Brave Hungary suffer narrow Portugal loss

Hosts Hungary took the lead through Barnabás Varga but were pegged back by Bernardo Silva's first-half goal to leave honours even at the half-time break. Cristiano Ronaldo's penalty put Portugal ahead just before the hour but Varga's second goal seemed to have Hungary a share of the points, only for Bernardo Silva's second strike to earn Roberto Martinez's side all three points.

Home-team head coach Marco Rossi had opted for 4-1-4-1 formation with Blackburn Rovers goalkeeper Balázs Tóth behind a rearguard of Loic Nego at right-back, Willi Orbán and Attila Szalai at centre-back and Milos Kerkez at left-back. Callum Styles was the central defensive midfield anchor behind captain Dominik Szoboszlai and Alex Tóth in more advanced central midfield positions between Bendegúz Bolla and Zsolt Nagy on the right and left wings respectively. As usual, the lone central striker was Barnabás Varga.

It was a cautious start by both teams but the game sparked into life when the hosts scored from their very first attack, Szoboszlai feeding Nagy in the 21st minute, who crossed from the left for Varga to crash a header downwards and into the net via the right post from ten metres.

Predictably, Portugal clicked into gear thereafter, and Balázs Tóth had to save smartly from Cristiano Ronaldo from close range before beating away Ruben Neves's fierce effort, but the sudden onslaught couldn't be halted for long, Pedro Neto's cross diverted forward by Joao Cancelo and finished by Bernardo Silva to restore parity after 36 minutes.

That's how the scoreline stayed until the 57th minute when the visitors were awarded a penalty for a Loic Nego handball, which Ronaldo dispatched past Balázs Tóth's hand and into the bottom-right corner of the net.

Forward Dániel Lukács entered the fray on the hour mark and Milán Vitalis joined him in making their full international debuts nine minutes from time as the hosts sought a way back into this game, and thus it came to pass in the 84th minute when Nego's cross evaded Lukács but was met by Varga to slide in an equaliser.

Unfortunately, the scores were equal for just two minutes, Cancelo setting up Bernardo Silva for a shot at goal from 18 metres, which he duly fired into the bottom-left corner of the goal to put Portugal 3-2 ahead with just four minutes of normal time remaining.

There was to be no morale-boosting second leveller for Hungary in the remaining minutes and thus Rossi's side must content themselves with just one point from their opening two World Cup qualifying fixtures.  In the other group match this evening, Armenia sprung a surprise by beating Republic of Ireland 1-0, so Portugal lead on six points,  three ahead of Armenia with Hungary and Ireland two points further back on one each. Hungary will next host Armenia and travel to Portugal in the October round of matches.

Hungary 2–3 Portugal (HT: 1–1)

HUN: Tóth B. – Nego, Orbán, Szalai A., Kerkez (Dárdai M., 90) – Styles (Vitális, 81) – Bolla (Gruber, 90), Szoboszlai, Tóth A. (Ötvös, 60), Nagy Zs. (Lukács, 60)  – Varga B.

POR: Diogo Costa – Joao Neves (Joao Felix, 79), Joao Cancelo, Rúben Dias, Nuno Mendes – Vitinha (Antonio Silva, 87), Rúben Neves – Pedro Neto (Palhinha, 79), Fernandes (Trincao, 66), Bernardo Silva – Ronaldo (Goncalo Ramos, 87)

Goalscorers: HUN: Varga (21, 84), POR: Silva (36), Ronaldo (58), Joao Cancelo (86)