Santiago Segurola writes an excellent summary of why, in Spanish:

http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.marca.com&langpair=es%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF8

Even mangled by Google Translate, it’s still great.

joejoejoe — I meant the latter, more or less. I think Zidane had a hugely distinctive style of play, but that he seemed to be so introverted and self-contained that he never really worked as a Maradona/Cruyff/Beckenbauer-style symbol for the character of his team. It’s not quite that he didn’t impart any of his own characteristics to the team; more that his characteristics were so cryptic that he seemed to make the team more, not less of an enigma.

Can you elaborate on this comment? Are you saying Zidane has no distinctive style of play or that he himself didn’t impart any of his own characteristics to his French teams?

I assume that Brian is referring to the allegations of possible doping by the West Germans before the final and the theory that the foul in the first match that hobbled Puskas was intended to do just that. The chances that either of those theories will ever be proven is extraordinarily small, but there will always be a hint of a question in the hearts of those who don’t dream in Schwarzweiss.

As a long time supporter of the Oranje, it was always easy for me to assume the worst of the Germans, and it was quite enlightening to come to appreciate the German view of Das Wunder von Bern while living in Frankfurt when the film came out. While I still feel that it is unfortunate that the Magic Magyars never won the ultimate title that their talent undoubtedly merited, it seems less of a massive injustice than it did before.

Part of the reason for the absence of a definitive work in English on the Golden Team is the very significant hurdle posed by the Hungarian language.

Brian may I take issue with your interpretation of the ‘54 World Cup Final? Much has been made of the tragedy of Hungary’s defeat and while the Germans were incredibly lucky, I would hesitate to suggest that the Hungarians cheated.

If you haven’t read it already, can I suggest Tor! A history of German football written by Uli Hesse Lichtenberger? It gives an (understandably) sympathetic account of The Miracle Of Berne.

And you’re absolutely right, of course, about the status of pre-Sebes Hungarian football. Whenever I’m forced to choose between accurate historical representation and the image of a team kicking the ball into the side of a haystack, the facts are going to suffer. But, yes, Central Europe was loaded with football powers in the pre-war years and during Sebes’s time produced some of the most innovative managers in the world (Bela Guttmann, etc.) And Hungary must be the only team that can plausibly claim to have been cheated out of two World Cup wins. Someone should write a book about this.

Some other candidates: Herbert Chapman (Huddersfield Town and Arsenal), Hugo Meisl (the Austrian Wunderteam), Matt Busby (Manchester United), Don Revie (Leeds United, but not England or the UAE), Brian Clough (Derby County and Nottingham Forest, but not Leeds United or Brighton), Arrigo Sacchi (especially Parma and his first spell at Milan).