BudapestGround: Puskás Ferenc Stadion Visits: 1 Date: 5th September 2009 Match: Hungary - Sweden 1-2 (FIFA World Cup 2010 qualifier) Attendance: 42 000
Pictures: Scroll down! Last time Sweden played in Budapest Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored a spectacular goal in stoppage time to secure a place in the 2006 World Cup. After several matches without scoring a goal and only 9 points in 6 matches Sweden could do with some magic in this must-win game. More about magic goals later! My journey to Hungary started on Friday evening and I was greeted by a nice thunder storm as my flight approached Budapest. There was a lot of turbolens and the last part of the flight was quite uncomfortable. I eventually arrived at my hotel by midnight though and had a good night´s sleep. I did some sightseeing early on Saturday and my first stop was Hösök tér (Heroe´s Square). Since there was to be a Pride parade in Budapest later in the day the square was to be cordoned off by 11 am but I just about made it before that happened. The Parliament and other historic places was then paid a visit before the physical challenge of the day, climbing Mount Gellert by foot. Mount Gellert, on the Buda side, is 183 m above sea level and you have a suberb view of the city. All this exercise took its toll on me and I quickly headed down the mountain in direction of Vörösmarty tér, where the Swedish fans were based, to get something to eat and drink.
Hungary play their matches at Puskás Ferenc Stadion which was built between 1948 and 1953 and had an original capacity of 104 000. On 23 May 1954, England suffered its worst defeat ever here (7-1). The stadium is named after Ferenc Puskás, widely regarded as the best striker in the world in his time and Hungary's greatest footballer ever. Ferenc Puskás was the star of the national team during its glory years of the late 1940s and early 1950s. The stadium was renamed in his honour in 2001, the original name of the stadium was Népstadion (People's Stadium). When the match started Sweden played with a speed and detemination I hadn´t seen for a while. Olof Mellberg gave Sweden the lead with a header in the 8th minute and despite a number of chances the first half only ended 1-0 to Sweden. The second half started as the first had ended. Hungary had a chance or two but with Sweden hitting the underside of the bar as well as missing plenty of other chances we just waited for a second Swedish goal to kill the game. In the 79th minute that all changed, Hungary was awarded a penalty and the score was suddenly 1-1. The home fans made some noise and the away section was in shock. Ten minues later the fourth official showed there was to be 3 minutes of stoppage time. The last second of those 3 minutes Zlatan scored to give Sweden victory. There wasn´t even time for Hungary to kick-off after the goal. The Hungarians were in a state of shock, the Swedish players celebrated in a way that would have made the participants in the Pride proud. The Swedish fans ? I have hardly experienced the joy and celebrations that went on in the away section. Every single fan went nuts, as you would expect after winning an important World Cup qualifier with the last kick of the game. We had to stay in the stadium for 30 minutes after the game but the chants and songs indicated we weren´t too bothered with it. Moments like this don´t happen too often but when they do, you know why you love football!
Hösök tér (Heroe´s Square).
Budapest
Puskás Ferenc Stadion
Swedish fans
Swedish fans
Swedish fans
Fans mixing
Swedish journalists
South Curve
West Stand
North Curve
South Curve
View of play
Kick-off
West Stand
View of play
North Curve
After the match
Zlatan signing autographs
Pano
Pano
Pano |