Football World Cup 1954 / Yugoslavia

This article covers the Yugoslav national football team at the 1954 World Cup .

qualification

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Yugoslavia	4th	4th	0	0	004-000	+4	08-00
2.	Greece	4th	2	0	2	003: 200	+1	04: 40
3.	Israel	4th	0	0	4th	000: 500	−5	00: 80

Game results:

05/09/1953	Belgrade	Yugoslavia	-	Greece	1: 0 (1: 0)
11/08/1953	Skopje	Yugoslavia	-	Israel	1: 0 (1: 0)
03/21/1954	Ramat Gan	Israel	-	Yugoslavia	0: 1 (0: 0)
03/28/1954	Athens	Greece	-	Yugoslavia	0: 1 (0: 0)

Yugoslav contingent

Number / name		Association at the time	birthday	International matches
goalkeeper
1	Vladimir Beara	Hajduk Split	11/02/1928	25th
12	Branko Kralj	Dinamo Zagreb	03/10/1924	0
Defense
2	Branko Stanković	Red Star Belgrade	October 31, 1921	50
3	Tomislav Crnković	Dinamo Zagreb	06/17/1929	17th
4th	Zlatko Čajkovski	Partizan Belgrade	01/24/1923	51
13	Milan Zeković	Red Star Belgrade	11/15/1925	3
17th	Bruno Belin	Partizan Belgrade	January 16, 1929	3
midfield
5	Ivica Horvat	Dinamo Zagreb	07/16/1926	43
6th	Vujadin Boškov	Vojvodina Novi Sad	May 16, 1931	22nd
14th	Lev mantula	Dinamo Zagreb	December 8, 1928	0
15th	Ljubiša Spajić	Red Star Belgrade	03/07/1926	6th
16	Sima Milovanov	Vojvodina Novi Sad	04/10/1923	4th
attack
7th	Tihomir Ognjanov	Red Star Belgrade	03/02/1927	22nd
8th	Rajko Mitic	Red Star Belgrade	09/06/1922	47
9	Bernard Vukas	Hajduk Split	05/01/1927	35
10	Stjepan Bobek	Partizan Belgrade	December 3rd, 1923	53
11	Branko Zebec	Partizan Belgrade	05/17/1929	22nd
18th	Miloš Milutinović	Partizan Belgrade	02/05/1933	8th
19th	Zlatko Papec	Hajduk Split	January 17, 1934	1
20th	Dionizije Dvornić	Dinamo Zagreb	04/27/1926	3
21st	Todor Veselinović	Vojvodina Novi Sad	10/22/1930	2
22nd	Aleksandar Petaković	Radnički Belgrade	08/06/1932	0
Trainer
	Aleksandar Tirnanić		07/15/1910

Games of the Yugoslav team

Preliminary round

Pl.	country	Sp.	S.	U	N	Gates	Diff.	Points
1.	Yugoslavia	2	1	1	0	002: 100	+1	03: 10
2.	Brazil	2	1	1	0	006: 100	+5	03: 10
3.	France	2	1	0	1	003: 300	± 0	02: 20
4th	Mexico	2	0	0	2	002: 800	−6	00: 40
Yugoslavia group winners by drawing lots

June 16, 1954, 6:00 p.m. in Lausanne
France	-	Yugoslavia	0: 1 (0: 1)
June 19, 1954, 5:10 p.m. in Lausanne
Brazil	-	Yugoslavia	1: 1 a.d. (1: 1, 0: 0)

Two teams from Group I, Yugoslavia and France, played the opening game in Lausanne. In the 15th minute, Milutinovic scored the goal of the day for the Yugoslavs 1-0 victory. Then Brazil had to prevail against the outsider from Mexico, which succeeded convincingly with a 5-0 victory. The clash between the two winners of the first match day, Brazil and Yugoslavia, turned out to be an exciting game. After 120 minutes, the score was 1: 1 through the goals of the later, two-time world champion Didi and the later Bundesliga coach Branko Zebec. Both teams were thus qualified, because France's 3-2 victory over Mexico at the same time did not help the French to advance. In the end, Yugoslavia won the group by drawing lots ahead of the Brazilians with the same number of points.

Quarter finals

June 27, 1954, 5 p.m. in Geneva
Yugoslavia	-	BR Germany	0: 2 (0: 1)

Germany had to compete with the strong Yugoslavs and was considered an outsider. An unfortunate own goal by Horvat gave the Germans the lead after nine minutes. Then began a defensive battle against the incessantly attacking Yugoslavs. But luck and skill in the person of the outstanding Toni Turek in the goal of the Germans helped to overcome the immense pressure of the opponent. A counterattack in the 85th minute brought the 2-0 through Helmut Rahn , the surprise was perfect.