England overcome Hungary in Budapest

By Callum Castel-Nuovo

On a night that began with Hungary fans booing England taking the knee, it was the three lions that had the last laugh. Goals from Raheem Sterling, Harry Kane, Harry Maguire and Declan Rice saw England leave Hungary with an important 3 points and a 5 point cushion at the top of their World Cup qualifying group.

Jack Grealish replacing Kieran Trippier was the only change from the England team that lost the final of the Euros, reverting the starting eleven to a back four.

With a lot of patient play and not too much to note in the first half, it was clear to see that Kalvin Phillips was the further forward of the Phillips and Rice double pivot. With Harry Kane dropping deep as he typically does, Mason Mount was dropping into the forward areas, playing off Grealish and Sterling. England controlled the first half with 69% possession but failed to register a shot on goal. However, the three lions were tiring the Hungarians with their attacking play and were finding Harry Maguire well with corners. Sterling was running defenders ragged whilst Grealish and Luke Shaw began to connect well.

It was the second half that England went for the kill. Early in the first half Kyle Walker exploited Hungary’s high line with an inch perfect ball through to Kane but his shot was straight at the keeper.

In the 55th minute, Rice made a great challenge and soon found Grealish on the wing. Mason Mount had been playing alongside Grealish in the first half but rarely overlapped the Manchester City player, but this time he did. Grealish weighed up a great ball to Mount who then found Sterling in the box, placing the ball into the right hand corner making it 1-0.

Sterling pulled his shirt off and displayed the message “Love you forever Steffie Gregg” in honour of the young gamer that sadly passed away recently. In response, the Hungary fans threw multiple cups at Sterling whilst jeering him. At this point, the rest of the England players surrounded Sterling and guarded him from further abuse. Declan Rice and Jack Grealish then teased the Hungary fans by pretending to drink from the cups.

In the 63rd minute, the ball was carelessly given away by Hungary to Kalvin Phillips who found Mount instantly. Mount then lifted the ball over to Raheem Sterling who found Harry Kane first time, leading Kane to find the back of the net with his header to make it 2-0.

It was then Grealish who put Kane through one on one with the goalkeeper, but he was denied a brace by the Hungarian goalkeeper, Peter Gulacsi.

After Shaw and Mount found Maguire from corners in the first half, Shaw found his Manchester United teammate again in the 69th minute, this time scoring to make it 3-0.

In the 74th minute, Jordan Pickford was finally called into action by catching a poor cross attempt.

Raheem Sterling was found and attempted to round the keeper but hit his shot directly into Gulacsi’s chest. This was followed by Grealish using Mounts wide left run to find Kane one on one with the keeper again but hitting it straight at him.

Finally, Rice found Grealish in the box who danced his way through multiple defenders before laying Rice off on the edge of the box who hit the ball underneath the keeper, making it 4-0 to England.

Whilst this is Hungary’s 3rd defeat in 17 games, England maintain a 100% win record in qualifying for the 2022 World Cup, with Andorra waiting on Sunday.