The Hungarians took the lead in the 41st minute with a header from Ádám Martin, who scored his first goal for the national team.Continue reading
On Monday evening, the Hungarian national football team will host Bulgaria at Puskás Aréna – a game of high stakes as it is now part of the European Championship qualifiers. The Hungarian team will have to fight for victory, as Bulgaria’s national team coach Mladen Krstajic promised an ambitious and motivated Bulgarian football team for the European Championship qualifier against Hungary during his press conference in Budapest on Sunday.
“We are under a lot of pressure after the defeat to Montenegro, but we want to prove that we have a strong team. You will see a motivated and ambitious team, of course our young players will have their mistakes but also their victories,” said the Serbian coach, adding that he believed the Bulgarian team did not deserve to lose against Montenegro in Friday’s opening round. Krstajic stressed that although his players were tired after Friday’s game, two days of recovery proved enough time and they will be ready for Monday’s clash. He called the Hungarian national team physically and tactically good.
The Bulgarian national football team training at Puskás Aréna in Budapest. Photo: MTI/Mónus Márton
One of the Bulgarian footballers, Werder Bremen’s Ilia Gruev, said that
the core of the Hungarian national team is made up of Bundesliga players who are all excellent players and are therefore the strengths of the Hungarian team.
Marco Rossi, manager of the Hungarian national football team, is not expecting an easy match on Monday against the Bulgarians in the European Championship qualifier. “It is difficult to assess the mental state of the opponent, but I am sure they will want to make up for the home defeat in Budapest,” the Italian said at his press conference on Sunday, adding that the game could have been a draw in the Montenegro-Bulgaria clash on Friday.
Rossi stressed that Bulgaria will be a difficult opponent because they are a very athletic team with good strength, are fast, explosive players up front who should not be given space, with a solid midfield and defense.
We will be successful if we approach the encounter with humility as a team. To win, we have to be 100 percent in our heads and attitude because even though we have beaten England twice, we know we are not at that level,”
said Rossi, who admitted that his team were favorites to win the European Championship qualifiers group alongside the Serbs based on recent results. “We will try to keep that pressure off,” he said.
The Hungarian team’s manager felt it was important to apologize once again for what happened in Thursday’s 1-0 friendly win over Estonia, when Dominik Szoboszlai and Roland Sallai used rock-paper-scissors to decide which of them would take the penalty, which the latter then missed.
“As captain, I am responsible for what happened on the pitch. It could be that Szoboszlai gives the penalty kick to someone else, but not with a rock-paper-scissors. It will not happen again. Szoboszlai is appointed and if he feels comfortable he does not have to hand it over,” Rossi emphasized.
Hungarian team captain Dominik Szoboszlai said that this qualifying series is definitely different, in that this time the fans expect the team to win the group. “I do not want the team to take that pressure. I would like to take that stress off the shoulders of all the players. It should not be dealt with,” said the RB Leipzig striker.
The Hungary-Bulgaria match at Puskás Aréna kicks off at 8:45 pm this evening.
Featured photo via MTI/Lakatos Péter