Der Papierene

In December 1932 Hugo Meisl's Austrian Wunderteam took on England at Stamford Bridge.
Here we see the great centre forward, Matthias Sindelar, in training in preparation for the game.
The game could be seen as the first of many wake up calls that England has recieved from continental sides down the years. 
English team lucky to win, was the Manchester Guardian's verdict; There could not be the slightest doubt that as a team (Austria) were the superiors.
 According to The Times  It was victory and no more... And it was by no means easily earned.

Austria 5 Scotland 0, 16 May 1931

1930-31 saw Scotland share the British Home Championship with England. Having drawn with Wales and Northern Ireland Scotland had beaten England at Hampden in front of almost 130,000.

7 weeks later Scotland traveled to Vienna where they faced Austria in a friendly. Dr.Hugo Meisl was a great admirer of Scottish football, a passion that dated back to the visit of Glasgow Rangers in 1904.
Scotland's place in the world game was only possible to judge via its relationship to England. Whereas England remained isolated as far as serious international competition was concerned, we can assess the relative strength of English football by the ease with which England Amateurs were able to squash most continental teams in the first third of the century. Given that during the period 1900-30 Scotland beat England 11 times and lost to them 7 times, with 8 draws, it is fair to assume that Scotland were generally the superior team.
However, the summer tour of 1931, like Scotland's previous overseas foray, was not used as an opportunity to steamroller lesser opposition.
Even though the win over Scotland is seen as a central element of the Wunderteam mythology, we should look at the Scotland team that day:

John (Jakey) Jackson* (Partick Thistle)
Daniel Blair [c] (Clyde)
Joseph Nibloe (Kilmarnock)
Colin Duncan McNab (Dundee)
James McDougall* (Liverpool)
George Walker (St Mirren)
Andy Love* (Aberdeen)
James Paterson* (Cowdenbeath)
Jimmy Easson* (Portsmouth)
James Robertson* (Dundee)
Danny Liddle* (East Fife)

Only 3 of the 11 had faced England (Blair, Nibloe and McNab) and there were 7 debutantes. The forward line (all making their fist appearance) went on to make a total of 14 appearances between them, producing just 2 international goals.And there were no Celtic or Rangers players.

What made Austria's demolition of this lightweight Scotland side so poignant was the manner in which it was achieved. The Austrian approach was founded on what had been recognized around the world for 50 years as The Scottish style of football.
Meisl had been impressed by Rangers in 1904, and the Austrian national style had been inspired by Jimmy Hogan, a great believer in the keep it on the carpet short passing game.
Austria, of course were on the up. The previous may they had held England to a 0-0 draw in Vienna.

Der Papierene

He was truly symbolical of of Austrian soccer at its peak period: no brawn but any amount of brain.Technique bordering on virtuosity , precision work and an inexhaustible repertoire of tricks and ideas.
Willy Meisl Soccer Revolution

He was endowed with such an unbelievable wealth of  variations and ideas that one could never really be sure which manner of play was to be expected. He had no system , to say nothing of a set pattern. He just had...genius.  
Friedrich Torberg Die Erben der Tante Jolesch

I'm going to step outside our 1863-1937 time zone for a moment, and mention Ferenc Pukas, Pele, Johann Cruyff and Lionel Messi. Hopefully, in invoking these great names I will convince you that there is no paradox in a great side, the success of which relies on united play (Total Football is a handy term), having one star who shines above the common effort.
Hugo Meisl's Wunderteam were early exponents of what we would now call Total Football. Supporting the man with the ball, filling the gaps left by teammates, moving seamlessly from defensive to attacking roles and vice versa, changing shape in response to the state of play.
The cherry on top of Meisl's cake was a lightweight, cerebral striker - Matthias Sindelar. He was 175 cm tall and weighed just 74 kg
Meisl initially discarded Sindelar in favour of a more robust and basic English style centre forward- Josef Uridil- he was still very much in love with British football- particularly the Glasgow Rangers team he had seen in Vienna in 1905. The Scottish game had instilled in Meisl a faith in the effectiveness of the short passing game, but he also wanted his centre forward to be a great physical presence. From his debut in 1926 Sindelar was an occasional in the national team, in 1931 though, Meisl made him a regular.
When Austria's Wunderteam enjoyed a run of 14 unbeaten matches (April 1931- December 1932) Sindelar played in 11 of the matches. In total 'The Mozart of Football' played 43 times for Austria (25 wins,11 draws, and 7 defeats) and scored 26 goals.



For my German readers:
(Friedrich Torberg)

Auf den Tod eines Fußballspielers

Er war ein Kind aus Favoriten
und hieß Matthias Sindelar.
Er stand auf grünem Platz inmitten,
weil er ein Mittelstürmer war

Er spielte Fußball, und er wußte
vom Leben außerdem nicht viel.
Er lebte, weil er leben mußte
vom Fußballspiel fürs Fußballspiel.

Er spielte Fußball wie kein zweiter,
er stak voll Witz und Phantasie.
Er spielte lässig, leicht und heiter,
er spielte stets, er kämpfte nie.

Er warf den blonden Schopf zur Seite,
ließ seinen Herrgott gütig sein,
und stürmte durch die grüne Weite
und manchmal bis ins Tor hinein.

Es jubelte die Hohe Warte,
der Prater und das Stadion,
wenn er den Gegner lächelnd narrte
und zog ihm flinken Laufs davon.

Bis eines Tages ein andrer Gegner
ihm jählings in die Quere trat,
ein fremd und furchtbar überlegener,
vor dem´s nicht Regel gab noch Rat.

Von einem einzigen harten Tritte
fand sich der Spieler Sindelar
verstoßen aus des Planes Mitte
weil das die neue Ordnung war.

Ein Weilchen stand er noch daneben,
bevor er abging und nachhaus.
Im Fußballspiel, ganz wie im Leben,
war´s mit der Wiener Schule aus.

Er war gewohnt zu kombinieren,
und kombinierte manchen Tag.
Sein Überblick ließ ihn erspüren,
daß seine Chance im Gashahn lag.

Das Tor, durch das er dann geschritten,
lag stumm und dunkel ganz und gar.
Er war ein Kind aus Favoriten
und hieß Mattihas Sindelar. 

Hugo Meisl and Jimmy Hogan- The Danubian School

Under Meisl soccer became almost an exhibition, a sort of competitive ballet, in which scoring goals was no more than the excuse for the weaving of a hundred intricate patterns.
Brian Glanville.

Hugo Meisl was the most influential figure in European football during the first half of the 20th century. As a player he had represented Cricketer and also served as a referee. he was head of the Austrian Football Federation from 1912 to 1937, and managed the national team in two periods, in 1912-14   and from 1919 -1937.As manager of Austria the cosmopolitan Meisl envisioned a fluid and beautiful way of playing football, based on the principles of movement.
The style of play was described by Willy Meisl, Hugo's brother, as The Whirl. This involved a perpetual interchanging and fluidity between all 10 outfield players, in which there would be no such thing as a purely defensive or a purely attacking player. 
 with assistance of an English coach, Jimmy Hogan.


In 1912, Austria drew 1-1 against Hungary. The game was refereed by Englishman James Howcroft. Ever keen to develop, Meisl asked Mr Howcroft for some advice on how to improve his team. Mr Howcroft's opinion was that they needed a professional coach to work with them on basic technique. As it happened Mr Howcroft knew just the man they needed. He recommended Jimmy Hogan, the former Bolton Wanderers player who had been coaching in the Netherlands.
Meisl promptly appointed Hogan to work with leading Austrian clubs, but mainly to prepare the Austria national squad for the Stockholm Olympics.

There is a strong case for arguing that Hogan, a journeyman professional who had also played for Rochdale, Burnley, Nelson , Fulham , Swindon Town during an 11 year career was to become one of  the most influential coaches in the history of football. The origins of the great Hungarian post war style, Netherlands Total Football and even the development of tactical awareness in Brazilian football (via Dori Kruschner*) can be traced back to the work that Hogan did in Central Europe.  

Hogan helped Meisl to put his vision into action. Hogan promoted  a style that emphasized  greater ball-control, attacking freedom, creativity, quick passing, and better physical preparation  Football was to be played on the ground, not in the air, and it was a game for brains as well as muscles.  
Essentially the 2-3-5 pyramid remained untouched (in fact Willy Meisl remained an advocate of thew pyramid formation until well into the 1950s). The forward line was complemented by wide half-backs and an attacking centre-half.

We played football as Jimmy Hogan taught us. When our football history is told, his name should be written in gold letters 

Gusztáv Sebes- coach of the 1950s Hungarian Golden Team.



*Izidor "Dori" Kürschner was known as Dori Kruschner in Brazil

Wunderteam

1931-32

Austria had an unbeaten  run of 14 games between April 1931 and December 1932. 
In May 1931 they demolished a depleted Scotland team by outplaying them at their own game, based on short passing.

  12.4.31  Czechoslovakia 2-1 (Vienna, Coupe Internationale européenne) 
    3.5.31  Hungary 0-0  (Vienna, Coupe Internationale européenne)
  16.5.31  Scotland 5-0 (Vienna) 
    4.5.31  Germany 6-0 (Berlin)
  16.6.31  Switzerland 2-0 (Vienna)
  13.9.31  Germany 5-0 (Vienna)
  4.10.31  Hungary 2-2 (Budapest, Coupe Internationale européenne) 
29.11.31  Switzerland 8-1 (Basel, Coupe Internationale européenne) 
  20.3.32  Italy 2-1  (Vienna, Coupe Internationale européenne) 
  24.4.32  Hungary 8-2 (Vienna)
  22.5.32  Czechoslovakia 1-1 (Prague, Coupe Internationale européenne) 
  17.7.32  Sweden 4-3 (Stockholm)
  2.10.32  Hungary 3-2 (Budapest)
23.10.32  Switzerland 3-1  (Vienna, Coupe Internationale européenne)*
  7.12.32  England 3-4 (London)

*Austria winners of 2nd  Coupe Internationale européenne

The unbeaten run came to an end at Stamford Bridge - critics in England felt that they had had a narrow escape, and that had Austria played their natural game from the start that they would have embarrassed England:

English team lucky to win. There could not be the slightest doubt that as a team (Austria) were the superiors.
 Manchester Guardian

 It was victory and no more, and it was by no means easily earned.
The Times. 

The unbeaten run featured  the following personnel:

Goalkeeper: Rudolf Hiden
Right  Backs: Roman Schramseis, Karl Rainer
Left  Backs: Josef Blum, Karl Sesta
Right Halves: Georg Braun, Johann Mock
Center Halves: Josef Smistik, Leopold Hofmann
Left Halves: Karl Gall,  Walter Nausch
Outside Right: Karl Zischek
Inside Right: Friedrich Gschweidl
Center Forward: Matthias Sindelar
Inside Left: Anton Schall
Outside Left: Adolf Vogl

Manager: Hugo Meisl 
Trainer: Jimmy Hogan

Austria's place amongst the top teams in the world endured right up until the country was absorbed by Germany in 1938.
The retrospective Elo World Rankings have them briefly in top position (following a 3-2 win over France) in May 1934. They were favourites to win the 1934 World Cup, but in Italy only Italy could win. In the semi final  Enrique Guaita scored the only goal after Meazza had clattered into the Austrian keeper, Platzer, forcing him to spill the ball.