14 June 2022, Molineux, Wolverhampton. Hungary 4–0 England.
By Hamish McTavish
A Tuesday at the home of the Wolves, twenty-eight thousand who had been sold a reset, and a manager who had said he would relish a crowd. Gareth Southgate got one. They booed him off at half-time, told him he did not know what he was doing after the third, asked if he was getting sacked in the morning after the fourth, and met his applause at the end with the noise he had to know was coming. Hungary, ranked somewhere England do not print, completed a double in ten days and inflicted the worst home defeat since Scotland put five past them in 1928. The Sun, in the morning, did not look for a nuance. GOULASHED. Inside they had HUNGAR SHAMES. The Guardian hung it on ninety-four years. The Mirror compared the cricketers and the footballers on the same front. Smashers and Crashers. Jonny Bairstow had a hundred at Trent Bridge. Southgate had four against.
He had needed a win. Two points from three Nations League ties, one goal, none from open play, and a first meeting with this lot in Budapest that Ádám Nagy had already called a debacle from the English end. Southgate named a 4-3-3, then a 3-5-2 after the interval, and nothing in either shape had conviction on the ball. Aaron Ramsdale had the gloves. Harry Kane had the bar and then the dive. Roland Sallai had the night. Marco Rossi had already beaten them once. He had come back for the rest.
They kicked off anyway.
Jarrod Bowen mistimed a jump at 0–0. Then, sixteen minutes, the tone. Dominik Szoboszlai’s free-kick, Ádám Lang rising with John Stones, Kane miskicking the clearance, and Sallai unmarked, first touch true, second blasted past the exposed Ramsdale. Against the run of the English story if not the run of the play. Reece James cleared off the line on twenty-seven. Bowen fluffed the final action on a break. Stones dwelt and the crowd howled. Willi Orbán headed a Bukayo Saka cross towards his own goal and Dénes Dibusz saved it, which is the closest a home side comes when the night has already decided against them. They were booed off at the interval, which the files call the rule. The rooms at home had a 1–0 they were still calling a stumble. The second half would take the stumble off the page.
The turn is the seventieth minute, and they do not see it until Kalvin Phillips has already been robbed. Martin Ádám, just on, played Sallai through. The finish was low and lethal. Two-nil. The fans started for the exits. The boos rose. From that point Hungary put them to the sword. Kane looped a header against the bar on seventy-seven and then chased the rebound and crumpled under no challenge, a dive the Guardian filed as lamentable, which is a polite word for the picture. Zsolt Nagy lashed the third on eighty. You don’t know what you’re doing. More of them leaving, abuse as they went. Stones, already having a dreadful evening, was sent off on eighty-two for a harsh second yellow, Dániel Gazdag running into him from behind. Southgate sent Harry Maguire on for Saka and they booed that too. Poor Maguire. Ádám Nagy, eighty-nine, a straight pass, Maguire stood still, Kyle Walker chased, and Gazdag clipped it over Ramsdale. Four. The substitutes danced in front of the visiting enclosure. Southgate stood motionless in the technical area, then walked onto the pitch and applauded. He was not disappointed by what came back.
Sallai had the two and the night. Zsolt Nagy had the third from range. Gazdag had the fourth and the red card he had already won. Stones had the miskick, the dwelling, and the walk. Kane had the bar and the crumple. Phillips had the robbery. Ramsdale had four. Maguire had the stand still and the substitution they booed. Southgate had relish, then mutiny, then the applause. Rossi had the double and the first away win in England since 1953. The Sun had goulash. The crowd had the morning off for him.
They said a reset. They said relish. They said he would not overstay his welcome. They said you don’t know what you’re doing. If you still think it was only a Nations League dead rubber, a funeral is only a Tuesday. It was the worst home defeat in ninety-four years, on a ground they had borrowed, from a free-kick they did not defend, and three more after the crowd had already started leaving. They took the word.
England had not conceded more than once in twenty-five games before this one. That run was the habit Southgate had sold them. Hungary cut it to pieces from a free-kick, a robbery, a strike from range and a clip. They have now gone four games without a goal from open play. They would go to Milan in September and be relegated by a side that was not even going to the World Cup. That night is later. This one is the four. Southgate said he understood the fans’ response. Understanding is not the same as stopping it. He had promised, the Friday before, not to overstay. Those words, the Guardian wrote, hung heavy in the Wolverhampton air. They still do.
James’s goalline clearance on twenty-seven was the save a full-back makes when the night is already leaning the other way. Phil Foden, on later, dragged one wide. Kane had the bar and then the crumple. About seven hundred Hungarians made the noise of a full stand. Rossi’s lot had organised themselves into a side that could sit in and then run, which is the opposite of the habit Southgate had sold as solidity. The borrowed ground did not forgive the borrowing. Molineux is a place that knows a hiding when it sees one. They saw one.
The film is not up here in a watch page I will stand over. The night is. Do not review the four. Watch a crowd become a verdict.
Related reading
- The world upside down — Hungary 6–3 at Wembley, 1953; first continental home defeat; same visitors, longer memory
- We will win — Berlin 2024; Southgate’s second final; another morning that printed the ending early
If the nights sit right, the shirts and the wall are at /shop.
FAQ
What was the score when Hungary beat England at Molineux in 2022?
Hungary 4–0 England, on 14 June 2022 at Molineux, Wolverhampton. Sallai scored twice; Zsolt Nagy and Gazdag scored the others.
Why “goulashed”?
The Sun back page, 15 June 2022 — GOULASHED — after England’s worst home defeat since Scotland’s five in 1928.
Was this Hungary’s first away win in England since 1953?
Yes. Marco Rossi’s side completed a Nations League double in ten days; the Guardian hung the night on ninety-four years.