Markó names 31-strong women's national squad for training camp

"We will do our best to play the two away matches ahead of us," began Markó, whose team will play in Sweden on September 17th and then in Latvia on the 22nd, of course with strict adherence to all current health regulations.

"In this situation, I see a challenge to be completed. I'd also confirm to the girls that we need to block out all other external factors and simply prepare to be able to play the matches. However, of course, health is the most important!", Hungary's head coach continued. "There's a lot of uncertainty, but we definitely want to play. Next time, in October, we'll host Slovakia on our home pitch, which is why it would be important for the team to meet first and play a competitive match. The assembly of the squad was also complicated by the pandemic, for example, our foreign-based players couldn't return home before the first match in Sweden. With the full squad, we will only have two training sessions together, one of which will be a pre-match official training session. I invited the girls from home to the pre-trip training camp, so that they can still prove themselves in the training sessions here and then join the travelling delegation if, for example, someone can’t join us because their test has turned out to be positive".

There are eight reserve players in the training camp in Budapest, none of whom know yet whether they will travel with the squad, given that the composition of the group may still change. At the same time, Markó is constantly monitoring the development of the various national youth teams.

"Due to the anterior cruciate ligament rupture sustained by Viktória Szabó, we have lost one of our key defenders, perhaps the most balanced player over the last two years in the position of central defender. Therefore, we've had to reconsider the defence. Virág Nagy, a U19 national team member, has also joined the group after several outstanding performances in her age group and although she's not yet made her debut at adult national level, she also performed convincingly in the training camp two weeks ago. This is also true for other youngsters who've been unable to play a competitive match due to the cancellation of last season's U19 elite round - it is important that we gradually integrate them into the group too", Markó admitted.

In terms of the trip to Sweden, it can be seen as a definite advantage for our opponents that they can prepare for us at their home pitch, without the difficulties of a complicated trip due to the coronavirus pandemic. Our German-based squad members haven't played a competitive match this season, the Bundesliga only starting this weekend, with the exception of Zsanett Jakabfi of Wolfsburg, who played in the recent UEFA Women's Champions League final. However, at least the Women’s Simple League kicked off four weeks ago, so the players based at home have played as many as four league fixtures.

"We're happy to play against a team as strong as the Swedish national team. We were able to keep up with them in the first half of the home fixture and we competed with them right until the end of the match. We want to bring home points from the meeting against Latvia", Markó concluded.

Women's full national squad:

Goalkeepers:
Réka Szőcs (MTK Hungária FC)
Barbara Bíró (Haladás-Viktória FC)
Evelin Erős (Kelen SC)

Defenders:
Laura Kovács (SC Sand)
Lilla Turányi (FC Bayer 04 Leverkusen)
Evelin Mosdóczi (TC-Telekom Ferencváros)
Anna Csiki (Gothenburg FC)
Hanna Németh (Indiana University Athletics)
Barbara Szemán-Tóth (MTK Hungária FC)
Virág Nagy (Ferencváros TC-Telekom)

Midfielders:
Petra Kocsán (MTK Hungária TC)
Evelin Fenyvesi (Ferencváros TC-Telekom)
Henrietta Csiszár (FC Bayer 04 Leverkusen)
Diána Csányi (MTK Hungária FC)
Zsófia Rácz (Astra-Alef HFC-Üllő)
Dóra Zeller (FC Bayer 04 Leverkusen)
Boglárka Horti (Haladás-Viktória FC)
Sára Pusztai (Ferencváros TC-Telekom)

Forwards:
Bernadett Zagor (SKN St. Pölten)
Fanny Vágó (Ferencváros TC-Telekom)
Loretta Németh (MTK Hungária FC)
Zsanett Jakabfi (Vfl Wolfsburg)
Dóra Süle (SC Sand)

Reserve players:
Luca Barti (FTC-Telecom)
Fruzsina Schildkraut (DVTK)
Luca Varga (MTK Hungária FC)
Luca Papp (FTC-Telecom)
Fanni Nagy (DVTK)
Kinga Boros (DVTK)
Réka Demeter (MTK Hungária FC)
Beatrix Fördős (Haladás-Victoria FC)