From the archive, 6 July 1954: Politics of the beautiful game
Originally published in the Manchester Guardian on 6 July 1954BERLIN, 5 JULYThe West German football team's 3-2 victory over Hungary at Bern is regarded to-day by the East German press as a matter of some considerable political importance. Television s...
A brief guide to Hungarian cinema
Hungarian footballer and film buff Zoltán Gera picks his favourite films from his homeland ahead of the upcoming Hungarian film festival in LondonFilm can be very important for a nation – for finding an identity, and keeping it, and also for telling...
Glory for New Zealand, America and Spain win, Just.
Interesting day of pre-World Cup friendlies that threaten to throw all we know about the World Cup up in the air. For a start, New Zealand as you can see above, beat Serbia to get Kiwki pulses racing that little bit faster in the build up to South Africa.
To put that in perspective, Serbia...
England to meet Hungary before Euro 2012 qualifiers in Wembley friendly
• Match will be England's first game after World Cup finals
• 11 August date set, three weeks before first Euro qualifer
England will begin their preparations for the Euro 2012 qualifiers by hosting Hungary in a friendly international at Wembley on 11 August.
The match will be England's first...
The Joy of Six: World Cup nearly-teams
From the mighty Magyars to Maradona's Argentina side of 1990, here are half a dozen great teams that failed to go all the way
1) Hungary (finalists, 1954)
The Best Team Never To Win The World Cup: it's the greatest prize in football. If you're not convinced of...
World Cup Moments: France’s Green and White Stripes From 1978
I’ve read two different explanations for why France wore green and white shirts in their group game vs Hungary at the 1978 World Cup in Argentina.
Explanation #1 is that Argentinean television was to blame:
Argentina was a country still viewing television broadcasts in black and white back then, so all matches had to feature one team...
World Cup Moments: Das Wunder von Bern, 1954
It may surprise the casual fan or those new to the sport to learn that Hungary were once, bar none, the greatest team in all the lands. In fact the Aranycsapat – the Magnificent, Magical, Marvellous or Mighty Magyars – still reign as a team of such hushed majestic legend you wonder if they existed...
Johansson pleased with Euro 2012 qualification draw
New TPS signing Jonatan Johansson is content with Sunday’s Euro 2012 draw that placed Finland in qualification group E alongside Sweden, Netherlands, Hungary, Moldova and San Marino.
“Netherlands are the favourites”, Johansson stated the obvious. “It is great to play Sweden after a long time. They are going through some changes and are unsure who is...
Payback time
Finnish football journalist Janne Oivio makes his NFN debut with an appeal for Finland to heal the scars caused by a previous close shave in qualifying, after the Euro2012 draw pitted Finland against a former nemesis.
I don’t care about qualifying for Euro 2012. Just destroy Hungary.
I’ll never forget October 11th, 1997. For the first time...
