JENO BUZANSZKY, THE LAST surviving member of Hungary’s formidable 1950s national football team, has died aged 89 after a long illness, his family announced to local media.
Buzanszky, a defender who played 49 times for Hungary’s famous team, nicknamed the Mighty Magyars, had according to reports been in critical condition since December 12 when he entered hospital for an operation.
He made his international debut in 1950, the start of a period during which Hungary dominated world football, unbeaten for six years until 1956, apart from the 1954 World Cup Final which it lost 3-2 to West Germany.
The team’s striker and talisman Ferenc Puskas died in 2006, while in June this year the goalkeeper Gyula Grosics died, leaving Buzanszky as the sole survivor.
The only team member not to play for one of the big Budapest clubs, the mild-mannered right-back was noted for his reliability and dashes down the wing to support attacks.
He won an Olympic gold medal with the team in Helsinki in 1952, and played in Hungary’s legendary 6-3 thrashing of England at Wembley, England’s first defeat at the London venue to a team from continental Europe.
Buzanszky also played in all five games in Hungary’s run to the 1954 World Cup final.
After the shock loss in that game, the Mighty Magyars lost their veneer of invincibility and fell apart for good when several of the team’s best players, including Puskas, fled Hungary following the failed anti-Soviet uprising in 1956.
