This ended up being a disastrous night for Wales in Budapest. A performance that contained encouragement finished in crushing defeat and leaves Ryan Giggs with serious questions about how to revive a faltering campaign.
Hungary won thanks to a goal 11 minutes from time that showed more calamitous Welsh defending. James Lawrence was once again under scrutiny, muscled to the ground by striker Adam Szalai so that the ball ran free for Mate Patkai to sweep in.
Wales could not mount a response and that only increased the angst around Gareth Bale’s display.
The effects of falling the sidelines at Real Madrid appeared to seep into Bale’s approach, because when the big chance came there was little sign of his usual conviction.
It was the hour mark when David Brooks danced into space and fed a superb pass to Tom Lawrence, who broke the offside trap and spotted Bale in space. His cross was well-placed but Bale wavered and went with his right, miskicking and scooping the ball into goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi’s hands.
Those two moments place Wales firmly behind in Group E, fourth in the table and without momentum. Two defeats in four days have placed huge importance on September’s match against Azerbaijan.
Giggs had made five changes to the side that fell to defeat in Croatia, bringing in Ashley Williams, Ethan Ampadu, Chris Gunter, Lawrence and Brooks but this was the same feeling as from Saturday: a sense of a missed opportunity, because Wales did play well in patches.
Their best chance in the first half came when Daniel James opened up those rapid legs of his.
He gained possession on halfway and drove at Hungary’s defence, gliding past one opponent before cutting inside another and ending his 50-yard burst by slipping the ball to Lawrence in the box. Lawrence shifted into space and shot but it was too close to Gulacsi.
Williams largely had the beating of Szalai, with Hungary’s only chances coming from crossing positions. Their other major chance came when Bale’s header from a Hungary corner went straight up and was hooked towards goal, with Joe Allen needing to clear off the line dramatically.
Wales had plenty of good openings and there was a period in the second half when it looked like their front four could carve Hungary open at will. But they could not score and that means Giggs has work to do.