Lethargic England fall to defeat in Budapest

Gareth Southgate has food for thought after his England team suffered a disappointing 1-0 defeat in Budapest to Hungary through a Dominik Szoboszlai penalty.

The England manager handed debuts to Jarrod Bowen and James Justin as his team started the game brightly. 

But Hungary had a plan to deal with England. In the 12th minute a fall sent out wide showed exactly the tactic Marco Rossi’s team would use throughout the game. From that wide ball a low cross almost resulted in the opening goal had Conor Coady not been alert to the danger to clear the ball of the line. 

With half an hour gone Adam Szalai almost scored from the half-way line when he spotted Jordan Pickford off his line. Luckily for the Everton goalkeeper, Szalai’s effort went just wide.

England had their moments but they were unable to create many clear-cut chances in the first half.

The game was close and it required a penalty to decide it. Reece James, who had been on the pitch for just a few minutes. A diagonal ball again caught England out which led to James being penalised for a tug on Zsolt Nagy. 

It was perhaps a little harsh from Portuguese referee Artur Soares Dias but there was no chance that VAR would overturn the decision. 

With 66 minutes gone, Dominik Szoboszlai stepped up to take the penalty and buried his effort low into the left corner – there was nothing Pickford could have done about it. 

England didn’t really improve after going behind and Hungary defended admirably. The best chance for an equaliser came in the 77th minute when Conor Coady headed agonisingly wide from a James free-kick delivery. 

Hungary should have put the game to bed minutes later when László Kleinheisler’s drive was palmed away by Pickford. András Schäfer was on the scene to wrap things up be his effort went over the bar when he should have buried the chance.

Fortunately for the Hungarians, it didn’t prove to be a costly mistake as they go top of the group – at least until Italy and Germany player later this evening.

Indeed, England will need to put in a far better performance when they take on Germany this Tuesday.

Defeat for the #ThreeLions in our first #NationsLeague fixture. pic.twitter.com/s4zdemYvrH

— England (@England) June 4, 2022