Photo: MTI/Márton Mónus
Our team took the lead in the 41st minute with a header from Ádám Martin, who scored his first national team goal. No more goals were scored, as Roland Sallai’s penalty was saved by the Estonian goalkeeper.
The jubilant Italian manager also introduced a new player in the person of Kevin Csoboth, who replaced the team captain Dominik Szoboszlai in the 76th minute.
On Monday, the national team will host the Bulgarian team in a European Championship qualifying match. The meeting starts at 20.45 in the Puskás Arena.
Friendly match:
Hungary-Estonia 1-0 (1-0)
Puskás Arena, 40,000 spectators, v.: Walter Altmann (Austria)
scorer: Adam (41.)
Hungary: Dibusz – Lang, Orbán, Szalai – Bolla (Botka, 84), Kalmár (Kleinheisler, 60), Vécsei (Á. Nagy, during the break), Kerkez – Sallai (A. Németh, 76), Szoboszlai (Csoboth, 76.) – Ádám (Gazdag, 60.)
Estonia: Hein – Kuusk, Paskotsi, Baranov (Tougjas, 81) – Ojamaa (Sorga, on break), Shein (Miller, on break), Vassilyev (Tunjov, 64), Sinyavskiy, Pikk (Reinkort, 84) – Käit – Sappinen (Zenjov, during the break)
41. perc: Szoboszlai took a shot from the left corner to the front of the 16, Kalmár took it, and Ádám Martin headed the ball bouncing off the ground into the right side of the goal (1-0).
The Hungarian national team went on the offensive from the first minute, led particularly attractive attacks, but could not find a gap in the Estonian defense, and the attempts to shoot through were inaccurate. Although the home team played football with a clear advantage, the first big save after more than a quarter of an hour had to be made by Dénes Dibusz from Ferencváros at the end of one of the visitors’ sporadic counterattacks.
It took twenty minutes for the first Hungarian shot to hit the goal, but Sallai’s attempt did not cause any problems for the visiting netminder. Over time, our game became slower and more imprecise, so less action reached the Estonian goal. Although Roland Sallai played football with agility, he tried a lot of trickery, but with little success, which is why several attacks died for him. The last five minutes before the break belonged to the Hungarians again, first Bolla, who was running up the right, received a great ball from Bálint Vécsei, but his goal bombed into the top corner was disallowed by the video referee due to offside, and not long after, Ádám Martin’s header ended up in the goal under legal conditions . In the end, even Sallai’s shot was dangerous, but if not by much, it missed the target.
The three substitutions did not help the visitors either, even after the turn, the Hungarian national team played football in the upper hand, but due to inaccurate passes, it did not manage to create a serious situation. In the 60th minute, when the goal scorer Ádám was replaced, Sallai moved to the position of center forward. After the changes, Dibusz defended once, and then ours had two dangerous attempts: the team captain, Dominik Szoboszlai, missed by a few inches, and Kleinheisler’s attempt was blocked by Hein with aplomb.
Sallai came the closest to doubling the advantage after the outbound Kerkez Milos could only be stopped with an irregularity, but this time the Freiburg player could not score from the 11, after winning the role of executor with a rock-paper-scissors game against Szoboszlai.
The tiring Estonians were less and less able to start towards the Hungarian goal, so despite the minimal advantage, the home victory was not in danger, rather the question was whether it would be possible to make the lead reassuring. In the end, however, the fans, who rewarded the team with a standing ovation this time, had to make do with a 1-0 success.
Despite the 1-0 victory, national team captain Marco Rossi was dissatisfied with the performance of the Hungarian national football team in the friendly match against Estonia.
– I am not satisfied. There were better periods when we managed to implement what we had planned, i.e. break down the opponent’s defense with more active play on the wings, but we lacked continuity in our game – assessed the Italian manager when asked by MTI, who also criticized the fact that Dominik Szoboszlai and Roland Sallai he decided with a rock-paper-scissors game which of them would kick the 11, which the latter missed in the second half.
– If there is a number one designated footballer to take the penalty, then he should shoot the 11. If all this happened at 3-0, I would even understand, but at 1-0 it was irresponsible. I have already talked to Szoboszlai about this. I hope it won’t happen again in the future, because if the Estonians equalized, it would have bothered me a lot, even if it was a friendly match – said Rossi, who also talked about how his team was characterized by many unforced errors, a lot of mistakes in the passes inaccuracy slipped.
He added that after a four-month break in March, the game is always a bit “rusty”, he already has experience with this. According to him, his team also needs to improve in reading the game, and forward passes are a problem for the defense, and in the midfield, they need to improve their ability to catch bouncing balls.
– Since I have been sitting on the bench of the Hungarian national team, I have never felt a lack of support. I feel the respect and love in the cheering of the audience, which also goes for my entire staff – said Rossi, who was in charge of his fiftieth national team match, about the chanting of his name.
– The match was characterized by a fantastic atmosphere, we had some players who gave a great performance, but unfortunately we paid a heavy price for the mistakes we made at the end of the first half. We had chances, this must be appreciated, because the Hungarians are at the forefront of the Nations League – said the Swiss manager of the Estonians, Thomas Häberli, who congratulated his colleague on his 50th match, adding at the same time that it is clear how much the Hungarian national team has improved in five years under his management.