An impressive Hungary recorded their first away win against England since 1953 – and their second victory over the Three Lions in this UEFA Nations League campaign – to go top of Group A3.
Gareth Southgate had sought more energy from his team by making nine changes to his starting XI, and indeed, England started brightly with confident, free-flowing football – Reece James and Bukayo Saka looking particularly dangerous on the left.
However, against the run of play, it was Hungary who took the lead as some slack England defending from a corner allowed Roland Sallai to volley past Aaron Ramsdale from close range.
Southgate had praised his squad’s mentality before the match, and England’s response to falling behind was to take control, Willi Orbán inadvertently forcing a crucial block from Dénes Dibusz and Jude Bellingham going close soon after.
England started the second half with more attacking intent, but Molineux was stunned into silence in the 70th minute when Sallai latched on to Martin Ádám’s perfectly-timed through ball to double Hungary’s advantage.
Harry Kane struck the woodwork minutes later as the hosts refused to concede defeat, but Zsolt Nagy and Dániel Gazdag struck late breakaway goals either side of John Stones’ 82nd-minute dismissal to crown a memorable evening for the visitors.
Bottom of the section, England have now failed to score from open play for a fourth consecutive game, while Hungary go top of Group A3, above Germany and Italy, ahead of the final two group stage matches in September.
Reaction
Dániel Gazdag, Hungary midfielder: “We’re very happy. It was a very important result for us. We played a very good game and deserved the result. We had to defend well at the start but we improved and got more confident later in the game.”
Gareth Southgate, England manager: “We started brightly. The first goal took the confidence out of us a little bit. We had chances early in the second half but the second goal on the break was a real killer for us. I picked a very young team, that’s my responsibility. I haven’t got the balance right in the two games against Hungary. After the first goal the anxiety crept in a little bit and we weren’t able to recover from that.”
Harry Kane, England forward: “It’s a disappointing night. In the first half we created enough chances to score but it has been the story of our Nations League, we have not quite had the cutting edge. The second half wasn’t acceptable after going 2-0 down. It’s not the time to panic, we have to get the heads up and come back stronger in September.”
