The Hungarian football national team greatly disappointed their ferocious fans in their first game in the new UEFA Nations League season. They got battered 5–0 against Germany on the road, despite some recent good showings against them. At Euro 2024 earlier this year, the final scoreline was 2–0 for Germany.
However, the opportunity came right after, just a few days later, to make things right again. Bosnia and Herzegovina was next up on the schedule for our boys, a less formidable opponent, and on home turf this time.
Head coach Marco Rossi made a handful of changes in the starting eleven compared to the last, unfortunate game in Düsseldorf. Dénes Dibusz of Ferencváros replaced Péter Gulácsi in goal. Also, centre-back Endre Botka, left-back Zsolt Nagy, defensive midfielder Tamás Nikitscher (who just made his national team debut against Germany), and right-back Bendegúz Bolla made the cut for the team this time.
Hungary were clearly the more active side all throughout the game. They threatened the Bosnian goal a handful of times in both halves; while the opposition did not even get a shot on goal until the 66th minute of the game. Bosnian goalkeeper Nikola Vasilj, however, was in excellent form, and made a series of impressive saves to keep the match goalless. After the game, Hungary captain Dominik Szoboszlai told the Hungarian sports daily Nemzeti Sport that ‘it was like there were three people in the Bosnian goal’.
It was Szoboszlai who came the closest to beating Vasilj, but his free kick ended up hitting the crossbar. Martin Ádám, who became an international meme sensation for his unusual appearance during Euro 2024, had the last opportunity to clutch the winner for his country, but his header from a clear chance was yet again denied by Bosnia’s number one.
The fans in the stands were not particularly impressed with this performance either. Some jeers and whistles could be heard after the referee blew the game. However, Marco Rossi has had some rough periods on the Hungary bench already, and always managed to climb back, eventually leading his team to their third consecutive European Championship this summer.
In 2019, Hungary only finished fourth out of five in their Euro 2020 qualifying group, but still managed to secure their spot in the tournament (which was postponed to 2021 due to the pandemic) through the play-off, to which they qualified through their Nations League performance.
In 2021, in the qualifying group for the 2022 World Cup, Hungary lost to England 4–0 at home, then lost 1–0 to Albania away just a few days later. Yet, the very next year, Hungary delighted their fans with an amazing Nations League campaign, in which they beat England 4–0 on their home turf, and finished second in their group behind Italy.
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