David Hytner was at the Puskás Aréna to see England’s 60-year unbeaten run against Hungary come to an end. His report has landed. Thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night!
Gareth Southgate talks to Channel 4. “We have to accept we didn’t do enough to win the game. I think a draw would have been a fair outcome. We had enough possession but were not incisive around the box. The result hinges on a decision which I think was harsh, but probably wasn’t going to be overturned. The forward made a meal of it, but away from home, sometimes you’re going to get those calls. The heat was a factor, it took a lot out of the players, which is why we tried to refresh the team earlier than we might do normally. The balance of finding out about new things, and the more regular team, I have to look if I got that balance quite right. If we’re going to be a team at the top tier, we have to come here and win.”
As for the boos? “That’s why we do it, to try to educate people around the world I have no idea why people would choose to boo that gesture. Very often, the young people can’t know why they’re doing it, they’re being influenced by the adults. The Uefa decision is for others to decide. We’ve made our stand as a team.”
Conor Coady speaks to Channel 4. “It’s a massive disappointment ... it’s something we need to look at and learn very quickly ... they’re a good side, they’re organised, you can see why they’ve got results, but we wanted to come here and win ... we started off quite well but they grew into the game a bit ... there were a couple of counter attacks and we need to tidy up on those sort of things ... we were shocked because nobody appealed for the penalty ... but we need to look at ourselves.”
As for the booing of the knee? “It’s massively disappointing ... it’s important that people understand why we’re trying to do it ... you don’t want to hear them things, but it’s important we keep on doing what we’re doing, to make people talk about the situation ... it is what it is, but we want to keep pushing that message.”
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The game was won by the softest of penalties. But it was nevertheless the correct decision, and the spot kick was brilliantly slotted by the ice-cool Dominik Szoboszlai. More importantly, Hungary were the better team on balance, and would have won by more had András Schäfer not missed a sitter late on. England achieved very little, and their Group A3 campaign starts with a first defeat during 90 minutes for 23 games ... and some bigger tests against Germany and Italy are coming up next week.
FULL TIME: Hungary 1-0 England
Hungary beat England for the first time since 1962! It’s not quite the 7-1 of old (see preamble) but the young crowd party like it’s 1954!
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90 min +4: Some hitherto unnoticed and unreported admin: Maguire was booked for a bodycheck on Sallai. The television coverage also insists James earlier picked up a yellow for a tug on Szoboszlai, though that can’t be right surely, because having already been booked, he’s not been sent packing.
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90 min +3: Phillips swings one in from the right. There are a lot of England players in the box. The cross goes nowhere near any of them.
90 min +2: Phillips knocks Kleinheisler to the floor from behind. Another daft foul that allows Hungary to do the clock-management thing.
90 min +1: A bit of space for James out on the right. His low cross initially looks dangerous, but Attila Szalai is on point to hack clear.
90 min: James shoves Adam in the back, and it’s a chance for the Hungarian sub to roll around on the floor, eating up some time. Every second counts, because there will be five extra minutes.
89 min: Grealish makes a complete nuisance of himself down the inside-left channel. He tries to one-two with Kane. It doesn’t come off, but the ball ricochets back to Kane, who absolutely larrups a first-time shot into the side netting. A good proportion of the stadium fell quiet there, thinking the England captain had netted his 50th international goal at a very opportune moment. But no.
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88 min: Two more changes for Hungary, as Zsolt Nagy and the captain Szalai are replaced by Adam and Vecsei.
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86 min: England passes aren’t sticking. A lot of frowning and frantic gesticulation going on as a rare defeat looms.
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84 min: James slips Kane into the Hungary box down the inside-right channel. Kane sends an uncharacteristically weak whip into Gulacsi’s midriff at the near post.
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83 min: Two changes for Hungary, as Adam Nagy and Szoboszlai are replaced by Fiola and Callum Styles of Barnsley, born in Bury but eligible for Hungary through his grandparents.
81 min: Hungary should be two up. Szalai has a chance to put Schafer clear down the middle. Perhaps he knows something, because he turns down the chance to ping his man clear, and instead waits for Kleinheisler, in acres on the right. Kleinheisler romps into the England box, drops a shoulder, and shoots. Pickford parries well, but the ball drops to Schafer, ten yards out and unmarked. Schafer leans back and hoicks miles over the empty net. What a miss!
79 min: That’s Coady’s last act of the evening, as England sacrifice a defender for a midfielder in Phillips.
77 min: Bowen is bowled over down the right by Attila Szalai, allowing James to swing a dangerous free kick into the box. Coady glances a header wide left from close range. The width of a lick of paint in that. As close as England have come.
75 min: Time for Maguire on the ball. No options. He tries to release James down the right but his pass flies harmlessly out of play. “Trent Alexander-Arnold has got to be feeling better about being subbed now,” opines Bill Jones. That TAA/James dynamic also applies to ITV and Channel 4, one could argue at this particular moment in time.
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73 min: Kane makes a nuisance of himself in the Hungary box, and the ball breaks to Bellingham, who tries to force a shot goalwards. Gulacsi claims again, but this is better from England. Where has this England been since the break?
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72 min: Maguire rakes a lovely long left-to-right diagonal pass for Bowen, who meets it on the volley just inside the Hungarian box. Straight at Gulacsi, though, and without pace. Easy for the keeper.
71 min: Hungary make their first change of the evening, a like-for-like swap that removes Sallai and replaces him with Kleinheisler.
70 min: That was a soft penalty all right ... but it was a penalty. Nagy was wily, James not so clever. England will have to step it up if they’re to salvage anything from this, because one fine Saka dribble and shot apart, they’ve done nothing to worry the hosts since the break.
68 min: England are currently 22 games unbeaten, if you exclude the penalty shoot-out in the Euro 2020 final. The last team to beat them in 90 minutes was Belgium, in the Nations League in November 2020.
GOAL! Hungary 1-0 England (Szoboszlai 66 pen)
Pickford cavorts on the goalline, but can’t put Szoboszlai off. Szoboszlai slots into the bottom-left corner, and though Pickford guesses correctly, he’s never getting to the perfectly placed spot kick. Hungary lead. Their first victory over England since 1962 is on!
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Penalty for Hungary!
64 min: A ball played down Hungary’s inside-left channel. James traps it just inside the England box. Zsolt Nagy nips in front. James hauls him back. It’s not a vicious tug, but clumsy and pointless enough for the referee to point straight to the spot! James is also booked.
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62 min: England make a triple change. Alexander-Arnold, Walker and Mount are replaced by James, Stones and Grealish.
61 min: In the centre circle, Rice nearly kicks the ball up into his own face. England play on regardless and win a corner down the right. Alexander-Arnold takes long, and Maguire sends the ball harmlessly wide left off the top of his head. Not exactly a banner moment for England.
59 min: Mount’s corner is half cleared to Bowen, who peals a shot well over the bar from the edge of the box.
58 min: England suddenly break through Bowen and Kane. Mount is slipped into the box on the left. He shoots. Lang blocks out for a corner. Mount to take.
57 min: Hungary are doing a pretty good job of keeping England pinned back in their final third right now, but the final ball is lacking.
55 min: Nego pearls a shot towards goal from 25 yards. It pings off the tip of Maguire’s elbow. Hungary want a corner, but come on and come off it. Maguire had done a very good job in tucking his arm into his body, and the referee isn’t interested in the slightest.
54 min: Zsolt Nagy, running at full pelt, controls an overhit pass on the white line and tears past Walker, no mean feat. Sadly for the hosts, he runs out of pitch. Goal kick. Nagy was very close to making something out of next to nothing there.
52 min: Coady goes into the book after coming through the back of Szalai. Ah, Wolverhampton Wanderers versus the Hungarians!
51 min: Saka dribbles with purpose down the inside-left channel and into the box. He shoots from a tight angle. Gulacsi kicks clear. That was a fine, direct, incisive run from the Arsenal man.
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49 min: Space for Nego down the right. He nearly releases Szoboszlai into the box, but Bellingham does just enough to block his run. Then Hungary come again, Sallai meeting a long ball down the left by cushioning a header back for Zsolt Nagy, who creams a low diagonal drive not too far wide of the right-hand post. Pickford had it covered.
47 min: A low-key start to the half.
England get the second half underway. Poor injury-plagued Justin has been replaced by Saka.
Half-time postbag. “I appreciate the trade off that is Alexander-Arnold’s attacking threat with his defensive vulnerability, but I don’t see how the former would be diminished if someone just taught him to look over his shoulder when he is defending a cross from the opposite side of the field, facing his own goal. That’s just basic full-back stuff, checking in case there is someone coming on your outside, and wouldn’t stop him getting up the other end of the field in any way. Yet it would prevent goals like in the Champions League final, and that was almost repeated by Hungary just now. Refusing (or not being able) to do that is like England batters stubbornly insisting ‘that’s just the way I play’ when they get out having a swing at a completely unsuitable delivery” - David Wall.
“‘Maguire’s inner Ronaldinho’ is the most jarringly incongruous-sounding phrase I’ve read in a Guardian football live blog since ‘Vertonghen bicycle kick’ (well off target) in yesterday’s coverage of Belgium v Netherlands” - Peter Oh.
HALF TIME: Hungary 0-0 England
Nothing happens in it, and that’s the end of the first 45+1. I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream (x 30,000).
45 min: There will be one bonus first-half minute.
44 min: “Thirty thousand children?” splutters Peter Oh. “Can you imagine the chaos in the ice-cream line at halftime?”
42 min: Now Hungary take their turn to knock it hither and yon along their back line. A sense that both sides are thinking about their half-time slices of orange.
40 min: England ping it about the back in the patient style.
38 min: Maguire channels his inner Ronaldinho and wins a corner down the left with a determined run. Nothing comes of the resulting corner. England have played fairly well, but have yet to work Gulacsi in any meaningful way.
37 min: Nego delivers another lovely cross from the right. Szoboszlai gets in ahead of Walker at the far stick, but flaps his wrong foot at the ball and slices it pitifully wide. England get away with one.
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35 min: The first lull of what has been a high-tempo game.
33 min: Bowen races down the right and cuts back in the hope of finding Kane in the six-yard box. Not quite. He’s been impressively busy on debut so far.
32 min: Hungary nearly take the lead in sensational style! Szalai steals possession in the centre circle and feeds Szalai, who spots Pickford off his line and bombs it like Beckham. The ball bounces inches wide of the left-hand post with the England keeper in no-man’s land.
30 min: Nothing comes of the resulting corner. Hungary have looked dangerous on the break, though, opening England up on a couple of occasions with crisp exchanges.
29 min: Sallai beats England’s high press and feeds Szoboszlai down the middle. Szoboszlai instantly slips Zsolt Nagy into acres on the left. Nagy sends a diagonal screamer goalwards, but Pickford, stretching at full length, tips around the post.
27 min: After some running repairs, Justin is back up and good to go.
26 min: The debutant Justin is down, having pulled up, feeling something at the back of his right knee. Worrying signs for a player not long back from an 11-month injury lay-off.
25 min: Szoboszlai fires the corner low towards Sallai, on the right-hand corner of the six-yard box. Sallai attempts a cheeky backflick. It doesn’t come off.
24 min: Nego wins Hungary their first corner of the game, Justin blocking out his cross from the right. The hosts load England’s box.
22 min: This is in Alexander-Arnold territory, and his eyes light up, but after he shapes to shoot, Bowen takes instead. His diagonal towards Maguire at the far stick flies out harmlessly for a goal kick.
21 min: The first yellow of the afternoon is awarded to Schafer, as he nudges Justin, racing after a Kane pass down the left, from behind. A free kick in a very dangerous area, just outside the Hungary box.
19 min: Six yards out, Mount nearly gets a head on Kane’s bouncing right-wing cross. Any sort of connection and that was surely flying into the net.
18 min: Hungary try to play out from the back and balls it up in the royal style. Bellingham takes up possession and feeds Kane, who in turn finds Justin down the inside-left channel. Justin’s low fizzer of a cross is claimed by Gulacsi, with Bowen not far from getting a toe to it. It’s a nice, open, entertaining game.
17 min: Bowen wins another corner down the left. Alexander-Arnold loops towards the far post, inviting Coady to head home from close range. Coady misses the target. It’s been a mixed bag from Alexander-Arnold so far, all right.
16 min: Nego is causing England all sorts of bother down the right. He curls long towards the far post for Adam Nagy, who ghosts past an unaware Alexander-Arnold but doesn’t connect properly. Goal kick, and England breathe again.
14 min: In other Nations League news: Oh Ireland.
12 min: This would have been even lovelier! Adam Nagy quarterbacks a first-time spray right for Nego, who fires an immediate low cross into the England box. Szoboszlai gets in ahead of both Pickford and Coady on the penalty spot, slotting the ball under the keeper and towards the open goal. Coady hares after it and hooks off the line. Stunning football all round!
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11 min: Alexander-Arnold sidefoots a first-time cushioned cross in from the right. Bowen attempts a spectacular bicycle kick but doesn’t connect properly. That would have been a lovely goal.
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10 min: Rice finds his West Ham team-mate Bowen down the left. Bowen forces a corner, which Alexander-Arnold takes. This delivery’s much better, sent dangerously into the mixer, though headed clear well by Orban.
9 min: The young crowd continue to fill the Puskas Arena with excited noise. Remember the vuvuzelas? Well, them.
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7 min: Alexander-Arnold sends the corner over everyone’s head and out for a goal kick. It’s been a busy, if mixed, start for the Liverpool wingback.
6 min: Alexander-Arnold very nearly releases Bowen down the right with a shovelled pass. Not quite. England come again, Walker trying to find Justin down the left with a raking diagonal pass. Nego is forced to head behind for the first corner of the game.
4 min: A bit of space down the left for Kane, who enters the box and tries to catch out Gulasci with a snappy curler. It’s always heading wide right, but not by too much. A decent effort by Kane, who is searching for his 50th international goal this evening.
2 min: Alexander-Arnold ships possession, allowing Sallai to stride down the middle. His shot goes straight down Pickford’s throat, and though the keeper coughs it back up in the cat-and-bolus-of-fur style, he smothers at second attempt.
Hungary get the ball rolling ... and so much for the previously respectful atmosphere, which curdles a little as England’s taking of the knee is given the unambiguous bird. Bah. There’s no room for racism.
... but before kick-off, a minute of applause in memory of former Hungary midfielder István Szőke, who died earlier this week at the age of 75. Szőke’s goals helped Hungary to the semi-finals of Euro 72.
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The teams are out! A fantastic atmosphere at the Puskás Aréna in Budapest, as the 30,000-odd young fans let in with their guardians give it plenty. A signal and total lack of unpleasant nonsense, with both anthems respected. I believe the children are our future, as Whitney once sang. We’ll be off in a minute!
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Hungary will be wearing their famous cherry red shirts. That allows England to run out in their first-choice white, all laid out nicely here by the kitman. Note the rainbow captain’s armband that will be worn by Harry Kane to celebrate Pride Month.
Happy #Pride2022
— England (@England) June 1, 2022
To celebrate Pride Month, our @England team captains will wear rainbow armbands for our June internationals as we stand in allyship with LGBTQ+ communities around the world. pic.twitter.com/sIAWEki8Hv
Gareth Southgate talks to new England rights holder Channel 4. After suffering some excruciating forced banter regarding his famous Russia 2018 waistcoat and various subsequent touchline fashion choices - including two questions about today’s navy suit, both met with slightly confused pregnant pauses - the very patient and polite England boss eventually gets to talk about the match itself: “We’re looking forward to the game. It’s a very different sort of atmosphere, it’s been very nice having all the schoolkids in. Both the previous Nations League events - one very successful, one not so successful - we’ve learned both times so much from the matches. You’ve got to test yourself against the best teams. These next four games in particular, have very different tests and tactical challenges. We need to find out about one or two players. We tried to pick a team with some lads that have motivation to prove something, but also some experience around them so they can perform at their best.”
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Hungary may have some glorious history against England … but they’ve had nothing to boast about since a 2-1 win at the 1962 World Cup in Chile. The two countries have played each other 15 times since then, with England winning on 12 occasions and the other three matches ending in draws. If the Three Lions roar again tonight, Gareth Southgate will become the first England manager to win consecutive matches in Hungary. Walter Winterbottom’s head would be spinning at the very thought. Here’s how this fixture unfolded the last time it was played ...
... and here’s what happened the last time the teams met.
You’ll have heard there’s been a bit of a ticketing brouhaha. The Hungarian FA have exploited some loopholes in Uefa regulations, inviting 36,000 young fans to a game nominally being played behind closed doors as a punishment for discriminatory behaviour. Nick Ames explains …
… though attendance fiascos are nothing new when it comes to this fixture. Back in 1954, over 800,000 applications were made for tickets, with the Népstadion’s capacity just 80,000. The Manchester Guardian picks up the story:
Some factories, mines and building sites with good production results were allotted a few paid tickets to be drawn for manual workers. As this left the intellectuals in the cold, one of them wrote to the Sports Minister:
‘While warmly approving the concession to Stakhanovites, I suggest that some encouragement be given to brain-workers who are keen on football. Though unable to prove that the game is a passion of mine, I herewith display notable cerebral activity.
‘The crowd at big matches at the leading Budapest stadium is invariably stated to be 80,000. This news has for years gone unheeded. If you directed that, at the forthcoming match between Hungary and England, the crowd should number 80,001, the news would be pronted all over the world, resulting in excellent propaganda for our country. I need hardly say that I would willingly be the 80,001st spectator, and that I am at your entire disposal for collecting the ticket.’
The attendance was later reported to be 92,000. The Guardian didn’t record whether this high-handed chancer was one of the extra 12,000.
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The teams
❗Ma esti, Anglia elleni kezdőcsapatunk a következő ⤵️⤵️⤵️#magyarok #csakegyutt #HUNENG pic.twitter.com/7FrNLmtRfQ
— MLSZ (@MLSZhivatalos) June 4, 2022
Your #ThreeLions to take on Hungary! 👊 pic.twitter.com/pnVI0fM8bP
— England (@England) June 4, 2022
Jarrod Bowen and James Justin make their England debuts in a side showing eight changes from the friendly win over Ivory Coast in March. Harry Kane and Mason Mount return, Jordan Pickford pulls the gloves back on, and Trent Alexander-Arnold, Kyle Walker and Conor Coady come into the defence. Declan Rice and Jude Bellingham retain their spots in midfield, as does Harry Maguire at the back.
Preamble
November 25 1953, and Ferenc Puskás, Sándor Kocsis, Nándor Hidegkuti, Zoltán Czibor, József Bozsik, Gyula Grosics et al rock up to Wembley, where they set about putting English football firmly in its place. You’d have thought the 6-3 humiliation visited upon Walter Winterbottom’s team would have led to a period of reflection, regrouping and realignment … but no. England blithely put the thrashing down to a bad day at the office, and few lessons were learned. Off to the Népstadion they went, six months later, to play the return fixture on May 23 1954 with pretty much exactly the same tactical plan. Here’s how that panned out, then, in the words of the pre-MBM-era Manchester Guardian.
GOAL! Hungary 1-0 England (Lantos 8): “Lantos took a free kick ten yards outside the penalty area and with a drive which had to be seen to be believed, put the ball high into the corner of the net. It crashed in like a bullet.”
GOAL! Hungary 2-0 England (Puskás 22): “Continued pressure by the faster and more dangerous Hungarians brought a second goal when Puskás netted after the ball rebounded from a defender. At this stage the home players were now doing almost as they liked.”
GOAL! Hungary 3-0 England (Kocsis 31): “After several dangerous moves on both flanks, Hungary became three up when Kocsis scored from close range. The English defence was all sixes and sevens against the precise passing and beautiful positional play of the Hungarians.”
GOAL! Hungary 4-0 England (Koscis 56): “Then came a brilliant spell during which Hungary scored three goals in four minutes. The man who did all the damage was Czibor, the tricky, speedy outside-left, though he did not get one of them. Czibor first of all flicked a neat pass to Kocsis and the inside-right scored after a lovely run on the left …”
GOAL! Hungary 5-0 England (Tóth 60): “… Czibor then put Tóth through for a fifth …”
GOAL! Hungary 6-0 England (Hidegkuti 62): “… and finally Hidegkuti sent in a terrific shot just inside the upright from a perfect Czibor pass from his outside left.”
GOAL! Hungary 6-1 England (Broadis 69): “England did not give up the battle and Broadis got a lovely goal from the edge of the area with a hard shot wide of the keeper.”
GOAL! Hungary 7-1 England (Puskás 73): “Hungary’s captain broke away in the centre and shot past Merrick after disposing of the rest of the English defence.”
FULL TIME: Hungary 7-1 England. Oh Walter! The result stands as England’s biggest-ever defeat, although: Hungary’s golden team somehow conspired to lose that year’s World Cup final; England went on to win the World Cup a dozen years later; the English are firm favourites to come away with all three points from Budapest tonight. But some stains never wash away, and good luck avoiding talk of 1954 whenever this fixture is played during the next few centuries. It’s just the way things have to be. Kick off at Puskás Aréna Park is at 5pm BST. It’s on!
