Szoboszlai: We want to leave the pitch as winners – EURO 2020 play-off final

Photo: MLSZ

Dominik Szoboszlai has finally arrived at Hungary’s national-team training centre after a dramatic few days and is now ready to play the biggest game of his career so far.

“We are already in Vienna and tomorrow we will play a match against Rapid, after which I will arrive in Hungary tomorrow,” Dominik Szoboszlai told MLSZ TV’s Instagram account. Well, that was the plan, but a raft of positive COVID test results on Sunday had left the Salzburg playmaker’s participation in Thursday’s crucial EURO 2020 play-off final against Iceland in severe doubt. Thankfully though, Szoboszlai, who tested negative at the weekend, produced the same result again in the last 24 hours and was thus able to travel to Hungary ahead of his country’s much-anticipated fixture in two days’ time”.

Understandably, the young midfielder’s interview with MLSZ very much focused on the national team:

“I watched the October matches alone at home and was terribly excited by all three matches, particularly the one against Bulgaria. Thankfully, we didn’t lose any of them, which is a pretty strong return. Now we have to focus on the Iceland match, which will then be followed by the Nations League matches. Unfortunately, I was unable to join the national squad in October, but I’e said several times since that the match of my life so far will be the one against Iceland, even bearing in mind the games I’ve played against big teams in the Champions League”.

Szoboszlai went on to discuss his current form and his aims in football:

“I started the season the way I’d left off. I’m fine, I hope I’ll be in perfect condition for the national team (on Thursday) and that I can help the team. A footballer can always develop in every way and no one is ever perfect. I think you can improve in every area and you can show something new in every match – something they haven’t seen from you yet, so this is what I mean when I say I need to improve. After all, for example, sometimes my heading during challenges is not perfect and sometimes my shooting is inconsistent”.

Perhaps inevitably, the conversation drew to a conclusion with mention of next year’s European Championship which will be partly hosted in Budapest:

“There’s one more match to go before we can qualify for the European Championships. So far, there have been lots of times when there’s only been one step left or just one step missing. I don’t want this to happen now. Let’s go out on the pitch and show what we can do. Let’s fight for each other as we have fought in matches so far. We need to work as a team and then we will be able to battle against Iceland too. Everyone in the national team has a good relationship with each other – we understand each other on the pitch and everyone knows their job. We have a team captain who assigns the tasks, but he also does his job. We assess our opponents and see what their weak points are, so the point is then to apply it in the game and leave the pitch having achieved success”.

Hungary take on Iceland behind closed doors in the Puskás Aréna in Budapest at 20:45 CET on Thursday 12th November 2020.