England succumbs to a 1-0 shocking defeat in Hungary
On Saturday, England suffered their first defeat against Hungary in 60 years, losing 1-0 in Budapest to kick off their Nations League campaign.
Hungary’s Dominik Szoboszlai scored the game’s only goal from the penalty spot, giving them their first win over England since 1962.
The only time Gareth Southgate’s team had lost in their previous 22 games was on penalties to Italy in the Euro 2020 final.
An experimental side, on the other hand, failed to worry the hosts, who were shouted on by a 30,000-strong crowd, the most of whom were schoolchildren.
Due to supporter behavior during their Euro 2020 home fixtures, Hungary was obliged to play the game behind closed doors.
The Hungarian Football Federation took full use of UEFA laws that allow minors under the age of 14 to be given free tickets in such circumstances.
Jarrod Bowen and James Justin made their senior debuts for Southgate, but the visitors never got going.
Szoboszlai’s shot was cleared off the line by Conor Coady, while skipper Adam Szalai’s audacious drive from right inside the England half went just wide after he spotted Jordan Pickford off his line.
After replacement Reece James was ruled to have fouled Zsolt Nagy after the Hungarian left-back controlled a pass in the area, the host side were given a penalty on 64 minutes.
RB Leipzig forward Szoboszlai made no mistake from the penalty spot to put the hosts in up.
In stoppage time, Harry Kane came within inches of scoring his 50th international goal, but his thunderous shot went into the side-netting.
Southgate’s side must now prepare for a trip to Germany on Tuesday, followed by home matches against Italy and Hungary later this month.
