HUNGARY’S WOMEN PUT UP SPIRITED DISPLAY AGAINST NORTH KOREA

Hungary’s women have participated in the Cyprus Cup the last two years running, and have once again received an invitation to the prestigious international tournament in which 12 teams are competing. Hungary’s group opponents are a strong looking North Korea team, South Africa and Slovakia, with a possible positional play-off match to come afterwards.

Hungary – as to be expected against a strong North Korea side, ranked 11^th in the world – initially put the onus on a disciplined defence, playing a compact game that allowed them a decent amount of possession. Although rarely threatening to score, preventing a goal at the other end was perhaps most important early on, and with few chances for either side the first half ended 0-0.

The match continued in a similar fashion after the break, North Korea enjoying the bulk of possession and looking more likely to score, eventually doing so when Kim Jun Mi broke the deadlock in the 56^th minute.

Hungary began to attack more towards the end as they went in search of an equaliser, Zsófia Rácz pulling the strings in midfield and Henrietta Csiszár – from a tight angle – as well as Zsanett Jakabfi – from distance – coming close to levelling the scores, but with just a minute left on the clock, Kim Jun Mi scored her and North Korea’s second goal as Hungary were hit on the counter.

“We were highly disciplined in the first half, and spoke at the break about the girls trying to be that little bit more adventurous in attack. We had chances; we might even have equalised against a really strong North Korea side, but it wasn’t to be. I’m happy that we managed to give such a good account of ourselves against one of the best teams in the world. We had some very good moments both as a team and individually, both in defence and on the counter attack. I have to be happy with how the match went; if we’d managed to score I wouldn’t be thinking what might have been, but at the same time we have to recognise that North Korea are certainly stronger than us. It was a great opening match, very useful for us”, said head coach Markó after the match.

Hungary 0-2 North Korea (0-0) 
Goalscorers: Kim Jun Mi (56’, 89’)

Hungary: Réka Szőcs – Henrietta Csiszár, Alexandra Ivett Tóth (Dóra Papp 65’), Evelin Fenyvesi (Anna Csiki 77’), Viktória Szabó, Szilvia Szeitl, Zsanett Jakabfi, Zsófia Rácz, Petra Kocsán, Szabina Tálosi, Bernadett Zágor (Zoé Magyarics 61’)

Match schedule

28 February
Hungary 0–2 North Korea, Paralimni, 17:00 CET

2 March
South Africa – Hungary, Paralimni, 17:00 CET

5 March

Hungary – Slovakia, Paralimni, 17:00 CET

Hungary squad

Goalkeepers

Réka Szőcs (MTK Hungária FC) 
Barbara Bíró (Szombathelyi Swietelsky-Haladás Viktória FC)
Anna Samu (Ferencvárosi TC)

Defenders

Szilvia Szeitl (Ferencvárosi TC)
Szabina Tálosi (Szombathelyi Swietelsky-Haladás Viktória FC)
Viktória Szabó (Ferencvárosi TC)
Lilla Turányi (MTK Hungária FC)
Evelin Mosdóczi (Ferencvárosi TC) 
Dóra Papp (MTK Hungária FC)
Alexandra Tóth (Szombathelyi Swietelsky-Haladás Viktória FC)
Boglárka Horti (Kóka FNLA)
Anita Pinczi (MTK Hungária FC)

Midfielders

Diána Csányi (MTK Hungária FC)
Evelin Fenyvesi (Ferencvárosi TC) 
Henrietta Csiszár (FC Bayer 04 Leverkusen)
Anna Csiki (Ferencvárosi TC)
Zoé Magyarics (FC Südburgenland)
Petra Kocsán (Ferencvárosi TC)
Zsófia Rácz (PSV Eindhoven)

Forwards

Bernadett Zágor (SKN St. Pölten)
Fanni Vágó (SKN St. Pölten)
Loretta Németh (Apollon Ladies FC)
Zsanett Jakabfi (VfL Wolfsburg)