England coach Gareth Southgate said his players “made our stand as a team” after they were booed by some Hungary supporters when taking the knee in protest against racial injustice in Budapest on Saturday.
Hungary earned a shock 1-0 win in the UEFA Nations League match, their first over England in 60 years, but the match began with boos ringing round the stadium.
The fixture was supposed to be behind closed doors, after Hungary were disciplined by FIFA and UEFA for repeated racist fan behavior, but children, accompanied by an adult, were allowed to attend due to a loophole in the rules.
Photo: Reuters
“The first thing about that [taking a knee] is why we do it, to try to educate people around the world,” Southgate told Channel 4.
“I have no idea why people would choose to boo the gesture. The young people can’t know why they are doing it, so they are being influenced by older adults,” Southgate said.
“The UEFA decision is for other people to decide. We have made our stand as a team, everyone knows what we believe in and stand for,” he added. “It is a night where I need to focus on the football.”
Photo: AFP
UEFA declined to comment on the incident.
Southgate’s side never really got going, something the England coach could understand given when the Nations League fixture took place.
“It has been a long season,” he said. “The heat was a factor and took a lot out of the players and we tried to refresh the team earlier than normal. The balance of finding out about new things and the consistency of the regular team, I have to look at whether I got that right.”
“We have to accept that we did not do enough to win the game, a draw would have been the fair outcome,” he added.
The youthful crowd of about 40,000 was treated to a fine display by their team, with a second-half penalty from Dominik Szoboszlai enough to earn Hungary that first win against England since the 1962 FIFA World Cup in Chile.
The goal came in the 66th minute, with Szoboszlai beating Jordan Pickford from the spot after England substitute Reece James was adjudged to have fouled Zsolt Nagy.
Also on Saturday, Germany had to come from behind to draw 1-1 with an inexperienced Italy team.
AS Roma captain Lorenzo Pellegrini gave a much-changed Italy team the lead 20 minutes from time when he turned in a superb cross from teenage debutant Wilfried Gnonto.
Gnonto, 18, had just been sent on after impressing in FC Zurich’s run to this season’s Swiss Super League title.
However, Germany needed just three minutes to draw level as the home defense failed to clear Jonas Hofmann’s ball into the middle and Joshua Kimmich fired in.
Germany play England in Munich tomorrow, while European champions Italy — looking to move on following their failure to qualify for the FIFA World Cup — are to host Hungary before traveling to face Southgate’s side in Wolverhampton next weekend.
Elsewhere, the Republic of Ireland slumped to a first defeat in nine games as they experienced a surprise 1-0 loss away in Armenia.
Eduard Spertsyan scored the only goal in the second half in Yerevan in the League B, Group 1 opener.
Armenia now travel to play Scotland on Wednesday, while Ireland host Ukraine the same night before facing Scotland in Dublin on Sunday.
There were also Nations League wins on Saturday for Montenegro, Luxembourg and Turkey, while Finland were held 1-1 at home by Bosnia and Herzegovina after taking the lead through a Teemu Pukki penalty.
The winners of each of the four groups in League A are to go through to the final stages in June next year, with promotion and relegation between the other leagues and the chance to earn places in UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying playoffs for teams who fail to qualify via the usual route.
Additional reporting by AFP
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