Wolverhampton, June 15: England suffered its worst home defeat since 1928 with a 4-0 loss to Hungary in the Nations League.
Less than a year after reaching the European Championship final on home soil to raucous celebrations, England was booed by its own fans after a heavy loss to an unheralded Hungary team that completed a double after upsetting England last week. European champion Italy had it little better as it was beaten 5-2 by Germany.
There was tension before the game kicked off as England fans drowned out the Hungarian anthem with a chant referencing Hungary’s history of racist abuse of players by fans. Hungary was punished by UEFA and FIFA for racist incidents in games last year, including one in which England players were abused.
Hungary had been clinging on to a 1-0 lead from Roland Sallai’s early goal for much of the match, before England fell apart in the latter stages. Sallai made it 2-0 in the 70th minute before Zsolt Nagy fired in a shot from the edge of the box for 3-0. England defender John Stones was sent off for a second booking after what seemed like slight contact with an opponent and Daniel Gazdag added a fourth for Hungary.
Plenty of England’s players showed signs of being physically and perhaps mentally tired after a long season, with little creativity in the face of a densely packed Hungarian formation.
It was England’s biggest home loss since being beaten 5-1 by Scotland 94 years ago. Other losses to Hungary loom large in English football history. A 6-3 home loss in 1953 and 7-1 defeat away the following year played crucial roles in shaking Englandas a pre-eminent football nation of the era.
Italy, still trying to recover from failing to qualify for the World Cup three months ago, was swept aside by Germany and was 5-0 down before scoring two late consolation goals. Joshua Kimmich’s 10th-minute goal got Germany started, before Ilkay Gundogan scored a penalty with the last kick of the first half, and Thomas Müller scored in the 51st before two goals in two minutes from Timo Werner. Germany ended a run of four 1-1 draws.
Also in League A, Belgium’s 1-0 win over Poland in Group 4 was more restrained than its 6-1 thrashing of the same team last week. The Netherlands stayed atop the group by beating Wales 3-2 thanks to Memphis Depay’s stoppage-time winner after Gareth Bale leveled for Wales from the penalty spot.
Other games
Elsewhere at the Zimbru Stadium in Moldova, Andorra lost to the hosts 2-1.
In the second-tier League B, Scotland came back from 1-0 down to beat nine-man Armenia 4-1, Montenegro won 3-0 against Romania, Bosnia-Herzegovina edged past Finland 3-2, and Ukraine and Ireland drew 1-1. (AP)
