The Hungarian national football team lost 4-0 on Thursday at Puskás Arena to the finalist of this past summer’s European Championship, thus losing its match in the European qualifiers of the 2022 Qatar World Cup.
“Follow the path of the old greats, the legends,” the Hungarian fan camp told the national team, evoking the final result of the 1953 Match of the Century, in which Hungary’s “Golden Team” beat England 6-3 at Wembley Arena.
Thursday’s match, however, was as far from that performance as possible.
The English team, whose year has thus far been defined by its performance during the summer European Championship, exerted a crushing superiority from the start. In the first half, the Hungarians could only hold the ball for a few moments, however, the guests did not have any major goal chance except for some sporadic distance shots by Harry Kane. The Hungarian side’s only notable move was Szoboszlai’s free kick.
Shortly after the break, Sterling scored the guest team’s first goal in minute 55, followed by two others from Kane and Maguire in minutes 63 and 69, capping it with a fourth goal by Rice three minutes before the final whistle.
Hungary thus continued its long losing streak against England, unable to score a single goal against them since 1988.
Title image: (L to R): László Kleinheisler, Declan Rice, and Roland Sallai during the England vs Hungary football match in Budapest on September 2, 2021. (MTI/Tibor Illyés)
