Hungary beat England 4-0 on Tuesday (June 14) to go on top of their League of Nations Gareth Southgate’s team expected this to be a morale-boosting warm-up for the World Cup.
Southgate made nine changes from the side that drew with Italy over the weekend to give some fringe players a chance. But despite dominating possession, England created a few chances and the experiment took place against a Hungarian team, who beat them in Budapest earlier in the month and were again out for blood.
“Tonight is an exciting experience,” said Southgate, booing last year’s national heroes as European Championship finalists at Molyneux Stadium in Wolverhampton. Roland Sallai of Hungary opened the route, controlling the ball on his knee after a missed header from John Stones before crossing Aaron Ramsdale in the 16th minute.
Salai scored the second goal in the 70th minute with a perfect finish from the outside of his boot after losing a tackle from Calvin Phillips. Zsolt Nagy threw Ramsdale and Daniel Gazdag into the corner for two late goals, causing pain to England. Adding to their disastrous night, England defender Stones was sent off for two yellow cards.
England vs Hungary pic.twitter.com/holsFzinan— Michael Edwards (@BcfcMichael) June 15, 2022
Southgate said he chose a young, experimental team, heavy on attacking talent, that exposed his side when the game was up against him.
“At the end of the day it’s my responsibility. We couldn’t keep on whipping our best players… but I think I’ve given them a lot to do tonight. I understand the reaction to that in the stadium.” ,” They said. Told.
“I’m not going to say that it doesn’t hurt… We’ve seen you have to go full force. It was an important experience in this part of the game for the young players. This group of players has done a great job for the country. It has been incredible and it is important that they stay with them,” said Southgate, who led England to the World Cup semi-finals in Russia in 2018.
Kane: ‘Night to Forget’
The result left Marco Rossi’s tough Hungarian team at the top of Group A3 with seven points, with England in fourth and two points in the bottom. Germany are second with six points after a 5-2 win against Italy, who are third with five points.
With two games remaining, the group winners advance to the final of the Nations League the following June while the bottom team is relegated. England captain Harry Kane, who provided some quality England moments and hit the bar with a header, admitted his side’s second half was “unacceptable”, but also urged fans to be apologetic.
“This is our first major defeat in a long time. This is not the time to panic, this is the time to keep our heads up,” he said.
“A night to forget. But we have to take it on the chin and move on, prepare for a big World Cup, and we’ll learn a lot … Let’s not forget where we came from. It’s gonna be Not perfect in every game.”
After losing to Italy at last year’s Euros, England have high hopes for the Qatar World Cup later this year. But his dismal form in the Nations League has left fans baffled, with some pundits pointing to player exhaustion after the rigors of the Premier League and several other competitions.
It was the first time since March 1928 that England had lost a home match by four or more goals when Scotland beat them 5–1. And it was the first time an overseas team had scored four goals against England since Hungary themselves won 6–3 in 1953. Hungary did not qualify for the World Cup.