LIKE THE stadium named for the man who once led it, Hungary’s national team has spent a very long time in decline since the glory days of the 1950s. Now, the run-down venue is scheduled for complete redevelopment, with bulldozers due soon, but work on the reconstruction of the team is already starting to show signs of taking shape.

Giovanni Trapattoni looked a little nostalgic at the Puskás Ferenc stadium, telling the journalists in the press room under the main stand that he had first visited at 18. “Think of how the city has changed since then,” he said, with a rueful shake of the head.

The ground, as it happens, probably still looks pretty recognisable and certainly the many snapshots of its illustrious history that line the wall have a pretty familiar look about them to anybody who had peered around the giant open bowl of a venue for more than a few minutes.

Even the huge scoreboard looks the same in the picture of the famous Magical Magyars taken the night they beat England 7-1 here in May 1954, although the photograph may be doctored or staged, for the final scoreline is already visible in the background as the players appear to stand to attention for the national anthem.

The victory left an English side still reeling from the 6-3 home defeat the previous November utterly stunned and should have marked the beginning of an unforgettable summer for the Hungarians. Somehow, though, after a flying start to the World Cup in Switzerland, where Gusztáv Sebes’ side swept West Germany (8-3), then Brazil and Uruguay aside with what was a forerunner of total football on the way to the final, it all went terribly wrong.

They averaged more than five goals a game at the tournament thanks to the phenomenal strike rates of players like Puskás, Sándor Kocsis and Imre Schlosser but could manage only two in the final against an improved German side who came from behind to win the title with a goal six minutes from time. The victors remember the event as the “miracle of Bern”.

It was, Trapattoni said, sad that they had never been world champions. “Honvéd and Hungary were great teams with so many great players,” he said. “They were a fantastic side, like Barcelona now. I played against them, also Florian Albert , who was a member of the second great Hungary team. I knew them later too because many defected to Spain after the Russians invaded.

“But the Hungarians still have that great tradition and the current team is part of that. Their football school is very beautiful; very technical and creative.”

In fact, after years in the doldrums, there are indeed clear signs of improvement these days with current boss Sándor Egervári bringing through a new group of young and talented players, many of whom were part of the under-20 side he guided to third place in the World Cup a couple of years back in Egypt.

It is very much a work in progress but the five points that separated them from Sweden in the final qualifying group for Euro 2012 is a little misleading. Having beaten the Swedes 2-1 at home a month earlier, the Hungarians could have finished level up until the last day but would have gone out on the head-to-head and so, with nothing really to play for, they drew with Finland while their rivals scored an unexpected success over the Dutch, who were already certain of topping the group.

Egervári’s men, in fact, have lost just one game in the 10 they have played since losing dramatically by five goals to three in Amsterdam 15 months ago. They came from behind to level the game at 3-3 but ended up losing due to two late goals by Dirk Kuyt.

Zoltán Gera showed how much he still has to pass on to the new generation that day while Genoa striker Gergely Rudolf underlined his ability while the likes of Tamás Priskin of Alania, Monaco’s Vladimir Koman and Balazs Dzsudzsak of Dinamo Moscow all continued their development into high quality international players.

Under their 61-year-old manager the team looks to have acquired a new sense of purpose and matching the greatness of Hungary’s Golden Team, and perhaps someday winning one of the great prizes that so cruelly eluded Puskás and co, will always be the dream.