The Blizzard

This week on Greatest Games, Jonathan Wilson and Marcus Speller discuss a 1954 World Cup semi-final with Martin Da Cruz – Hungary 4 Uruguay 2. 

Going into the match in Lausanne, Switzerland, Hungary’s ‘Mighty Magyars’ hadn’t lost a full international since 1950 – winning Olympic gold and thrashing England a couple of times in that time. But of course, Uruguay were yet to lost a World Cup fixture themselves, winning the inaugural competition in 1930 and then in 1950. 

Two international football heavyweights meet in a defining fixture at a pivotal time in their footballing histories.

About the panel:

Jonathan Wilson founded The Blizzard in 2011 and is editor of the magazine. He’s contributed to a number of publications including the Guardian and Sports Illustrated as well as having authored  Behind the Curtain, Inverting the Pyramid, The Outsider, Angels with Dirty Faces and most recently The Names Heard Long Ago, among others. 

Marcus Speller is a host of the Football Ramble podcast as well as Answerable Questions with Questionable Answers. Marcus also regularly hosts our live Q&A events across the country alongside Jonathan.

Martin da Cruz is an Australia-based PhD student, researcher and writer specialising in Uruguayan football history, contributor to The Blizzard and is currently working on his first book on the early years of the Uruguayan game.

Order our latest quarterly –  including how the COVID-19 pandemic changed football, a look at a selection of infamous footballing individuals and an investigation of the Afghanistan women’s national team and their fight for justice – Issue 40.

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