Puskas

Interview: Sir Tom Finney pays tribute to Puskas

Puskas scored four goals in the 1960 European Cup final for Real
Ferenc Puskas was the chief magician of the so-called Magical Magyars, the great Hungarian team of the 1950s that dominated world football.
Puskas was an odd-looking footballer. He was short, stocky, barrel-chested and overweight, could not head the ball and could use only his left foot.

But what a left foot.

When he came to Wembley in 1953, no one in Britain had seen ball skills like his before.

His stunning footballing ablility left England captain Billy Wright tackling air at Wembley and helped Hungary thrash England 6-3, their first defeat on home soil.

Tom Finney, who watched the game from the stands, spoke for everyone when he said: “I came away wondering to myself what we had been doing all these years.”

Puskas was known as the ‘Galloping Major’, a reference to the fact that he played for an army team, Honved.

FERENC PUSKAS FACTFILE
Born: 2 April 1927, Budapest, Hungary
Nicknames: The Booming Cannon & The Galloping Major
Clubs: Kispest Honved (354 apps, 357 goals) & Real Madrid (528 apps, 512 goals)
Honours: Hungarian league (5), Spanish league (5), Spanish Cup, European Cup (3), Intercontinental Cup, Olympics

In his first season he scored 50 goals as he won the first of five Hungarian championships and in total scored 357 goals in 354 games.

He made his international debut at the age of 18 and went on to score a phenomenal 83 times in 84 internationals.

Disappointment came when West Germany caused a major upset by defeating Hungary in the 1954 World Cup Final.

The Hungarian uprising against their Soviet masters in 1956 led to the disintegration of the great national side.

Puskas was with the rest of his Honved team-mates in Spain when the revolt took place.

He defected to the West and within a year had been signed by Real Madrid, then Europe’s leading club.

Puskas proceeded to form a sensational partnership with Alfredo Di Stefano and they became the heart of an outstanding Real side.

The high point of their achievements was their display in the 1960 European Cup final in front of 135,000 at Hampden Park.

In a truly memorable match, Real Madrid defeated Eintracht 7-3. Di Stefano scored a hat-trick, Puskas went one better with four.

However, Puskas did not have it all his own way in the European Cup.

In 1962 he scored a hat-trick in the final against Benfica but Real still lost 5-3 to their Portuguese opponents.

There was more disappointment a year later when Puskas, now playing for Spain, failed to inspire his team to success in the World Cup Finals in Chile.

Spain finished bottom of their group and Puskas failed to score in any of his four appearances for his adopted country.

But for Real his scoring rate of 512 goals in 528 matches helped the club win five successive league titles as well as three European titles.

Puskas left Real in 1966 to concentrate on coaching. He had mediocre success until 1971 when he took the Greek side Panathinaikos to the European Cup Final, where they lost 2-0 to Ajax.

After the Hungarian uprising Puskas had not returned to the country, but he was finally allowed back in 1993 to become caretaker manager of the Hungarian side during the World Cup qualifiers.

Puskas, who was admitted to hospital in late 2000 with arteriosclerosis and was later diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, leaves a wife Erzsebet.