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The 1954 World Cup final is commonly referred to as Das Wunder von Berne (The Miracle of Bern). But it’s also one of the most controversial finals ever played. Hungary entered as firm favorites and their Olympic winning side of 1952, spearheaded by the magnificent Ferenc Puskas, played a free-flowing style of football which had already earned them the unofficial title of best team in the world. This was in no small part due to their 31-game unbeaten streak — which included inflicting England’s first-ever home defeat at Wembley by a 6-3 margin. Indeed, during the earlier stages of the same tournament, the Magical Magyars had torn apart the Germans, winning by a staggering scoreline of 8-3, though the Germans had, that day, fielded a weakened side, knowing they could progress even if they lost that match. But when Hungary raced to a two-goal lead in the final after just eight minutes — thanks to the not fully fit Puskas and Zoltan Czibor — West Germany seemed done for. Yet, within minutes they were level after replying through Max Morlock and Helmut Rahn. With five minutes to play, Rahn scored his second to put West Germany 3-2 up. As the rain teemed down, Hungary hoped that the inspirational Puskas had something left. They thought their prayers had been answered as he popped up with an equalizer in the final minute … but the goal was controversially ruled out for offside — a decision that is still debated to this day. Puskas himself described it in Jonathan Wilson’s book, Behind the Curtain, as, “It was almost a minute afterwards when he [the official] raised his flag. I could have murdered him. To lose a World Cup on such a decision just isn’t right.” To add insult to injury, Hungary were also denied a penalty before the final whistle, but it wasn’t to be their day.