Under 21 – Prosser propels Hungary to a point against Portugal

A goal and an assist from substitute Dániel Prosser helped Hungary turn around a 3-1 deficit in the second half of their European Championship qualifier against Portugal and ultimately claim an unlikely if entertaining 3-3 draw tonight in Gyirmót.

Things looked bleak for the hosts having fallen two goals behind after just 13 minutes, counter-attacking strikes from Diogo Jota and Joao Carvalho punishing a cavalier approach from Hungary early on, although it must be said that Gergely Nagy’s sliced half-clearance unfortunately presented Jota with an open goal for the first one on ten minutes, albeit from an angle on the left.

Three minutes later Carvalho’s curled effort into the far right corner under little pressure extended the visitors’ lead and Hungarian fans could be forgiven for thinking a huge defeat was on the cards. However, Michael Boris’ team worked their way back into the game, right-winger Dominik Nagy earning a penalty with a burst into the area at which point he was felled by Portugal goalkeeper Miguel Silva. Nagy stepped up to confidently dispatch the penalty into the top right corner of the net and make the scoreline 2-1, which was the way it stayed until half-time.

Photo: MTI/ Tibor Illyés

Sadly for the home team the next goal in the 48th minute went against them and again it was due to a mistake from Gergely Nagy, his surge to intercept a through-ball being curtailed by the boot of striker Daniel Podence who hooked the ball away from him and rolled it into an empty net. Hungary were rocking again but on came Prosser in place of Zsolt Kalmár and almost immediately he made an impact, racing onto Balogh’s through pass just after the hour mark and sliding the ball inside the near left post to reduce the deficit to one goal.

Eighteen minutes later and Prosser turned provider, feeding Balogh in an almost identical way for the Palermo striker to crisply tuck the ball into the far right corner of the Portuguese net. Neither team could find a winner in the final 12 minutes plus three minutes’ added time, so the two countries recorded another 3-3 draw after the full teams drew by the same scoreline at Euro 2016 this summer. The result means Hungary trail Israel who are second in the group by six points with one match left (away in Greece this coming Monday) and therefore cannot now qualify for the Under 21 European Championships in Poland next year.

Photo: MTI

Source: MTI