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Column #53

Author: Isaque Argolo | Creation Date: 2022-12-23 16:10:32


Data providers: Isaque Argolo.
Sometimes there are some questions about comparing eras, either regarding players or teams. Well, the one I get the most is about the Wunderteam and its place in history, especially against teams before Hugo Meisl's team. However, for some reason, this team is also often compared to Öcsi Puskás's Aranycsapat.
These comparisons are often due to the two performances against England – 1932 and 1953 – causing the Austrian and Hungarian teams to be compared.
It is worth mentioning that the view of what football was in the 1930s was very different about what football was in the 1950s. Many would point to Wunderteam as a more elegant, more showy, more refined team, even though they lost the Stamford Bridge match due to the inefficiency of the shots. For many who watched that match, however, Wunderteam were a better team than Aranycsapat, for the reason that they were a more enjoyable team to watch. On the other hand, there are many who seek efficiency, the final score. This is not to say that Aranycsapat was just that, no, completely far from it. In addition to showing beautiful football, the Hungarian team was more effective than the Wunderteam.
What supported the Wunderteam's certain power was the beauty with which they played football, in the most refined style possible for their time, a style of play completely copied from the Victorian Era, but without the same effectiveness in adding goals to the scoreboard. That said, consequently, I can't see the Wunderteam winning any matches against, for example, Wembley Wizards, Uruguay 1923 or 1924 and other teams prior to Hugo Meisl; teams that also played beautiful football, but knew how to be effective in completing their actions.
Even before Hungary played against England, in 1936, in the sixth question of the letter sent by Hugo Meisl, the Austrian general secretary mentions that the result is not the most important thing. And that those who considered the contrary did not know what football was.
This thinking of Meisl reflected the thinking of an immense amount of people who watched football. Meisl, however, shortly before his death, admitted that for Central European teams to continue fighting at the top of world football, they would have to be more effective. Consequently, he was completely wrong when the sent the letter.
I will give my opinion on what would happen if it were possible for Wunderteam to play against Uruguay 1924 or Wembley Wizards — two great teams which were close to Wunderteam's era. Should Hugo Meisl's team face either of these two teams, a massacre would ensue, whether on Austrian or neutral soil, with Meisl's team losing by a vast amount of goals scored.