Hungary 1954
Hungary's Mighty Magyars arrived at Switzerland 1954 as the finest team on the planet: four years unbeaten, Olympic champions, authors of the historic 6-3 demolition of England at Wembley. Ferenc Puskás, Sándor Kocsis, Nándor Hidegkuti, and Zoltán Czibor formed the most feared attack in the world. In the final on 4 July, Hungary stormed into a 2-0 lead within eight minutes it seemed a formality. But West Germany fought back through the Bern rain and Helmut Rahn scored the 3-2 winner in the 84th minute. The defeat was the greatest tragedy in Hungarian football: the most brilliant generation in their history left without the title the whole world thought was theirs. The 1956 Revolution would scatter many of these players into exile, and Hungary would never come so close again.