When a blindfolded man denied Spain a World Cup ticket

Imagine you are Spain — almost guaranteed of qualifying for the 1954 World Cup after being drawn in a group with Turkey (they weren’t really that good at that time). Imagine you beat them 4-1 in Madrid and then lose 1-0 in in the return leg. Aggregate scores didn’t count then, so Spain and Turkey went into a rematch at a neutral venue — Rome.

That match in Rome ended 2-2 and FIFA’s rules were so mundane in those days that the only solution to this unforeseen deadlock was a drawing of lots. Now imagine a son of one of the FIFA employees walk into a room blindfolded and picked from two chits — the one on which was scribbled ‘Turkey’.

Actually, you don’t really need to imagine — it really happened. Spain’s World Cup campaign was ended by a blindfolded man named Luigi Franco Gamma.

While this was pretty much before the tournament, the Cup itself was incredibly entertaining — with an average of 5.4 goals per game.

One of these entertaining games was the ‘The Heat Battle of Lausanne’. Hosts Switzerland stormed to a 3-0 lead before Austria scored five times in eight minutes to take the lead in dramatic fashion. The Swiss pulled one back to make it 5-4 at half-time, but Austria just had too much in their locker on a day where temperatures went up to 40 degrees Celsius.

But all this pales in comparison to one of the most talked about match in World Cup history: the final - West Germany 3-2 Hungary.

Hungary were the most dangerous teams in those years — and were coming on the back of scoring 13 goals in two matches against England (who, despite their lack of achievements, were actually a very good team back then). Ferenc Puskas was obviously the star attraction and was backed by players like Sandor Kocsis and Nándor Hidegkuti as Hungary scored 25 goals in four matches before the final. One could be forgiven to think that Hungary would win this match — after all, the ‘Mighty Magyars’ had beaten West Germany 8-3 in the group stage.

Given all this, it was no surprise that they quickly took a 2-0 lead with Puskas and Zoltan Czibor netting in the 6th and 8th minutes. But the West Germans quickly levelled and managed to keep the scores at 2-2 with some heroics from their goalkeeper Turek. But Helmut Rahn was to have the last laugh as he fired low into the far post to take a shock lead. They didn’t give up till the final whistle and West Germany were the champions — the only team who beat Hungary between 1950 and 1956.

The final was tainted with needles and syringes found in the West Germany dressing room after the game — with one of their officials claiming that only placebos were given to the players. Go figure.

World Cup 1954 fact-file

Hosts: Switzerland Winners: West Germany Final: Hungary 2 (Puskas, Czibor) - 3 West Germany (Morlock, Rahn x 2) Top-scorer: Sándor Kocsis (Hungary)