England slumps to historic loss to Hungary in Nations League

Updated Jun. 14, 2022 4:54 p.m. ET
Associated Press

WOLVERHAMPTON, England (AP) — England suffered its worst home loss since 1928 with a 4-0 loss to Hungary in the Nations League on Tuesday.

Less than a year after reaching the European Championship final on home soil to raucous celebrations, England was jeered by its own fans after a heavy loss to an unheralded Hungary team, which completed a double after upsetting England last week. European champion Italy had it little better as it was beaten 5-2 by Germany.

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 and Daniel Gazdag added a fourth for Hungary.

It was England's heaviest home loss since being beaten 5-1 by Scotland 94 years ago.

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Italy, still trying to recover from failing to qualify for the World Cup three months ago, was swept aside by Germany as Timo Werner scored twice.

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 opposition last week. The Netherlands stayed atop the group by beating Wales 3-2.

OTHER GAMES

Tuesday's Nations League games marked the end of a long, draining season of European club and international games. For some players, the next season is already looming.

Two of Andorra's starting lineup for a 2-1 loss to Moldova are set to kick off the 2022-23 Champions League in seven days' time when national champion Inter Club d'Escaldes plays in the preliminary round of qualifying.

Elsewhere, Scotland came back from 1-0 down to beat nine-man Armenia 4-1, Turkey beat Lithuania 2-0, and Ukraine and Ireland drew 1-1, with Ukraine playing its home game in Poland because of the Russian invasion.

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