A second-half penalty from Dominik Szoboszlai earned Hungary a shock 1-0 win against England in the Nations League at the Puskas Arena, claiming their first victory against Gareth Southgate’s side in 60 years.
Hungary were forced to host England ‘behind closed doors’ after being disciplined by both FIFA and UEFA for repeated racist behaviour from their fans, but the Hungarian FA said last month that children could attend the match at the Puskas Arena.
Hungary looked to be the more determined side made their pressure count as Szoboszlai converted from the penalty spot in the 66th minute after Zsolt Nagy was fouled by Chelsea defender Reece James – a decision which incensed the England players.
England pressed as they looked for an equaliser, but they could not find the net as their Nations League campaign got off to a disappointing start.
The hosts were comfortable seeing out their victory with ease, a first in 15 attempts since a win at the 1962 World Cup in Chile.
“We’ve got a massive game coming up on Tuesday,” England defender Conor Coady said after the match. “We need to look at this performance and learn from it very quickly.”
“I thought we started off quite well. We need to tidy up and bounce back. We need to look at how we performed and how we move forward because these are big games for us.”
Looking to get their preparations for the Qatar World Cup which begins later this year up and running, England were surprisingly second best from the kick-off in Budapest. England will be looking to bounce back in their next fixture.
England will face Germany next in their League A, Group Three encounter on Tuesday, while Hungary will look to make it five wins in six when they face European champions Italy.
Nations League results
Hungary 1-0 England
Italy 1-1 Germany
Armenia 1-0 Ireland
Finland 1-1 Bosnia & Herzegovina
Montenegro 2-0 Romania
Lithuania 0-2 Luxembourg
Turkey 4-0 Faroe Islands
Chidi Nwoke/Reuters.
