Hungary Women encouraged despite Brazil defeat

Hungary's women's national team posted a 7–0 success at the Ferenc Szusza Stadium in Budapest in their first World Cup qualifier of this year against the Faroe Islands. The day after that victory, Margret Kratz's team travelled to Spain to measure their skills against those of Brazil in a warm-up match.

It was no coincidence that Brazil proved quicker than us in the opening stages, given they are ranked 9th in the FIFA world rankings, but Kratz’s players were not overowed and grew into the game, largely matching their world-class opponents.

The first half was complicated further for Hungary by strong winds. Brazil were often on the front foot and created several opportunities to score, but only managed to do so following a 14th-minute corner kick, Nunes da Silva scoring the opening goal.

Our team became more and more confident despite that goal, attacking when possible and creating two dangerous moments halfway through the half, but Brazil held on to their lead.

Kratz made a change during the half-time break, sending Petra Kocsán on for Virág Nagy. Our game improved further in the second half and more attacks were made, but in the 53rd minute Brazil brought the ball from their own half and after a few quick passes, Beatriz showed great skill to double her team's advantage. Not long after, in the 62nd minute, Nunes da Silva again scored from a ball from the left to finish off a swift counterattack.

Eighteen year-old Emőke Pápai was also given the opportunity to impress, replacing Vágó Fanni in the 72nd minute, while in the 83rd minute, Emese Szakonyi came on to replace Hanna Németh. Hungary's goal came courtesy of a nice move which ended when Hennrietta Csiszár was adjudged to have been fouled in the Barzil penalty area and Anna Csiki confidently stroked in the resultant penalty kick.

"I told the girls before the match that I didn't expect a victory from them, but I did expect a lot of concentration," Kratz said after the final whistle. "It's an honour for us to play against such a strong team. I had three messages for the girls beforehand. The first is to fight and stay organised in defence. The second is to get the ball and look for opportunities to counter-attack. And the last was not to give up. We have achieved these goals, so I'm satisfied with my team. Maybe we could have scored another goal, but we still scored against a world-class team. Of course, they still created chances, so it was a fair result in the end", Hungary Women's head coach concluded.

Brazil 3-1 Hungary (HT: 1-0)

Hungary: Barbara Bíró - Hanna Németh (Emese Szakonyi, 83), Evelin Fenyvesi, Henrietta Csiszár, Laura Kovács - Anna Csiki, Lilla Turányi - Virág Nagy (Petra Kocsán, 46), Fanni Vágó (Emőke Pápai, 72), Luca Papp - Bernadette Zagor.