Roland Sallai’s brace fired Hungary to a shock 4-0 away victory over England at Molineux in 2022-23 UEFA Nations League.
Sallai fired the visitors ahead through a thunderous 16th minute strike and doubled Hungary’s lead with a 70th minute rifled shot from Martin Adam’s pass.
Adam then teed up Zsolt Nagy to fire in their third goal in the 80th minute before England’s John Stones was red carded in the 83rd minute for a foul on Daniel Gazdag.
Gazdag eventually completed Hungary’s first victory away in England in 69 years as he fired in from a 89th minute through ball, which condemned Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions to their worst home defeat since losing 5-1 to Scotland in 1928.
Hungary now sit top of Group 3 in League A ahead of Germany who thrashed Italy 5-2 in Monchengladbach to go second, with England left sat rock-bottom again and facing relegation to League B.
England made a bright start with a strong attacking press to frustrate Hungary which almost paid dividends in the sixth minute, as Reece James in an unfamiliar left-back position played an overlapping one-two move up the left with Harry Kane but Jarrod Bowen’s header from his cross was denied.
Connor Gallagher five minutes later won a free-kick which was headed directly upon goal by John Stones but Hungarian goalkeeper, Denes Dibusz was alert to make the save.
Hungary eventually launched their first attack which resulted in a 16th minute free-kick following a foul from Kalvin Phillips, with the set-piece swiftly taken but Stones unfortunately headed his clearance sideways for Sallai to lash in to put the visitors ahead against the run of play.
James almost responded four minutes later as he curled a cross from the left flank towards the top right corner but Dibusz was alert to save his effort.
Hungary had a chance to double their lead in the 26th minute after Bellingham fouled Adam Szalai but James cleared the free-kick off the goal line, which triggered a counter-attack led by Bowen but his shot was denied and Dibusz saved Stones’ header from the resulting corner.
Szalai then saw a 33rd minute long-range shot saved by Aaron Ramsdale as Hungary pressed hard to make an interception near the halfway line, which soon found the Basel striker to unleash a powerful strike upon goal.
England eventually finished the half on top but neither team produced any further decent moments of note, except for Hungary’s Willi Orban almost heading Bukayo Saka’s 36th minute cross into his own net but Dibusz made a crucial save in time.
Three Lions manager, Gareth Southgate consequently opted for change at half-time as Bowen was replaced by Raheem Sterling, as part of a more attacking style for the second half.
That decision nearly paid off two minutes in after the break as a 47th minute free-kick from James found Kane to deliver a low cross on the turn, yet his delivery was cleared.
Kane then was again unlucky just three minutes later as Jude Bellingham launched an attack from the left, which resulted in him curling a low through ball into the box towards Kane, yet the ball just evaded Kane’s touch and rolled out of play.
Hungary however stubbornly defended hard against England’s pressure and substitute, Martin Adam intercepted Phillips just two minutes after coming on in the 68th minute, which enabled him to feed a pass through for Sallai to rifle in beyond Ramsdale.
As England attempted to launch a late comeback like they did in Germany last week, Kane headed a 77th minute cross onto the bar.
That miss ultimately proved costly as a fast 80th minute attack led to Loic Nego seeing a header blocked which fell to the feet of Adam, who laid the ball off for Nagy to smash in.
England’s disastrous performance went from bad to even worse just three minutes later as Stones was red carded for a foul on substitute, Gazdag.
Gazdag eventually added further salt to England’s wound as he fired in the visitors’ fourth and final strike from Adam Nagy’s through ball, which confirmed Hungary’s first win on English soil since winning 6-3 in November 1953.
This result consequently moved Hungary top of Group 3 in League A ahead of Germany who thrashed Italy 5-2 in Monchengladbach to go second, with England sat rock-bottom and three points adrift of safety.
Speaking post-match to Channel 4, Southgate urged supporters to hold him responsible for the embarrassing defeat, having opted for a youthful team with his tactical changes leaving them exposed defensively in the end.
Reflecting on just two points from their four matches in the last ten days, Southgate commented: “Across the four matches, that is my responsibility, I tried to balance looking at new players, resting players we could not keep flogging but in the end the teams have not been strong enough in the two Hungary games, the other two results were positive but tonight is a chastening experience.”
What’s Next?
England now face a must-win trip to Italy on 23 September where defeat would see relegation to League B confirmed.
Hungary meanwhile will travel away to Leipzig on that same date to face Germany where victory would see the visitors win the group and qualify for the knockouts.
Teams
England: Aaron Ramsdale, Reece James, John Stones, Marc Guehi, Kyle Walker, Conor Gallagher (Mount 56′), Kalvin Phillips, Jude Bellingham (Foden 68′), Bukayo Saka (Maguire 85′), Harry Kane, Jarrod Bowen (Sterling 45′)
Substitute: Kieran Trippier, Nick Pope, Harry Maguire, Jack Grealish, Conor Coady, James Ward-Prowse, Declan Rice, Mason Mount, Raheem Sterling, Phil Foden, Jordan Pickford, Tammy Abraham
Hungary: Denes Dibusz, Adam Lang, Willi Orban, Attila Szalai, Attila Fiola, Andras Schafer, Callum Styles (A Nagy 56′), Zsolt Nagy, Roland Sallai (Nego 78′), Dominik Szoboszlai (Gazdag 56′), Adam Szalai (Adam 68′)
Substitutes: Akos Kecskes, Loic Nego, Adam Nagy, Szabolcs Schon, Bendeguz Bolla, Milos Kerkez, Daniel Gazdag, Martin Adam, Csaba Spandler, Peter Szappanos, Balint Vecsei
Referee – Clement Turpin (France)
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