Southgate on the evening’s events.
Jonathan Wilson on Grealish.
David Hytner was our man in Budapest this evening. Here’s his verdict on a comfortable win for Gareth Southgate’s accomplished side. Thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night.
No word from Gareth Southgate yet, as ITV go to the news, but Kick It Out chief executive Tony Burnett has made a statement. “Kick It Out was appalled to see the actions of some Hungary fans. We stand proudly in support of the England players and staff, who once again acted with strength, grace and integrity in the face of racism that has no place in our game or our society. This is not the first incident like this in Hungary, so we urge Fifa to investigate this matter urgently. Those responsible need to be held to account and steps need to be taken to ensure scenes like this are not repeated.”
England captain Harry Kane speaks to ITV. “Fantastic result. It’s a real tough place to come. We knew it was going to be difficult, and such a big game in the group as well. We knew if we could get the win here today, it puts us in a great position, with almost one foot into the World Cup. It’s a great night for us. Width was key, opening the gaps, and they got tired in the second half. I didn’t hear [the racist chanting as reported by ITV] but I’ll talk to the boys and see if they heard any of it. We’ll have to report it to Uefa and hopefully Uefa can come down strong.”
FULL TIME: Hungary 0-4 England
Nothing happens in added time, and the whistle blows on a splendid result for England, who are now in total control of Group I. Jack Grealish, Declan Rice, Luke Shaw, Mason Mount and Harry Kane all put in a fine shift, but the effervescent Raheem Sterling takes the man-of-the-match plaudits. A reminder: neither France nor Germany could beat Hungary at Euro 2020.
Updated
90 min: Szoboszlai has been kept very quiet tonight, two dreadful free kicks aside. But here, having made some space out of nothing, he caresses a lovely cross into the English box from the left. He nearly finds Szalai, but Maguire clears. There will be two added minutes.
89 min: Gazdag is booked for a crude rake on the back of Kane’s leg.
88 min: Rice and Grealish go out on a high, then. They’re replaced by Henderson and Saka.
GOAL! Hungary 0-4 England (Rice 87)
Rice, quarterbacking from deep, strokes a pass down the right to release Grealish, who dribbles, Gazza-style, into the box. He tries to make room to shoot, but doesn’t find any. Instead he cuts back to Rice, who sidefoots powerfully through a crowded box. Gulacsi should save, but for the second time lets the ball squirt under him. It trundles apologetically into the net.
Updated
86 min: England ping it around, running down the clock in efficient style.
84 min: England make their first change of the evening. Lingard comes on for Mount.
82 min: ITV’s Gabriel Clarke, sitting behind the goal England are attacking in this second half, reports that racist chanting has been directed at Raheem Sterling and Jude Bellingham.
80 min: Salloi warms Pickford’s hands at last with a low drive. Good save. Then he goes over, having been barged from the side by the shoulder of Maguire. Hungary want a penalty, but it’s not happening.
78 min: Now it’s Kane’s turn to race clear. Grealish sends him into space, but his attempt to thread into the bottom right is kicked away by Gulacsi, who has more than made up for his error on the moral ledger. Nothing comes of the resulting corner.
Updated
77 min: Shaw cuts in from the left and slips a pass down the middle to release Sterling. He’s in acres, one on one with Gulacsi. He’s also surely miles offside, but the flag doesn’t go up. No matter, because Sterling rounds the keeper but then scuffs his shot, allowing Gulacsi to block.
76 min: A free kick for Hungary in English territory here, as Szalai is clumsily barged by Stones. A chance for the hosts to load the box. Or shoot, maybe. Ah, the latter. Szoboszlai takes, and finds the top-right corner ... of the stand behind the goal. That was nothing short of abysmal by Hungary’s star turn.
75 min: Varga drops a shoulder and romps down the right wing, past Shaw with ease, no mean feat. His low fizzing cross is easily snaffled by Pickford. Even so, that’s the most dangerous Hungary have looked all evening.
73 min: Sterling’s shirt celebration explained: a tribute to a friend who recently passed.
Love it, @sterling7! 🤩 pic.twitter.com/XNhYX9yaD6
— England (@England) September 2, 2021
71 min: Varga comes on in place of Bolla.
70 min: The home crowd continue to make a total show of themselves. As Maguire celebrates with his team-mates, on comes a flare. A shower, in more ways than one.
Updated
GOAL! Hungary 0-3 England (Maguire 69)
Corner for England out on the left. Shaw is bombarded with plastic cups as he prepares to take it. He whips onto Maguire’s head. Maguire heads towards the bottom right. Gulacsi should parry, but lets the ball squirm through his hands. It dribbles into the corner.
Updated
67 min: England are in total control now, and looking for a third. Kane nearly gets it as he bustles into the box down the left, but his low drive is hacked clear by Gulacsi.
66 min: Hungary respond to England’s eight-minute double whammy by replacing Sallai with Salloi. “Declan Rice’s challenge got lost in the goal, but back home that’s a red all day, right?” asks Elliot Carr-Barnsley, who may not be far wrong.
65 min: That goal was met with a dramatic drop in volume. England have done a number on Hungary here all right.
GOAL! Hungary 0-2 England (Kane 63)
Sterling responds to the booing in the best way possible! Szalai’s poor clearance is intercepted by Rice. Mount whips a pass down the right for Sterling, whose bouncing cross is headed into the right-hand side of the net by Kane. A goal and now an assist for England’s star of Euro 2020!
Updated
62 min: Kane sends Sterling away down the right. To a soundtrack of predictable abuse, he whistles into the box before Szalai forces him to run out of play. Sterling looks irritated, to say the least, and who can blame him.
60 min: The corner is a non-event. Phillips then slides in hysterically on Schafer, who flips high into the air. The referee doesn’t even see it as a foul, and the crowd really have their dander up now.
59 min: Nothing comes of the resulting free kick. Hungary half clear. England come again, Sterling making good down the right before getting skittled by Bolla. He wants a penalty but Bolla got enough of the ball while making his challenge. A corner, nothing more.
58 min: Orban is booked for a late stretch across Grealish, who was threatening to bustle clear down the left. The atmosphere is curdling a little bit.
56 min: It’s not such a delightful reaction from the home crowd, though, who pelt Sterling with paper cups as he celebrates. Adding insult to insult, Sterling is then booked for taking off his shirt.
Updated
GOAL! Hungary 0-1 England (Sterling 55)
This is a glorious goal. Rice wins the ball off Orban, and sets Grealish off down the left. Grealish draws a couple of red shirts, then slips Mount in on the overlap. Mount cuts back from the byline, finding Sterling six yards out. Sterling opens his body and sidefoots into the bottom right. What a delightful finish!
Updated
53 min: Rice slides in hard on Schafer, losing a 51-49 challenge. Stretching for the ball, he instead studs Schafer’s shin. It momentarily threatens to kick off - Fiola is over quickly with a view to throwing hands - but the referee brandishes yellow and it all calms down.
52 min: More of the patient English pass-and-move. Hungary are struggling to get hold of the ball, never mind retain possession.
50 min: Kane misses a golden opportunity! Walker, quarterbacking from deep, slips a gorgeous defence-splitter down the inside-right channel. Kane gets ahead of Orban, opens his body, and attempts a side-footer across Gulacsi and into the bottom left. But he scuffs it, and the keeper gathers. You’d expect him to slot away that sort of chance more often than not, but here we are.
Updated
49 min: Shaw whips in flat and hard, looking for Rice, six yards out. Hungary’s back line is not to be breached and Szalai heads clear. England come again, though Kane down the right, but his long cross, intended for Grealish at the far stick, is useless. Goal kick.
48 min: Shaw dribbles in from the left and is more than happy to purchase a cheap free kick from Kleinheisler. His team-mates line up along the front of the box as he prepares to take the set piece himself.
47 min: England stroke it around in the calm fashion. Then Phillips flashes a long pass down the right, hoping to send Kane skittering free. There’s too much juice on the ball and it sails through to Gulacsi.
England get the second half underway. No changes.
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HALF TIME: Hungary 0-0 England
Nothing of note happens in them, and it’s goalless at half time. England were three down at this stage in 1954.
45 min: There will be two added first-half minutes.
44 min: Shaw clatters into the back of Szalai, who holds his thigh and complains awhile. Then the big striker gets up and gets involved in an exchange of views with Grealish. It probably wouldn’t take too much to get things kicking off here. Maybe the half-time break will calm everything down.
42 min: The game is opening up. Maguire lumps long down the left and nearly releases Grealish; Orban intercepts, then hoicks towards Fiola, who attempts to counter down the left but runs the ball out of play instead.
41 min: Pickford’s ears may be burning, though, as he takes an age over the resulting goal kick and receives the appropriate pantomime abuse.
40 min: Szoboszlai leans back and flays an awful free kick high and wide right. Pickford still hasn’t had his hands seriously warmed.
Updated
39 min: And now Szalai twists and turns outside the England box. His presence panics Rice into a clumsy challenge from behind, and this will be a free kick in a very dangerous position, just to the right of centre, 25 yards out.
38 min: Hungary are growing in confidence. Bolla snaffles a loose ball in midfield and drives forward. The ball’s slipped left for Fiola, whose shot is blocked on the edge of the England box.
36 min: Sterling earns another corner down the right. England play it short but Grealish can’t find the final pass that would tee up Kane.
35 min: Bolla is booked for a rake on the back of Grealish’s leg. He can have no complaints about it.
34 min: So having said that, Hungary put their best move together. Szoboszlai, Bolla and Sallai interchange at speed down the middle, some lovely one-touch stuff. Suddenly Sallai has space down the right, but he can’t find Szalai in the middle with an overhit cross. Had the final ball been any good, Szalai would be putting the finishing touches to a picture-book goal.
32 min: Hungary have done very little in attack, the bothering of Stones by Sallai their only meaningful sortie upfield. England will be happy with all their possession, though they’ve not done too much in the final third themselves. Both teams will be reasonably content, albeit far from delighted, with how this has gone so far.
30 min: England’s patience pays off as Sterling forces a corner down the right. For a second, it looks as though the ball will drop to either Maguire or Sterling, six yards out, but Orban sails horizontally through the air to get in their way, and the whistle goes for the sort of cheap foul defenders usually get.
29 min: England go back to their patient midfield passing. Shrill whistles fill the Puskas Arena.
27 min: Kleinheisler, his trouser audit complete, is thankfully back up and running.
25 min: Maguire galumphs out from the back, overruns the ball, and then pelts it at full speed into poor Kleinheisler’s fruit bowl. Play stops so the Hungary midfielder can catch his breath and make all necessary rearrangements.
23 min: ... then suddenly Grealish wedges a pass down the inside-left channel, nearly releasing Shaw into the box. Gulacsi is off his line quickly to smother.
Updated
22 min: More England possession. All very patient, as they move the hosts this way and that.
20 min: Grealish and Mount combine crisply down the left. The ball’s worked infield to Kane, who sends a curler towards the top right. High and wide, like England’s two earlier attempts to hit the postage stamp.
19 min: A long ball down the middle nearly embarrasses Stones, who loiters under it, lets it bounce, and nearly allows Sallai to scamper clear. He eventually deals with the danger, but dearie me. So close to another trademark Stones blunder.
Updated
17 min: Sterling is down, having been accidentally clipped by Fiola, who was running ahead of him. He’s not particularly happy about it, and only reluctantly acknowledges Fiola’s offered hand. After some brief treatment, he’s back up and running again.
15 min: Kane sends a bouncing cross in from the left. It twangs off Mount and nearly balloons over Gulacsi, but Orban reads the danger, trapping and hoofing clear.
14 min: Grealish is getting plenty of the old treatment. Bolla gives him a cheeky clip on the back of his hairstyle, then Kleinheisler skittles him over, though the referee shows no interest in whistling. Grealish springs up and makes his case, to little effect.
13 min: Walker pings a long ball down the inside-right channel, releasing Kane. But the England skipper had gone too early and the flag goes up for offside.
12 min: England continue to stroke the ball around nicely. Hungary continue to hold their shape. The 60,000-strong crowd continue to make plenty of noise.
10 min: England paint a few triangles in the middle of the park. Grealish, Mount and Shaw are seeing a fair bit of the ball. Much as expected, the visitors are dominating possession, with Hungary happy to sit back and soak things up.
8 min: Maguire rises highest at the corner but can’t keep his header down. An effort intended for the top right flies harmlessly over.
7 min: England enjoy a little bit of possession. The crowd let them know what’s what via the medium of whistling. England keep on keeping on. Grealish and Shaw combine down the left to win the first corner of the evening.
5 min: Sterling takes down a long ball, just to the right of the Hungary D. He lays off to Mount, who opens his body up with a view to sidefooting into the top-right corner. Too high, and well wide.
Updated
4 min: Schafer busies himself down the right, but is eventually forced to turn tail. Not much room ahead. Then Grealish is fouled for the first time this evening. You know how he rolls, so it’s unlikely to be the last.
2 min: So a mere 53 days after losing the Euro 2020 final, England are playing football again. Kleinheisler barges down the middle, only for Phillips to stop him unceremoniously. The home crowd bay for a free kick, but they’re not getting one.
And we’re off! The home side get the ball rolling, but only after England take the knee. The home fans boo loudly, shamefully, disgracefully. Black lives matter. There’s no room for racism.
Updated
The teams are out! Hungary, wearing their famous cherry-red shirts, are welcomed by 60,000 of the loudest voices. Gareth got it right; this place is rocking. England are playing in second-choice blue. The home fans wait until GSTQ is over before giving it the bird, which is thoughtful. Then a passionate and proud performance of Himnusz. We’ll be off in a couple of shakes.
Gareth Southgate tells ITV that Hungary will be a “very tough” proposition. “They had an excellent Euros against top-level opponents, draws with France and Germany. This place will be bouncing so we know we have to keep the crowd quiet, keep the ball well, and play with great discipline. We need our one-against-one ability to break down their packed defence.”
Inevitable Hungarian cuisine reference. “How is this match being billed? Goulash versus Grealish? If the Hungarian keeper makes a meal of a hopeful England shot, the headline could be Gulacsi Makes Goulash Out Of Grealish Lash.” Ladies and gentlemen, Peter Oh. He’s here all week. Try the paprika-infused stew.
The Hungarian national anthem. The lyrics of Himnusz are your bog-standard anthemic fare, all blessings from God, defeated foes and flowing rivers. The bpm is stately, bordering on funereal, to the extent that, when played after, God Save the Queen seems to barrel along like this Napalm Death golden oldie.
Jimmy Hogan revolutionised football in Hungary back in the early 1900s, essentially inventing modern football along the way. But how did the influential British coach find himself in Budapest? Jonathan Wilson puts the pieces together, having chanced upon an interview given to Hungarian broadsheet Nemzeti Sport by a typewriter salesman in 1933. There’s only one Wilson.
There’s just the one change to the starting XI named for the final of Euro 2020. Jack Grealish comes in for Kieran Trippier, as Gareth Southgate reverts to four at the back. There’s no Jadon Sancho at all, on account of a “small knock” picked up in training. John Stones makes his 50th appearance for his country.
The teams
Hungary: Gulacsi, Kecskes, Orban, Attila Szalai, Bolla, Kleinheisler, Schafer, Fiola, Sallai, Szoboszlai, Adam Szalai.
Subs: Tamas, Salloi, Lang, Dibusz, Gazdag, Roland Varga, Kevin Varga, Bogdan, Nikolic, Schon, Szabo, Cseri.
England: Pickford, Walker, Stones, Maguire, Shaw, Phillips, Rice, Sterling, Mount, Grealish, Kane.
Subs: Johnstone, James, Mings, Saka, Bamford, Lingard, Henderson, Alexander-Arnold, Coady, Trippier, Bellingham, Pope.
Referee: Cuneyt Cakir (Turkey).
Preamble
England in Budapest, and yes, one match in particular always springs to mind. At the old Nepstadion in May 1954, Ferenc Puskas, Sandor Kocsis, Nandor Hidegkuti and the rest of Hungary’s famous golden generation ran rings around Walter Winterbottom’s hapless rabble. Final score: Magyarorszag 7, Anglia 1. It remains England’s biggest defeat to this day.
But history need not loom too large over Gareth Southgate’s side at the new Puskas Arena this evening, for England have a fair record in Hungary otherwise. They won their last World Cup qualifier in Budapest, 3-1 in 1981, two-goal Trevor Brooking the hero. They also won their last Euro qualifier here, 3-0 in 1983, Glenn Hoddle among the scorers. And there were 7-0 and 8-2 victories in 1908 and 1909, George Hilsdon of Chelsea and Tottenham’s Vivian Woodward taking turns to help themselves to four-goal hauls. Given the joy London-based players have experienced in the Hungarian capital, Harry Kane can be forgiven for vigorously licking his lips in rabid anticipation.
Not that England can take anything for granted. Hungary have emerged from a long period in the doldrums, putting on a good show at Euro 2020, and starting strongly in World Cup qualifying Group I. After a wild 3-3 draw with Poland, they’ve clinically dispatched San Marino and Andorra, and sit second in the table, two points behind England, who have won all three of their games so far. Will England continue their perfect start to their qualification campaign? Or can Hungary channel the energy of the Budapest massive to secure a victory that wouldn’t be as epochal as the 7-1, but would still be quite the statement all told. We’ll find out soon enough. Kick off is at 8.45pm local time, 7.45pm BST. It’s on!
