Austria 7-5 Switzerland (1954)
By Conor Hogan
The date was 26 June 1954, the place was La Pontaise, Lausanne.
The 1954 World Cup was an extraordinarily high-scoring tournament. There were 140 goals in total (an average of nearly five and a half a game). Winners West Germany scored 25 of those goals in their six matches, while runners-up Hungary managed 27 in five. The highest scoring match of the tournament (and still the highest scoring match in World Cup history) was the quarter-final between hosts Switzerland and Austria.
The game was played in temperatures of nearly 95°F. After a quite first quarter of an hour, Switzerland scored three goals in four minutes, taking advantage of the Austrian goalkeeper’s sunstroke. Favourites Austria immediately hit back, scoring five times in nine minutes themselves before Switzerland got one back, to go in at half-time 5-4 down.
The second half was a much quieter affair, with just three more goals. Given the rate of goalscoring at the 2010 tournament, we’ll happily relive any goal feast, even one in grainy black and white:
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