Balogh and Szoboszlai called up as Hungary await two tough matches

Rossi was faced with a number of dilemmas with several of his selection options injured or out of match practice for their clubs, a situation exacerbated by the time spent together before the first fixture being shorter than usual.

"We start our UEFA 2020 qualifying campaign with two very difficult fixtures, ahead of which we'll only have two days to prepare together due to some of our foreign-based players only arriving home to (the national-team training centre in) Telki on Tuesday", Rossi admitted to mlsz.hu.

"On Wednesday, we'll travel to Trnava and take to the pitch to play Slovakia on Thursday, so we need to use our time well, freshening up the players as much as possible for Thursday while still working hard."

The Hungary squad (surnames first):

Goalkeepers:

Dibusz Dénes (Ferencvárosi TC)

Gulácsi Péter (RB Leipzig)

Kovácsik Ádám (Mol Vidi FC)

 
Defenders:

Baráth Botond (Sporting Kansas KC)

Bese Barnabás (Le Havre)

Kádár Tamás (Dinamo Kiev)

Korhut Mihály (Áris Saloniki)

Lang Ádám (FC Cluj)

Lovrencsics Gergő (Ferencvárosi TC)

Willi Orbán (RB Leipzig)

Vinícius Paulo (Mol Vidi FC)

Midfielders:

Gazdag Dániel (Budapest Honvéd)

Holman Dávid (Slovan Bratislava)

Kalmár Zsolt (DAC)

Kleinheisler László (NK Osijek)

Kovács István (Mol Vidi FC)

Nagy Ádám (FC Bologna)

Pátkai Máté (Mol Vidi FC)

Szoboszlai Dominik (RB Salzburg)

Forwards:

Balogh Norbert (APÓ Ellínon)

Dzsudzsák Balázs (al-Ittihad)

Holender Filip (Budapest Honvéd)

Nagy Dominik (Legia Warsaw)

Németh Krisztián (Sporting Kansas)

Szalai Ádám (TSG Hoffenheim)

Varga Roland (Ferencvárosi TC)

Neither Norbert Balogh nor Dominik Szoboszlai Dominik have appeared in Marco Rossi's previous squads but his support staff have monitored their progress.

"Really, I've just been waiting for the right time to pick them", Rossi commented. "Norbert has been playing regularly recently and has produced the performances to merit a call-up now. Regarding Dominik, I've always said his talent is beyond question and now was the appropriate moment to give him his opportunity because he has been in his club Salzburg's squad where he plays very modern, aggressive football and for which you must train very hard, so this way we know he is in very good condition." 

The majority of Rossi's squad members will reach Telki on Sunday but some will only arrive on Monday due to club commitments. The group will then travel to Slovakia on Wednesday for their first away match of the campaign before their first home fixture takes plave on Sunday evening against World Cup finalists Croatia in the Groupama Aréna in Budapest. It is expected that both match venues will be full to capacity after tickets sold out very soon after going on sale earlier this year.