England continued their perfect start to World Cup qualifying in Hungary; In their first international since defeat on penalties to Italy in the Euro 2020 final, goals from Raheem Sterling, Harry Kane, Harry Maguire and Declan Rice sealed win; England now lead Group I by five points
Friday 3 September 2021 07:42, UK
England got their World Cup qualifying campaign back up and running in fine style as Gareth Southgate's side scored four second-half goals to secure a 4-0 victory against Hungary.
Just 53 days after their heartbreaking penalty-shootout loss to Italy at Wembley, England side restarted their World Cup qualification campaign in Budapest, and they had to contend with a hostile home crowd at the Puskas Arena.
Widespread booing was heard around the stadium as the England players took a knee before kick-off, but Southgate's side managed to quieten the home supporters as they controlled the opening 45 minutes despite not having a shot on target.
The goals eventually came in the second half as Raheem Sterling, Harry Kane, Harry Maguire and Declan Rice found the net to seal a comfortable victory, to continue England's momentum from the summer.
Racist chanting aimed at Sterling, and substitute Jude Bellingham as he warmed up, provided an unsavoury end to the game, but England can look back at a job well done with victory continuing their perfect start to qualification for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. They now have four victories from their opening four matches and a five-point lead to second placed Poland in Group I.
Meanwhile, Hungary, who took points off both France and Germany at Euro 2020 in the summer, suffered their first defeat of the campaign as they dropped to third in the table on goal difference.
A partisan 60,000 strong crowd greeted the sides into the Puskas Arena, and when the England players took a knee in a stand against racism and discrimination, they were greeted with a chorus of boos from the home supporters.
It was a hostile away atmosphere - something England had not experienced since before the pandemic - but the visitors started on the front foot with Mason Mount firing wide from distance before Maguire headed over from a Luke Shaw corner.
A threatening Kane cross took a wicked deflection off Mount and headed towards goal before Akos Kecskes hooked clear as England did a good job of silencing the crowd..
The England captain then struck an effort over the crossbar as Southgate's side continued to dominate the ball and threaten the opening goal in the opening 20 minutes of the game.
However, Hungary were set up to try and hit England on the counter-attack, and they almost capitalised as Rice was caught in possession with Shaw was pulled out of position, but Bendegúz Bolla's cross was just out of the reach of Roland Sallai.
Dominik Szoboszlai then failed to make Jordan Pickford work with a well-placed free-kick as the first half ended goalless with neither side mustering a shot on target in the opening 45 minutes.
That quickly changed early in the second half as Kyle Walker's pass released Kane in behind the Hungary defence, but an uncharacteristically scuffed finish was kept out by goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi.
However, it wasn't long before a more urgent England made the breakthrough.
Rice, who had been booked moments earlier, produced a perfectly timed tackle to win the ball before Grealish released the overlapping Mount. The Chelsea forward produced a low cross for Sterling, who made no mistake from 10 yards before being showered with plastic cups by the home fans as he celebrated his 16th goal in his last 24 appearances for his country.
England doubled their lead eight minutes later as Sterling turned provider. Mount's flick released Sterling, who crossed for Kane, who could have had a hat-trick in the second half, to head home to give the visitors breathing space.
The game was made safe when Maguire powered a header past Gulacsi to secure a comfortable victory, but reports of racism aimed at Sterling and Bellingham began to filter through.
It did not deter England, who made it four three minutes from time as Grealish teed up Rice, whose low strike burst through Gulacsi's grasp to wrap up an excellent night's work for Southgate and his side.
Sky Sports' Roy Keane to ITV:
"I have to give the credit to England.
"The way Hungary play, when the game is tight their energy levels are up etc, but as soon as the first goal went in they didn't have a plan B.
"Credit to England for that. England made it look so easy because they did everything right. They had a great attitude, they did the basics well, they sped things up and they ran in behind.
"We've seen other teams like Portugal get out of jail on Wednesday night, Italy have drawn, and Spain have been beaten so it's very early in the season.
"It's a chance for these teams and if you turn up with the wrong attitude you are in trouble. But England didn't, so credit to them for that."
England boss Gareth Southgate: "I was very pleased with the first half, we were in total control of the game, controlled possession and were playing the right types of passes, just not connecting in that final third. We had so much of the ball we knew they would tire, we had great chances to score more goals.
"The first couple of goals came from turnovers and quick counter-attacks, we used the ball well all night. There is not much between the two halves, they were open and the goals came. We have made a very difficult game look quite comfortable.
"It was definitely an incredible atmosphere and in a football sense the players kept the crowd quiet. I have heard reports of racism and we were not aware of that during the game. I am not sure we were particularly sensible celebrating right in front of their fans with the flare but the racism is the key part. We try to take a right stand, we knew taking the knee would get an adverse reaction and anything of that nature is unacceptable."
England's star man in the summer underlined his importance to the team once again, scoring the breakthrough goal with a trademark finish and setting up Kane for England's second.
A target for the hostile Hungarian fans but continued to demand the ball, and he could have had a second when he broke through after seeing a couple of penalty shouts turned down.
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England are back in action on Sunday when they face Andorra in a World Cup qualifier at Wembley; kick-off 5pm. Meanwhile, Hungary are also in World Cup qualifying action on Sunday when they travel to Albania, live on Sky Sports; kick-off 5pm.
