LONDON 鈥 England took another, somewhat faltering, step towards 2022 World Cup qualification when they drew 1-1 with Hungary at Wembley on Tuesday and are now three points clear at the top of Group I with two matches remaining.
The game was marred by fighting in the stands between Hungary fans and baton-wielding police just after kickoff, with riot police entering the fray as visiting supporters forced stewards and police back down a tunnel.
On the pitch, the visitors went ahead with a Roland Sallai penalty in the 24th minute after England鈥檚 Luke Shaw caught a stooping Lo茂c N茅go in the head as he attempted a clearance.
England equalized after 37 minutes when a Phil Foden free kick was flicked on by Tyrone Mings and the ball was turned in by John Stones from close range.
The centerback came close to a second when he headed a corner just wide after an hour while Harry Kane miskicked when well placed in front of goal 鈥 the captain鈥檚 last contribution before being replaced by Tammy Abraham for the last 15 minutes.
That, and other changes, failed to swing the game England鈥檚 way as Gareth Southgate鈥檚 experiment of playing Foden, Jack Grealish and Mason Mount together in a miniature midfield proved something of a failure.
Hungary were certainly more energetic and looked more motivated than when they were swept aside 4-0 by England in Budapest last month and Southgate was quick to praise them, while accepting his own side鈥檚 shortcomings.
TACTICAL PROBLEM
鈥淗ungary, full credit to them. I thought they caused us a tactical problem. We weren鈥檛 fluid and I didn鈥檛 think we played at the level that we need to play,鈥 he said.
鈥淲e鈥檒l go away and think about the balance of the team a little bit, but I think individually we can do better as well. We made lots of simple mistakes with the ball. Collectively, we did not play at the level we need to.
鈥淚 think right across the board from the start we weren鈥檛 sharp with our play, gave the ball away. It鈥檚 the first time for a long time, but we have to hold our hands up to that.鈥
The result leaves England top of the group on 20 points ahead of Poland, who beat Albania (15 points) 1-0 away in another match hit by crowd trouble.
Euro 2020 runners-up England are still strong favorites to win the group via their remaining games against Albania and San Marino next month, but have left themselves with work to do.
Hungary, in fourth place on 11 points, need a miracle to have a chance of snatching second place and a playoff berth.
Their entire squad and staff formed a center circle huddle at the end of the game, then stood in front of their supporters 鈥 showing their better side after the unpleasant scenes two hours earlier 鈥 in a joint rendition of their national anthem, celebrating together as if they had won the World Cup.
England鈥檚 players and most of the near-70,000 home fans had already gone by then, but though few will long remember the match, it might prove more useful in Southgate鈥檚 World Cup preparations than if it had been a routine victory. 鈥 Reuters
