Jonathan Wilson
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With a new coach and an Under-20 World Cup bronze, Hungary can approach qualification for Euro 2012 with cautious optimism
Whatever happens at Wembley tomorrow, England will at least be able to look at their opponents and console themselves that they have not fallen so far. For Hungarians there must be something crushing about returning to the scene of probably their nation's greatest football triumph, the most famous victory of a side that ranks as one of the greatest there has ever been, and for the key issue of team selection to be whether Tamas Priskin has got over an ankle injury.
A couple of weeks ago I asked a Hungarian journalist what he thought the team for tomorrow would be. He replied: "Grosics; Buzanszky, Lorant, Lantos; Bozsik … if only." Hungary, like England, is always harping back to a golden age, but at least its golden age existed (if there was ever a time when England were indisputably the best team in the world, it was probably between 1886 and 1900, when they won 35 of 40 internationals).
True, Hungary missed out on the greatest prize, losing in the 1954 World Cup final to West Germany after a 31-game, four-year undefeated run in which they won the Olympic title but, as Arrigo Sacchi said, when the great sides are remembered it is their style as much as their medals that defines them, and the Aranycsapat (Golden Squad) had that in abundance.
The problem is that the five-and-a-half decades since have been spent in the shadow of the achievements of Puskas, Hidegkuti, Kocsis et al, trying to return to their heights. There has been an understandable but unhelpful utopianism about Hungarian football that meant the very good sides of the 60s – Florian Albert, Ferenc Bene, Janos Farkas – and the 70s – Tibor Nyilasi, Andras Torocsik, Zoltan Kereki – never got the credit they probably deserved.
In recent times, even those have seemed like impossible heights. In October 2006 I interviewed Gyorgy Karpati, who played for Hungary in the infamous Blood in the Water water polo match at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. He was a friend of Ferenc Puskas, who died the following month. Karpati had just been to see him in his care home, where he was suffering from Alzheimer's disease. "At least," Karpati said, "he'll never know we lost to Malta."
At last, though, there is a sense of optimism again, with the emergence of a promising generation. Hungary acquitted themselves reasonably well in a tough World Cup qualifying group, winning five games, including a 1-0 victory over Denmark, but, more significantly, their Under-20 side came third behind Ghana and Brazil at the World Cup in Egypt last year, with a squad that included the goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi and the forwards Krisztian Nemeth and Andras Simon, all of whom are on Liverpool's books.
The friendlies that followed the World Cup were less impressive, a 1-1 draw against Russia the sole highlight in a run that saw Hungary lose 3-0 to Belgium, 3-0 to Germany and, crushingly, 6-1 to Holland.
Erwin Koeman, Hungary's Dutch coach, whose supposedly overcautious approach had already been questioned, came in for increasing criticism, and when Sandor Csanyi was elected president of the Hungarian Football Federation last month, Koeman was a victim of the new broom.
"I want radical reforms," Csanyi said. "This will include changes from the training of the young generation to coach training." One of the most senior figures in Hungarian banking, where he developed a reputation as a moderniser, Csanyi promised to take the same approach into football to root out hooliganism and corruption. "All those who are just lingering about in football – roughly half the people there – I'll ruthlessly eliminate from their jobs," he said.
They are fine words but Hungary has heard them before, although perhaps not from a figure with such a track record of reform. For Koeman's successor, Csanyi turned to the coach who led the Under-20 side to bronze, Sandor Egervari. Hungary's seventh in a decade has stressed the need for stability. "I hope that in four years I will lead the Hungary national team at the World Cup, that our results make that possible," he said. "I have hope of success, I will fight in my work, and I am sure that long-term team-building will bring the results we want."
Egervari has the great advantage of having already coached many of the younger players who will be breaking into the side over the next couple of seasons, although it is telling that in his 20-man squad for tomorrow's game only one, Sampdoria's Vladimir Koman, played in Egypt. Perhaps he is giving older players a chance to prove themselves before more radical changes.
Egervari's great advantage is that he has a talented young generation with which to threaten more established players.
Hungary may not beat England for the first time since 1962 tomorrow but after a long time in the wilderness, they can approach the future with a degree of hope.
Jonathan Wilson
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