Hungary squad named for upcoming Russia friendly

Bernd Storck has named his 25-man squad for the upcoming friendly match at home to Russia on 5th June which will provide the basis for the squad which will travel to play in the FIFA World Cup qualifier away at Andorra on 9th June.

Hungary’s head coach had earlier named the 17 foreign-based players who would be in his thoughts and now he has added to this list with the home-based players, amongst them Ferencváros’ László Kleinheisler whom Storck has long counted on in his starting lineups and two recent debutants at international level, Videoton’s Paulo Vinicius and Vasas’ left-sided defender Szilveszter Hangya who each have one cap.

There are also places in the squad for the Hungarian OTP Liga’s top goalscorer Márton Eppel of Honvéd and Puskás Akadémia’s young midfielder Dávid Márkvárt who has been named in previous squads but has yet to make his debut for the national team. There’s also a first call-up for 28 year-old goalkeeper Dávid Gróf of league leaders Honvéd while the youthful nature of the squad is enhanced by the presence of several teenagers including Márk Kleisz of Vasas and Bence Tóth of Puskás Akadémia. Kleinheisler and the two Vasas players will link up with the squad after the Hungarian Cup final on 31st May.

Storck has received plenty of assistance from domestic clubs recently so by way of thanks, he has decided to help the clubs who will soon start to participate in European competition by only picking their players with the full agreement of the clubs’ head coaches.

Bernd Storck, Hungary head coach:

The two matches before us give us an exceptional perspective on the squad in terms of the future. Some players have been selected for the squad who will with all certainty be playing for their clubs in next season’s European campaigns, so after contacting their NB I club coaches we were able to agree on an understanding which suits everyone in terms of the opportunities the players receive to play in the national team during these matches. Those called up have displayed excellent performances at club level so now is the time to prove their talent in national-squad training sessions. Those young players who work hardest can be selected for the friendly match against Russia and if they combine their talent with hard work, they can become key national-team members in the future.

The current squad is slightly bigger than normal because amongst our more experienced players there are some who won’t yet be ready to take to the pitch, so of course this means an opportunity for yet more youngsters. The more experienced players have also provided all kinds of great performances for their clubs, although Zoltán Stieber’s long-term injury has meant he is behind the others, but I still trust him as much as I do the other squad members. After the match against Russia I will decide which players travel to Andorra for the World Cup qualifier.

The 25-man Hungarian national squad (surnames first):

Goalkeepers:

Gulácsi Péter (RB Leipzig)
Megyeri Balázs (Greuther Fürth)
Gróf Dávid (Budapest Honvéd)

Defenders:

Bese Barnabás (Le Havre)
Kleisz Márk (Vasas)
Lang Ádám (Dijon)
Kocsis Gergő (DAC)
Kádár Tamás (Dinamo Kijev)
Vinicius Paulo (Videoton FC)
Hangya Szilveszter (Vasas)
Tóth Bence (Puskás Akadémia)

Midfielders:

Nagy Ádám (Bologna)
Elek Ákos (FK Almaty)
Szoboszlai Dominik (RB Salzburg)
Dzsudzsák Balázs (Al-Wahda)
Kleinheisler László (Ferencváros)
Márkvárt Dávid (Puskás Akadémia)
Nagy Dominik (Legia Warszawa)
Sallai Roland (Palermo)
Gyurcsó Ádám (Pogon Szczesin)
Kalmár Zsolt (Bröndby)
Stieber Zoltán (Kaiserslautern)

Forwards:

Szalai Ádám (Hoffenheim)
Priskin Tamás (Slovan Bratislava)
Eppel Márton (Budapest Honvéd)

Photo: MTI

Source: Press Release – MLSZ