Hapless El Salvador cut to ribbons

Press, 17 June 1982, Page 18

Hapless El Salvador cut to ribbons

NZPA-Reuter Elche Hungary wrote itself into | the record books when it i bludgeoned a hapless El Sal- | vador, 10-1, in their World | Cup group three match , in < Elche yesterday morning. < The Hungarians, firing at will and showing no mercy, j became the first team to I reach double figures in a i single match in the World 1 Cup finals as El Salvador ; were sunk without trace. 1 A hat-trick by the substi- ] tute, Laszlo Kiss, paved the . way for one of the most overwhelming . performances i ever seen in the World Cup ! and eclipsed the previous best of nine goals scored by I Hungary against South » Korea, in 1954, and Yugosla- ' via against Zaire, in 1974. . 1

By the interval the Hungarians had established a relatively modest 3-0, which gave no hint of the deluge bf goals to follow as El Salvador crumbled beneath the onslaught The manner of Hungary’s performance occasionally brought to mind the attacking fluency of the legendary Hungarian team of the 1950 s and sounded a stern warning to its group three rivals, Belgium and the title-holder, Argentina. Belying a reputation for inconsistency the Hungarians slipped easily into top gear and cut El Salvador to ribbons. Established stars such as Tibor Nyilasi, winning his fiftieth cap, and the strikers,

Laszlo • Fazekas and Laszlo Kiss, proved far too strong for a Salvadoran side which had considered qualifying for the finals a triumph in itself. However, El Salvador had the consolation of scoring its first goal in the World Cup finals when Luis Ramirez Zapata prodded the ball past the Hungarian goal-keeper, Ferenc Meszafos, after 65 minutes.

Six Hungarians contributed to the slaughter with Kiss, who came on in the fiftysixth minute, setting the pace with three goals in eight minutes. He was joined on the scoresheet by Nyilasi (two), Fazekas (two), Gabor Poloskei, Jozsef Toth and Lazar Szentes.