The Battle of Berne and an upset victory

Very rarely would Switzerland bring out the imagery of violence, but when Hungary and Brazil clashed in the 1954 World Cup, the serene calm was shattered, with the match being termed subsequently as the Battle of Berne.

Torrential rains did little to douse the growing fire on the pitch as referee Arthur Eliis dishing out a total of 42 free-kicks, two penalties, four cautions and three sending offs.

To make matters worse, the brawl continued in the dressing room as players used bottles and boots as weapons. The worst affected was Brazilian Pinheiro who suffered an eight-centimetre long wound to his face, the legendary Ferenc Puskas assumed to be the culprit.

Much like the previous edition in 1950, FIFA introduced another puzzling format with seeded teams not facing each other during the group stages.

It was Hungary’s World Cup to lose as they showed up in the Alps bolstered by the fab-four of Puskas, Sandor Kocsis, Nandor Hidegkuti and Josef Bozsik.

They lived up to their billing with a 9-0 blanking of South Korea in their opening Group II game. That was followed up with an 8-3 thumping of West Germany at the cost of Puskas who did not play till the final after hurting his ankle.

The carnage they caused was reflected in the 27 goals they scored, setting a tournament record.

No team seemed to bother Hungary and even the burly Germans seemed to accept their fate before the final as their manager Sepp Herberger admitted they were preparing to hail Hungary as champions.

But fate had other ideas as despite going down by two goals in the first eight minutes, Germany lifted their first Jules Rimet Trophy after a 3-2 win.

Later, many suggested that some of the German players had doped after a dressing room attendant admitted to seeing syringes. Nevertheless, the West Germans had pulled off the impossible and given the world another classic game of football.