For the fifth World Cup Finals, the tournament
returned to Europe; to Switzerland, the home of FIFA, UEFA and the Olympic Committee.
Argentina again declined to participate, although Uruguay did appear
to defend their trophy and try to get permanent ownership of it by winning the finals for
a record third time.
Quick Links
Switzerland 1954 - First Round, Quarter-finals,
Semi-finals, Third
place, 1954 World Cup Final.
The fifth World Cup tournament produced a record number of goals,
including a (7:5) encounter between Austria and Switzerland in Lausanne.
The Hungarians -- Olympic gold medalists and unbeaten for four years
(amassing 27 wins and 4 draws from their 31 games) -- took the tournament by storm and
added to the goal glut with considerable first round victories against Korea (9:0) and
West Germany (8:3).
Ferenc Puskas, Jozsef Boszik and Sandor Kocsis were a feared trio and
looked set to help Hungary to a World Cup victory, after eliminating Brazil (4:2) and
Uruguay (4:2 aet) in the knockout stages.
In the Final in Bern, Hungary were confidently two goals up then
stunned the watching fans by losing (2:3); to the team they'd already beaten (8:3) in the
group stage, West Germany.
The 16 teams were arranged into four groups of 4 teams each, with
the first two teams moving on to the quarter-finals.
As the teams only played two games each, a couple of play-offs were
needed to seperate the second and third placed teams in two of the groups, even though the
teams had already played each other. In both cases, the same team won again and the third
placed team, on goal difference, then managed to advance to the knockout stage.
16th June
Geneva: Brazil vs Mexico (5:0)
Lausanne: Yugoslavia vs France (1:0)
19th June
Geneva: France vs Mexico (3:2)
Lausanne: Brazil vs Yugoslavia (1:1 aet)
Brazil and Yugoslavia
qualify for the quarter-finals.
17th June
Berne: West Germany vs Turkey (4:1)
Zurich: Hungary vs South Korea (9:0)
20th June
Basel: Hungary vs West Germany (8:3)
Geneva: Turkey vs South Korea (7:0)
2nd Place Playoff -- 23rd June
Zurich: West Germany vs Turkey (7:2)
Hungary and West Germany
qualify for the quarter-finals.
16th June
Berne: Uruguay vs Czechoslovakia (2:0)
Zurich: Austria vs Scotland (1:0)
19th June
Basel: Uruguay vs Scotland (7:0)
Zurich: Austria vs Czechoslovakia (5:0)
Uruguay and Austria
qualify for the quarter-finals.
17th June
Basle: England vs Belgium (4:4 aet)
Lausanne: Switzerland vs Italy (2:1)
20th June
Berne: England vs Switzerland (2:0)
Lugano: Italy vs Belgium (4:1)
2nd Place Playoff -- 23rd June
Basel: Switzerland vs Italy (4:1)
England and Switzerland
qualify for the quarter-finals.
26th June
Basel: Uruguay vs England (4:2)
Lausanne: Austria
vs Switzerland (7:5)
27th June
Berne: Hungary vs Brazil (4:2)
Geneva: West Germany
vs Yugoslavia (2:0)
Basel: West Germany
vs Austria (6:1)
Lausanne: Hungary
vs Uruguay (4:2 aet)
Zurich: Austria vs Uruguay (3:1)
1954 World Cup
Final
4th July:
West Germany vs Hungary (3:-2)
Bern.
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