Friendly 8/11: England vs Hungary

A lot is riding on this game for the England team when you consider the fact that this match is supposed to be a friendly, a defeat to Hungary could be the last nail in Capello’s coffin especially after the statements he made blaming the players mental states for their poor performance in South Africa.

It seems unlikely that the player’s moral will be boosted by Capello’s book passing and scapegoating. On paper, there should be no doubt that England have players at their disposal that Hungary could only dream of and that this should be a nice easy victory for the English.

Whether or not things pan out, this is a completely different matter. The team is expecting to be booed by the crowd after their poor performance at the World Cup and Gerrard even went as far as to say if he was in the crowd he would be booing too. It’s needless to say that a lot rides on this match as far as the teams pride goes, not only do they have to convince the nation that they’re worth following, but build up some confidence if they are to have any chance of doing anything in Europe in 2012.

Hungary must really fancy their chances in this match up, it is unlikely that they will ever face an England squad as damaged as this one—with their egos hurt and pride bruised this could be an England squad ripe for the beating. And with many of the players not wanting to exert themselves too much for risk of club fitness this is probably a good chance for the Eastern Europeans.

You can watch England vs Hungary live on ITV HD, Sky Calcio 1 HD, Al Jazeera Sport, Nova Sport, NTV+ Football, Setanta Ireland, SportKlub (in many countries) and Viasat Football (in Scandinavia)

Joe - livescoredaily.com