MOLINEUX, WOLVERHAMPTON — England went down to a brutally humiliating loss as Hungary demolished them 4-0 and the home crowd bawled that manager Gareth Southgate did not know what he was doing.
The result means the Three Lions’ hopes of reaching the finals of the Nations League are at an end, but England’s biggest home defeat since 1928 feels like it might have much wider ramifications with a World Cup a little over five months away.
Roland Sallai capitalised on some slack set-piece defending in the 16th minute and there already appeared to be no way back when the Freiburg forward doubled Hungary’s lead with 20 minutes to play.
Harry Kane then headed against the crossbar before things unravelled entirely for Southgate and his players, who were booed and barracked on what was supposed to be a feelgood trip away from Wembley.
Zsolt Nagy smashed home a wonderful effort from 20 yards in the 80th minute and, after John Stones was sent off for a second booking, substitute Daniel Gazdag gleefully completed the rout.
WOW.
🇭🇺 Marco Rossi’s side become the first Hungary team to beat England away from home since 1953. #NationsLeague
— UEFA Nations League (@EURO2024) June 14, 2022
England actually made a reasonably enterprising start and Nagy made a vital block to keep out Jarrod Bowen’s header from Reece James’ cross, the Chelsea defender becoming the latest England right-back to grapple with left-back duties.
Such unfamiliarity caused some issues from open play but it was from a set-piece when Lang beat Stones to a header, Kane missed his clearance and Sallai clattered home via a touch from England goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale that Hungary took the lead.
Although Jude Bellingham and Conor Gallagher buzzed inventively in midfield, it was indicative of England’s general lack of cutting edge that the closest they came before half-time was Willi Orban almost heading Bukayo Saka’s cross past his own goalkeeper.
Raheem Sterling replaced Bowen at the break and James was instantly more effective when switched to right wing-back. But a change of shape to three at the back caused problems for England in transition and they collapsed under Hungary’s slick, sharp counter-attacks during the final quarter of the contest.
Kalvin Phillips had his pocket picked by substitute Martin Adam, who rolled a pass into Sallai’s path for the hero of the hour to coolly convert.
1928 – England have lost a home match by 4+ goals for the first since March 1928, when they lost 5-1 to Scotland. Staggering. pic.twitter.com/42wgHfQP4D
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) June 14, 2022
Kane showed he was England’s only vaguely viable route back into the contest and his brilliant header from Mason Mount’s centre thumped the top of the bar.
Home fans were already growing audibly frustrated by that stage and Nagy’s emphatic finish brought further howls of derision. By the time Gazdag had gone down theatrically to do for Stones and slotted home Adam Nagy’s throughball, the mood had turned to one of mutiny.
MORE: Which England U21 stars could make the Three Lions first team in the near future?
Is Southgate the one for England fans anymore?
Even after the most wretched night imaginable for a team that was, until very recently indeed, being talked up as potential World Cup winners, no one is getting “sacked in the morning” as a few chaps who had left the reservation in the seats behind the Molineux press box suggested. Southgate’s record of reaching the 2018 World Cup semi-finals and the Euro 2020 final means his job is safe up to and including Qatar 2022. It would be madness to think otherwise.
However, so many of the best moments in those heady summer-long tournament runs were underpinned by a sense of the team and fans being as one. It was an atmosphere that Southgate worked long and hard to cultivate after more than a decade of poisonous negativity around his national side. It was therefore pretty stark to see plenty of that crumble on a shambolic evening. This was supposed to be a celebratory trip away from Wembley for a popular team and the reality was pretty galling for all involved.
#ThreeLions skipper @HKane reacts to tonight’s defeat: pic.twitter.com/OCBb4sIVpr
— England (@England) June 14, 2022
What is England’s best formation?
In previous tournament failures, one criticism of England was them having too few clubs in their tactical bag. It has therefore been encouraging to see Southgate switch between 3-4-3 and 4-2-3-1 to fine effect during his tenure. But for this run of games that too many of his squad seemed not to have much of an appetite for at the end of a gruelling season, flexibility quickly came to look like something close to clueless confusion.
Chopped and changed line-ups were a must in terms of managing workloads, but formation switches added too many complications. Southgate’s half-time switch to something resembling his Russia 2018 formation after introducing Raheem Sterling briefly unsettled Hungary but England also lacked structure. Phillips was overrun in transition, James shone on the right before being shunted back to the left and Bellingham was moved around after it felt like he could shape the game from his first-half position on the left of a midfield three. Southgate badly needs to regain a sense of clarity in the September games against Italy and Germany.
Rossi hails Hungary’s miracle
Hungary’s well-travelled Italian coach Marco Rossi marvelled at his players afterwards, calling their haul of seven points from four games against England, Italy and Germany in this Nations League campaign “a miracle”. He still believes the England side his team tore to pieces should be considered among the favourites for the World Cup.
“I think that since the beginning we knew perfectly that coming to play against England would be very difficult for us,” he said. “We were very aware of the fact that we would have to suffer. We suffered a lot and struggled a lot but we did this as a team, with huge sacrifice by the strikers who ran a lot and help the team a lot with the first line in the defence. You can never achieve a result like this if you are not lucky, but also we put all our efforts on the pitch and tried to follow all the tactical indications without exceptions and without selfish attitudes.”
Southgate questions notion of England’s latest ‘Golden Generation’
It was generally accepted that Southgate took a limited squad deep into the 2018 World Cup but an exciting raft of English talent has since emerged and continues to service the national team. However, the ‘Golden Generation’ label never did some of the players Southgate played alongside for the Three Lions much good and the England boss felt those who entered into a rotated side at Molineux lacked steadying influences alongside them.
“I’ve sat here lots of times and we’ve broken a huge number of records. We’re on the other side of it tonight. That’s, of course, really painful,” he said. “I don’t actually think it is damaging for the mentality of the group because they haven’t been at full strength for the matches that they’ve lost. That’s a key factor. We know that we’ve got depth, we’ve got some exciting players coming through but we need to be at full strength to be able to win matches. Some of the other teams across Europe have experienced that as well.”
Southgate added: “Tonight is a difficult night, my predecessors have had nights like this. I’ve watched from the sofa as a kid, I’ve watched as a player, so I recognise those difficult times. But you can’t be at the front when things are going well and then not stand up when you’ve got difficult experiences. That’s part of football, that’s part of life.”
Gareth Southgate looks back on tonight’s defeat at Molineux:pic.twitter.com/ubhHfdsDsV
— England (@England) June 14, 2022
England vs. Hungary final score
1H | 2H | Final | |
ENG | 0 | 0 | 0 |
HUN | 1 | 3 | 4 |
Goals:
HUN — Sallai (Lang)— 16th min
HUN — Sallai (Adam)— 69th min
HUN — Zsolt Nagy — (Adam) 80th min
HUN — Gazdag — (Adam Nagy) 89th min
England vs. Hungary live updates, highlights from the UEFA Nations League
Post-match: The Hungary fans are still in here bouncing about. Their team joined them in some Icelandic thunderclaps. Somehow, England have just suffered a humiliation arguably worse than that Euro 2016 exit despite the lower stakes.
Fulltime: Lots of boos at the final whistle and a fair few England fans hanging around to share their views. Hungary were clinical, crisp with their attacks and often excellent. But the story is this is England’s biggest ever home defeat to a non-Home Nation. It’s seismic blow to their preparations for the World Cup later in the year. There are a lot of pieces for Southgate to pick up. That was complete and utter humiliation.
2 – Roland Sallai is the first Hungary player to score twice in an away game against England since both Ferenc Puskás (2) and Nándor Hidegkuti (3) did so in a 6-3 win at Wembley in 1953. Bracing. pic.twitter.com/2q47FIugfJ
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) June 14, 2022
90th minute: Any semblance of England organisation has dissolved. Gazdag streams through onto Adam Nagy’s pass to beat a beleaguered Ramsdale. Hungary have matched the 4-0 defeat they absorbed from the Three Lions last September.
GOAL!!!!!! Gazdag!!!! Hungary lead 4-0. My absolute word.
87th minute: Mount has just run in late to give Gazdag, the other party in the Stones red card, a shove and a few verbals. England just defended a counter-attack with no one anywhere near Zsolt Nagy. The Hungary fans are ole-ing.
85th minute: Foden clips wide but the actual football feels incidental at this stage. Southgate brings on Maguire to replace Saka. On the face of it, sensible – he’s just had a centre-back sent off. But, on the other hand, read the room. “You don’t know what you’re doing strikes up again. This feels like an unravelling right now.
82nd minute: Red card for John Stones! That’s very soft second yellow, but this has gone entirely off grid now. The Molineux crowd were just loudly singing “you don’t know what you’re doing” at Southgate. It’s starting to feel pretty toxic.
80th minute: Hungary substitute Nego has a header blocked. England are all over the place and half-clear. Nagy thunders one in from 20 yards. This is a humiliation.
GOAL!!!! Zsolt Nagy!!! That’ll be that. Brilliant finish. The boos are louder now!
77th minute: Crossbar! Mount curls in a right-footed cross from the left and Kane flicks it against the top of the bar. He then tries and fails to win a penalty in fairly unedifying fashion.
76th minute: Sterling dashes down the Hungary left and finds Foden on the edge of the box to fizz a shot just wide.
74th minute: James chips to the back post bit there’s no one there. A lengthy scramble follows but England can’t get a telling shot off.
73rd minute: Saka fails to get on the end of a cross at the far post. England need to make one of those half-chances tell sharpish.
71st minute: An England period of possession is being booed by the Wolverhampton crowd. Remember those Euro 2020 feelgood vibes? They feel eons ago.
2 – Roland Sallai is the first Hungary player to score twice in an away game against England since both Ferenc Puskás (2) and Nándor Hidegkuti (3) did so in a 6-3 win at Wembley in 1953. Bracing. pic.twitter.com/2q47FIugfJ
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) June 14, 2022
70th minute: The new man Adam gets the better of Phillips and barrels forward to find Sallai, who once again finishes with aplomb.
GOAL!!!!! Sallai. He has his second now, the Hungary bench streams onto the field in celebrations. Scenes at Molineux!
67th minute: More and more restlessness from the fans behind us. Here comes Phil Foden, who might be able to change that. Although him replacing Bellingham feels unusual. Hungary head coach Marco Rossi, to general amusement, has talked his way into a booking. He calms himself down and sends on Adam for skipper Szalai.
64th minute: Sallai is almost in for his second of the game but can’t get a raking pass under control. That earlier momentum that was building for England has vanished.
60th minute: An hour gone. Plenty of endeavour from England and some good flashes, with Sterling just then dropping off and darting through a couple of challenges. But their play lacks overall structure and Hungary will have absolutely no issues with how this looks right now.
56th minute: Double change for Hungary as the impressive Szoboszlai makes way for Gazdag and Adam Nagy replaces Styles. For England, Mount on for Gallagher means it’s one Chelsea academy graduate replacing another.
55th minute: Kane pops up deep on the right flank now and swings a doozy of a pass in Saka’s direction. It would have been a majestic goal but the winger can’t reorganise his feet and punts over.
53rd minute: James gets down the flank and his low cross flashes just past a stretching Kane. From nowhere, this is a decent spell from Southgate’s side.
52nd minute: Gallagher finds Sterling darting into the right channel to win a corner. James’ delivery is cleared.
50th minute: On the other hand, if Hungary are unaware of where Bellingham is going to pop up that’s a problem for them. The midfielder takes the ball from Sterling and gets into his elegant stride. The pass for Kane is overhit but he looks the most likely man to make things happen for England.
49th minute: Initial impressions of the change of shape are ones of clunky disorganization. Sterling is now appears to be up front with Kane, while Bellingham has been the furthest forward on a couple of attacks. Unsurprisingly, England have looked vulnerable in transition.
46th minute: We’re back underway and Sterling is indeed on in place of Bowen. It’s a straight swap and he’s immediately into his work down the right-hand side after being found by James. That latter factor suggests Southgate has reverted to a back three.
Halftime: The England substitutes are out booting some balls about. Perhaps significantly, Raheem Sterling is going through a one-on-one warmup with a member of the coaching staff. The extra cutting edge the Manchester City winger brings would certainly be welcome.
45th minute +2: It came to nothing, like the three before it and there’s a smattering of boos at the whistle. England could really do with turning this around. Yes, it’s the fourth of a run of games that no one particularly needed after a long, hard season. If they’d picked up a couple of victories, perhaps no one would care. But so much of what England have accomplished under Southgate has been underpinned by restored goodwill between team and fans. Some of those old fractures feel like they might be re-opening a little.
HT: ENG 0-1 HUN
A tough half for England. Hungary make the most of their opportunities as the Three Lions’ attacking woes continue!#C4Football | #ThreeLions pic.twitter.com/IFjL3isQuQ
— Channel 4 Sport (@C4Sport) June 14, 2022
45th minute +1: We’re into two minutes of stoppage time. Kane tries his luck left-footed from 25 yards and wins a corner.
43rd minute: England are able to apply more pressure with a couple more set-pieces but there’s nothing doing in the way of clear-cut chances.
39th minute: Oh, hello. Bellingham sends Fiola to town with a delicious Cruyff turn. It’s another England corner but the referee has spotted a foul by the attacking team. Perhaps a push by Stones, but it was soft.
36th minute: Well, if England aren’t going to score, Hungary might just do it for them. Kane coming deep bears fruit again and he releases Saka. The Arsenal winger’s cross is headed towards his own net by Orban and that’s a brilliant reaction stop from Dibusz.
33rd minute: Stones is unusually slack in possession and Hungary burst into the England box but can’t capitalise. Both teams then try with limited success to pass around one another at close quarters. Szalai decides he’s seen enough and honks a long-rang shot to Ramsdale.
31st minute: Gallagher slides literally underneath Dibusz feet to discomfort the Hungary goalkeeper making a clearance. Phillips snaffles the loose ball and a sustained spall of pressure follows. Unsatisfyingly if symmetrically it ends with Phillips giving the ball away.
Response required. 👊 pic.twitter.com/h4Ma8YRYKW
— England (@England) June 14, 2022
28th minute: James off the line! That free-kick fizzed all the way through and the Chelsea man did brilliantly to save his team there. Then England chaaaaarge off on the break. Bowen, who should be well suited to such a scenario, almost loses his footing a couple of times but wins a corner. Stones heads the resulting delivery at Dibusz.
26th minute: More grumbles as Bellingham is dispossessed in midfield. The Borussia Dortmund man gets all the way back to the right-back area to try and remedy his error and scythes into Hungary skipper Szalai. This is a more dangerous set-piece than the one England conceded from.
23rd minute: The positive early atmosphere is starting to take a turn amid a few misplaced passes. When Stones put his foot on the ball to try and pick one just then, he was given the hurry-up by his own fans.
21st minute: England’s response to going behind hasn’t been overly convincing and a big problem from this position is their lack of goals so far in the competition. Kane’s late penalty in Munich last week is the only time they have found the net.
🏴 pic.twitter.com/CvZaJV7r5B
— England (@England) June 14, 2022
16th minute: England failed to deal with a free-kick into the box, with Lang beating Stones to a header across goal. Kane botched his attempted clearance and Sallai was on hand to smash home. Ramsdale got a touch but he had little chance.
GOAL!!!!! Sallai! Hungary have the lead!
Another frustrating start for England as they fall behind 😤#C4Football | #ThreeLions | #MutualRespect pic.twitter.com/1XlmehFSQT
— Channel 4 Sport (@C4Sport) June 14, 2022
15th minute: “WE ARE NEVER DONE” flashes across the advertising hoardings. It’s to promote Nike’s 50th anniversary as a company. Could also be this season.
12th minute: James finds the scampering Gallagher in-field and England have a free-kick 40 yards out. Stones’ header is easily gathered by Dibusz in the Hungary goal.
9th minute: Bellingham turns on halfway and almost finds Kane with a searching through ball. Already this England midfield configuration looks a lot more dynamic than what we’ve seen so far this month. Play stops as Schafer receives treatment following a challenge with James.
8th minute: Short Hungary goal kick and they’ll get another go as Gallagher shows off some of his trademark tenacity and blocks the attempted pass out.
Bringing the energy 🔌 pic.twitter.com/uQNjKoHR6q
— England (@England) June 14, 2022
6th minute: Almost 1-0 to England. James scampers forward from his unfamiliar left-back role and hangs up a cross to the back post. Nagy makes a goal-saving block to keep out Bowen’s header.
5th minute: Phillips is the lone holder in there, with Gallagher and Bellingham operating to right and left respectively. He takes a heavy touch but wins a free-kick in the centre-circle.
3rd minute: A real hands-across-north-London moment there, as Kane came deep to launch an England attack and found Saka scampering away to the left making the Son Heung-min run. In theory, in Saka and Bowen, Kane has a couple of potential Sons out there with him tonight.
1st minute: England players took the knee before kickoff and it was unanimously applauded by the home fans – a very different scenario to those Euro 2020 warmup games a year ago. Which, I guess was the point – changing minds positively and the like.
1 min from kickoff: Anthems done and there’s a lively atmosphere in here. Not often England get to play at such a compact home ground. Reckon they’ll enjoy it.
Here we go then, 2021/22 season. One last time, with feeling.@sportingnewsuk #ENGHUN#NationsLeague pic.twitter.com/tuMJi59ABf
— Dom Farrell (@DomFarrell1986) June 14, 2022
8 mins from kickoff: Almost time for the team, which means in English sport in the 2020s, it’s time for Sweet Caroline. Everyone having a rare old evening.
25 mins from kickoff: The teams are out going through their warmups. Ramsdale has just slipped and fallen flat on his back when aiming a long kick at Jordan Pickford. I’m sure it will be onwards and upwards from there for the Arsenal number one this evening! Elsewhere, Bowen is rattling them home in the finishing drills. On the other hand, Harry Kane just scooped a dreadful left-footed effort way over. He knows not to leave the good stuff out there.
The #ThreeLions have arrived! 📍 pic.twitter.com/Q7NlrcRPrZ
— England (@England) June 14, 2022
35 mins from kickoff: It is to Southgate’s credit that there are enough points of intrigue in that XI, given such things have been hard to find from any vantage point this month. It’s been a long, long season and everything about England in the Nations league just feels tired. Speaking from a personal perspective, I was also in attendance at the Community Shield between Manchester City and Leicester City and I’ve changed jobs twice since.
Anyway, aside from James at left-back, there’s Marc Guehi getting a first competitive start for England and Jarrod Bowen getting a chance to have another look at a Hungary defence he asked a few questions of a couple of weeks ago. England have struggled for balance in midfield and, at least on paper, Kalvin Phillips playing behind Jude Bellingham and Conor Gallagher could remedy that a little. Just under two years ago, Gallagher and Bellingham were playing against each other not too far from here in a Championship match between Birmingham and Swansea.
MORE: Why can’t Conor Gallagher play in the FA Cup semi-final? What is his future for Chelsea and England?
50 mins from kickoff: England could theoretically field a back three tonight, but that side looks like 4-2-3-1/4-3-3 to me. For one thing, Gareth Southgate’s shirt numbers during this Nations League campaign so far have tended to put players exactly where they suggest. Secondly, the 3-4-3 produced a tepid performance in the opening defeat in Budapest earlier this month, so it would make sense to stick with the shape that yielded solid but unspectacular draws against Germany and Italy. So expect Reece James to be the latest recipient of the dubious pass-the-parcel prize that is playing left-back in a squad without a left-back.
1hr 10 mins from kickoff: And this is what the Hungary XI, without suspended first-choice goalkeeper Peter Gulasci, looks like.
❗Marco Rossi kezdőcsapata a válogatott 4., @England elleni Nemzetek Ligája-találkozóján ⤵️#NationsLeague #magyarok 🇭🇺 #csakegyutt pic.twitter.com/dbwfJtbfUK
— MLSZ (@MLSZhivatalos) June 14, 2022
1hr 15 mins from kickoff: Here’s the England team. Best get Phil Foden off that main photo for the live blog! Aaron Ramsdale starts in goal.
Introducing your #ThreeLions to play Hungary! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/NwRXuUk8tq
— England (@England) June 14, 2022
1hr 30 mins from kickoff: England face Hungary in front of a capacity crowd at Molineux this evening – the complete opposite to last week’s clash against Italy behind closed doors due to the fan trouble at Wembley for the Euro 2020 final last summer. Gareth Southgate will be hoping the fans can get behind his side and cheer them on to their first victory of this season’s Nations League.
A full house at Molineux awaits! :stadium: pic.twitter.com/Auq8K4mbOr
— England (@England) June 14, 2022
2hrs from kickoff: Hello and welcome to our live coverage of England’s Nations League encounter with Hungary at Molineux.
🦁🦁🦁 pic.twitter.com/hFhtZ9aVVM
— England (@England) June 14, 2022
MORE: What is the Nations League and how does the Nations League work?
How to watch England vs. Hungary
UK | USA | Canada | Australia | |
Date | June 14 | June 14 | June 14 | June 15 |
Time | 19:45 BST | 14:45 ET | 14:45 ET | 04:45 AET |
TV channel | Channel 4 | ViX | – | Optus Sport |
Streaming | All 4/Premier Player | fuboTV | DAZN | Optus Sport |
In the US, televised UEFA Nations League games are also available on fuboTV.
In Canada, every UEFA Nations League game streams live on DAZN.