sport news ROB DRAPER: England looked laboured, dysfunctional and in need of a break in ... trends now
When England played behind closed doors in Croatia in 2018, the stadium was so quiet that all you could hear was the full range of Jordan Henderson's impressively-robust vocabulary, mainly directed at the referee and the opposition coach.
These days behind closed doors means something a little different.
Here you could hardly hear yourself think, for all the excited screams of the schoolchildren and insufferable vuvuzelas, Hungary having found an obscure UEFA loophole that allows children in; 30,000 of them apparently, with 5,000 escorts.
So it was that the volume was louder than it might have been if the full 67,215 were here.
Just a reminder that this stadium ban was for homophobic and racist chanting during Euro 2020. Inbetween that they picked up another stadium ban for the horrendous racist abuse England players suffered here last year, so they've become quite adept at working through the minutiae of the regulation.
So it was that England were jeered on their warm up – quite good naturedly – before anthems were observed impeccably.
And then England took the knee, to express their solidarity as team-mates, because of the racial abuse they suffer around the world. And then came the distinct sound of boos and jeers, Nothing like the din when England played here in September against a full adult crowd. But a show of disdain nonetheless.
It wasn't universal. And it may have been from adult escorts rather than the kids themselves. But there it was.
Give me the child and I will show you the adult. In the land of Viktor Orban, it seems there are some very happy to embrace that maxim when it comes to disdain for anti-racism.
In Hungary, there is irritation that when England come to town, that they bring with them an evangelical sermon on anti-racism, when, to their eyes, English football, with its pitch invasions and own racism issues, has enough problems of its own to deal with before it can ascend the pulput.
So there is the sense that some are booing what they perceive as the arrogance of England to preaching down to them. Others presumably take issue with the fact that symbol of taking the knee was appropriated by the Marxist group in the USA, though it was originally used by NFL player Colin Kaepernick, a peaceful, prayerful response to ongoing racial injustice and is universally used.
And yet how to explain that to Raheem Sterling and Jude Bellingham who were abused here last year?
'#Equal Game – Respect' read the huge UEFA banner in the stands. That's
