HUNGARY RIPPED APART AS ENGLAND MOVE THROUGH GEARS

 

(Image taken from BBC)

 

An England senior friendly against Hungary looked pretty pointless. Lets face it, it's been over 50 years since Puskas and crew were taking the mick out of the rest of world football, I can't remember the last time the Magyrs played in the World Cup(1986),their current generation never looked like reaching Germany and we won't be playing any East European opposition in the group stages. The last time we faced them we got out of Budapest with a 1-1 draw back in '99 but the real England-Hungary encounter I find worth remembering was that smooth display at Wembley before Euro 96, as Terry Venables's crew won 3-0 in a solid statement of intent.

Ten years later and we were supposed to be returning to Wembley, but instead the Three Lions had to make do with Old Trafford for their last two send off matches. Like their counterparts of ten years ago, England needed a solid display but with Rooney still not likely to be available, Sven must have heard the shouts from The Times telling him to "Unleash the G Force" and decided to play Gerrard as a support striker with Jamie Carragher getting the defensive midfield role and Owen out solo up front

Well the first half was pretty much one way traffic. Right from the start it was clear that there was only going to be one side who might score in the half and that side was going to be England. Hungary weren't in a mood to play ball though, despite never threatening our goal in the first half that certain blocked everything we threw at them, including a penalty.

After half time Owen Hargreves was tried out at DCM with Carragher switched to right back after Neville took a knock. And David Beckham decided to take over the game. First he crossed to Gerrard in the 47th minute. 1-0. It's what he does. Then he fired in a 51st minute corner which John Terry headed in before performing an exact replica of the Brazilian baby celebration of '94 with two teammates! Hungary's captain Pal Dardei then pulled one back with a 55th minute net ripper. Enter Crouch and Theo Walcott. The Arsenal teenager became the youngest player ever to play for England and Sven must have felt like doing his best Mr T impersonation 'this kid is fast, fools!'(though I admittedly can't see him hitting the net in Germany) It was Joe Cole though who threaded the needle to Crouch in the 84th minute to finish the vistors off after they'd started to get serious ideas about drawing level!

Overall, the second half at least was history repeating itself, the only bum note being that Owen still looks rusty. Rooney's scan will now be taken care of before the World Cup which at least allows Sven the option of bringing Jermain Defoe into the loop. Anyway, only the biggest moaners in football(hello, James Lawton), would say that England shouldn't be able to steamroller their group stage opposition.

Particularly a said opponent who can't even beat a weak Wales side in continental Europe. John Toshack's crew faced Trini with six teenagers and though Stern John opened the scoring for the Soca Warriors, Robert Earnshaw soon equalised for the Welsh and went on to hit a late winner in the Arnold Schwarzenegar Stadium. I know I didn't predict the Caribean side making the next round but this must still be embarrassing for them.

Elsewhere, Northern Ireland hit Soldier Field in the hope of a respectable performance against Romania. They didn't get it, Tiberiu Balan and Daniel Nicolae soon had the match won for Romania and Jimmy Quinn then got himself sent off. Another depressing match for fans of what is generally the British Isles's weakest team and satisfactory for Romania.

One game to go before the World Cup.

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