Hungarian national soccer squad re-formed

The newcomer to the squad this time is 22-year-old Kecskemét defender Gábor Szalai, who has played 28 of his club’s 32 league matches this season and impressed Rossi enough to merit an international call-up for this double-header away to Montenegro then at home to Lithuania. Furthermore, goalkeeper Péter Szappanos, who was not selected for the squad last time, will return and similarly Callum Styles reappears having now recovered from injury.

Hungary’s squad:
Goalkeepers: Demjén Patrik (Zalaegerszegi TE) Dénes Dibusz (Ferencvárosi TC) Péter Szappanos (Budapest Honvéd)

Defenders: Botond Balogh (Parma), Endre Botka (Ferencváros), Ádám Lang (Omonia Nicosia), Willi Orbán (RB Leipzig), Attila Szalai (Fenerbahçe), Gábor Szalai (Kecskemét).

Midfielders: Péter Baráth (Ferencváros), Bendegúz Bolla (Grasshoppers), János Ferenczi (DVSC), Milos Kerkez (AZ Alkmaar), László Kleinheisler (Panathinaikos), Ádám Nagy (Pisa), Loic Nego (MOL Fehérvár), Callum Styles (Millwall).

Forwards: Ádám Martin (Ulsan Hyundai), Kevin Csoboth (Újpest), Dániel Gazdag (Philadelphia Union), Zsolt Kalmár (DAC), Roland Sallai (Freiburg), Dominik Szoboszlai (RB Leipzig), Barnabás Varga (Paks).

“Unfortunately, several of our players have not recovered from injuries, but the quality and unity of the team is still high,” Rossi commented. “We’ve selected only one newcomer, Gábor Szalai, because he is a young player in good condition and, moreover, a left-footed player, which is important in our defence. He can easily be Attila Szalai’s backup and has played well all season. He has good physical qualities, so we want to see him in the squad to see how he fits into the team and our style of play on the pitch“.

Some of the squad will start training at MLSZ’s training centre in Telki on 5th June, with the first full training session due to begin a week later at the same location. Marco Rossi’s team will face Montenegro in Podgorica on 17th June before returning to Budapest to host Lithuania in the Puskás Aréna three days later. Ticket purchase information relating to these two matches has been summarised in the Hungarian-language article HERE.  The support of the fans will be essential again, because two very difficult and important matches await Hungary’s men’ national team.

“We all know that there’s a lot at stake in every match during the qualifiers,” Rossi continued. “There’s no easy match in the campaign and the match against Montenegro is the second-most difficult based on form on paper. We know Montenegro’s game very well, we know their style and we know that it’s a very difficult task to get three points in Podgorica, which will of course be our goal on 17th June. The match against Lithuania may seem routine, but it won’t be, something which is clearly shown by the fact that they only lost 2-0 to Serbia and caused them a lot of trouble. It will be key to concentrate 100 percent throughout the match, because we know from the past that if we lose focus for even a moment, anyone can stand a chance against us. If our attitude and concentration are not at their optimum, then just as we’re able to beat stronger teams (who fall into that trap), teams weaker than us would also be able to do the same to us“.