Hungary’s socca team—better known as small-sided football—has finished second on the podium at the Copa America tournament in Cancún, Mexico. In the final, the Hungarian footballers lost 2–0 to the hosts, but before that, the team had produced an unprecedented performance. Despite the tournament’s name, teams from all over the world, not just the Americas, participated in the competition. The tournament was organized by the Socca Federation, an international organization that hosts small-sided football tournaments globally.
According to Eurosport, preparations were made more challenging by the fact that the team members had to take part in the competition in addition to their civilian jobs, allowing them to meet and train only once a week.
In the group stage, Hungary played Guatemala, Uruguay, and the host Mexico.
Hungarian national team captain Roni Ribeiro Da Silva led the team to victory over their first two opponents before the Hungarian team suffered a 4–1 defeat to Mexico in a highly competitive and at times physical match. Nevertheless, they secured second place in their group and advanced to the knockout stage.
The Hungarian team staged a comeback against Panama in the next round, and in the quarter-finals, they secured a thrilling overtime victory against the United States of America. In socca, in the event of a draw, the match winner is not decided by penalty kicks but by a striker’s shot from half-court into the goal within 10 seconds.
In the semi-finals, Hungary faced Belgium and easily defeated them 6–1. The final was a rematch with Mexico, who also beat Chile convincingly in the last four. Although the final was much closer than the group stage match, the home side emerged victorious with a 2–0 win, and Roni Riberio Da Silva’s men concluded the Copa America in Cancún with a silver medal.
The tournament’s top scorer was Martin Vörös-Torma,
who missed the final due to injury, having scored 6 goals throughout the entire competition.
This was not the only major socca event of 2024; the World Socca Championship is scheduled to be held in Oman at the end of the year—hopefully with the Hungarian national team, as Eurosport noted.
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