Hungary Women suffer three-goal defeat in Finland

Henrietta Csiszár's suspension and Evelin Fenyvesi's sickness meant Dóra Zeller took the captain's armband in Tampere. As expected, the hosts had more possession of the ball from the outset and generally showed their superiority. In the 12th minute, Aino Kröger received a pass from the left and shot from a central position, but Hungary goalkeeper Lauren Bryzkcy was equal to it. A minute later, Finland threatened again, again without success, but they went ahead in the 18th minute when a left-wing cross saw Emma Koivisto head in the opening goal. Two minutes later, Alexandra Szarvas' team nearly restored parity, when Viktória Szabó set up Anna Csiki, but she could only hit the crossbar.

Chances came and went for both sides before Finland doubled their advantage, Linda Sellström sliding the ball into Hungary's net just before the half-time break. Sadly, Dóra Zeller suffered an injury at the start of the second half and had to be replaced, Emőke Pápai taking her place, and Hanna Németh assuming the captaincy. Finland continued to dominate proceedings, but Hungary battled gamely. In the 65th minute, Beatrix Fördős cleared the ball in a dangerous situation and Lauren Brzykcy produced a brilliant save following a Finland corner.

Hungary then enjoyed a quarter-hour period in the ascendancy and created several chances, but the home team survived and then reasserted their dominance in the last ten minutes. A new face appeared for Hungary in the 87th minute, Blanka Bokor replacing Papp Luca and thereby making her full international debut, but she couldn't prevent Sanni Franssi heading the ball into Hungary's net from five metres out to make it 3-0 in the 88th minutes. That was the final scoreline and means Alexandra Szarvas's team is still in third place in the group with three points.

"We have to admit that the opponent was better; we lost a lot of battles in defence, so in this respect our opponent outplayed us for most of the match. There are a lot of lessons to be learned from such matches. We'd like to reach the level that the Finnish national team is currently at sometime in the future. Dóra Zeller may have suffered a serious injury, but we still have to wait for the results of the tests - this is the most painful thing for us today, so we wish her a speedy recovery," Hungary head coach Szarvas stated after the match.

Finland 3-0 Hungary (HT: 2-0)

Hungary (surnames first): Brzykcy Lauren - Kovács Laura, Fördős Beatrix, Németh Hanna, Németh Diána - Nagy Fanni, Papp Luca (Bokor Blanka, 87) - Zeller Dóra (Pápai Emőke, 53), Csányi Diána (Pusztai Sára, 66), Szabó Viktória (Nagy Virág, 66) - Csiki Anna (Nagy Viktória, 87).