"I think they have one of the best performances of the tournament so far. They absolutely impressed me.”Continue reading
The Hungarian national football team lost the World Cup qualifying match against the European Championship finalist, England 0:4 in front of 60,000 spectators at the sold-out Puskás Arena in Budapest on Thursday evening.
The original article was published by our sister site, Ungarn Heute.
After their good performance in the “group of death” at the European Championship in June, it was time for the Hungarian national team to play against the European Championship finalists, England, on Thursday. Despite missing some important players, head coach Marco Rossi could still field a strong line-up with three RB Leipzig players (Szoboszlai, Orban, and Gulácsi). England national team coach, Gareth Southgate, also sent 10 out of 11 of the same players onto the field like in the European Championship final against Italy.
60,000 spectators created a remarkable atmosphere in Puskás Arena. Right from the start, they displayed huge choreography with the result “6:3” in the stands, referring to the legendary away match in 1953.
Photo by Tibor Illyés/MTI
The English team dominated the game in the first half, which was clearly reflected in their 71 percent ball possession. Although the Hungarians found it difficult to get the ball, the visitors could hardly threaten Péter Gulácsi’s goal. The biggest chance for Hungary was a free kick from Dominik Szoboszlai, but he missed it.
In the second half, the English immediately showed their superiority, and after ten minutes, Raheem Sterling scored the first goal of the match after the Hungarian defenders’ mistake.
Photo by Tibor Illyés/MTI
After that, the visiting team did not wait long for their second and third goals: Harry Kane’s (63rd minute) and Harry Maguire’s (69th minute) goals already made it 0:3. After that, the Hungarians lost all control over the game, so Gulácsi had to fend off the visitors’ chances several times. However, Declan Rice’s screamer brought the score to 0:4.
Hungary’s coach, Marco Rossi, was very disappointed after the match, pointing mainly to the technical mistakes of his team and the physical superiority of their opponents. He also noted that a single English player is worth more than the entire Hungarian team combined.
“Regardless of that, I am disappointed, I can’t digest this defeat. You can lose, but with a national team you can’t lose like this. You have to be able to hold it together even after every goal,” added the Italian.
According to Gareth Southgate, his team had to work hard and suffered until the first goal.
“We knew that the hosts will get tired and then we will get chances for goals. Our first two goals came from counterattacks, we handled the ball well throughout the game and when the opposition opened up, the goals came.”
England leads Group I with 12 points, followed by Poland and Hungary with 7 points each. Hungary’s next World Cup qualifier will be against Albania on September 5th.
Featured photo by Zsolt Szigetváry/MTI
