The president of the Hungarian Football Federation is optimistic, as he believes Hungary has a stronger squad than in 2016 when they finished first in their group ahead of Portugal.Continue reading
Hungary will defeat Portugal 1-0, tie 1-1 with France, and tie 0-0 with Germany, according to Marco Rossi, head coach of the national football team. Rossi submitted his predictions to hvg.hu’s 2020 European Championship game, where participants share how well they think Hungary will perform in this year’s football championship.
Many notable people have been on HVG’s football prediction game: two-time individual Olympic champion sabre fencer Áron Szilágyi, Semmelweis University rector Béla Merkely, Independent MP Bernadett Szél, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó, former footballer now pundit János Hrutka, world class water polo player Edina Gangl, Wizz Air leader József Váradi, journalist András Bárdos, and media personality Majka. Without a doubt, however, it is Marco Rossi who should have the most accurate idea of how Team Hungary will perform.
Hungary is the clear underdog in what is being called the “group of death.” Group F is made up of reigning World Cup champion France, four-time World Cup winner Germany, and defending European champion Portugal. Still, with two of the group stage matches occurring in Budapest, Hungary will have a home-turf advantage.
Marco Rossi is so confident in our underdog that he is willing to bet that Hungary will finish second in the group stage by defeating Portugal and tying with France and Germany.
Moving on we will play against England, defeating them in shootouts, Rossi forecasts, but then losing 1-0 to Spain. Reaching the quarterfinals would be an excellent achievement for Hungary.
Thanks to his in-depth knowledge on Italian soccer as well, Rossi shared his estimates on their national football team too. He believes the Italians will win all three of their group-stage matches 1-0, they will defeat Austria 2-0 in the round of 16 but will be defeated by Belgium in the quarterfinals.
According to him, the champion of the 2020 European Championship will be France.
Rossi’s optimism is quite uplifting, and the predictions from the International Center for Sports Studies (CIES) Football Observatory show that any points picked up will already be impressive for Hungary against such opponents.
While France and Germany are the tournament’s favorites and Portugal is ranked fifth, Hungary ranks third from the bottom of the roster, preceding North Macedonia and Finland.
According to Gracenote, a company which provides estimates based off statistics for football and other entertainment areas, Belgium has the highest chance, a 14 percent likelihood of winning the European Championship, followed by England and France. Hungary is ranked 21, with a 0 percent chance of winning the entire championship.
In the group stage, Gracenote estimates that Hungary will have a 32 percent chance of moving on, Germany 87 percent, France 81 percent, followed by Portugal at 74 percent. Our chances may be slim, but if Hungary can make it through the group of death, the nation will be more than proud.
Featured photo illustration by Tibor Illyés/MTI
