Futsal: Kazakhstan prove too strong

The men's futsal European Championship qualifiers have reached the final strait with next Tuesday being the day when it will be decided which teams can prepare for the next stages. After the opening few rounds, it was already clear that no team would be able to compete with world number one-ranked Kazakhs for top spot, but also that a huge battle for second place and participation in the qualifying play-offs would ensue.

Hungary were in second place going into the last two matches, the first of which would be against Kazakhstan in Budapest early on Tuesday afternoon. The two teams met at the beginning of the campaign in December last year when, due to the coronavirus pandemic, our team travelled to Kazakhstan with a severely depleted lineup and couldn't trouble the hosts, the match eventually ending in a 5-0 defeat.

Head coach József Turzó was missing two players before this latest match, Péter Komáromi and József Tatai ruled out due to injury, while the Kazakhs arrived in Budapest with their strongest squad. The visitors dictated a tremendous pace from the opening minutes and although we held firm at first, Yesanamanov worked an opening and scored the first goal in the fifth minute. The away team relentlessly took advantage of our mistakes from the outset and decided the match in the first 10 minutes, leading 3-0 after the first quarter. They further increased their lead thanks to an own goal before the half-time break and soon scored their fifth goal early in the second period. Not long after, Zoltán Dróth pulled one back for Hungary with a well-struck shot, but Kazakhstan restored the five-goal cushion in the 33rd minute and eased to a well-deserved 6-1 victory.

"We knew that if we'd make a mistake, Kazakhstan would take advantage of it mercilessly and we were not mistaken, because we made serious errors in front of the visitors' goal", Turzó said. "I’m disappointed with the result but there can be no complaints about our attitude, as the players tried to stick to what was agreed, but this time it proved not to be enough. Our opponent arrived with world-class players. We need to move beyond this match as soon as possible and focus exclusively on next week's fixture against Belarus. We can still achieve our goal, but we must play to the best of our ability in the final match of the group", Turzó concluded.

Hungary will play in Belarus next Tuesday where, if they win, the'll take second place in the group, and the chance will remain to reach the European Championship. However, one warning sign is that the Belarusians defeated Israel 14-0 at home today and will entertain Hungary in front of a capacity crowd in Minsk.