Men’s Under 19s: Hungary miss out on Euro finals

Antal Németh’s side began with a creditable 0-0 draw against Norway in their opening match in Dugopolje next to Split, all the more so when considering that the head coach was without the services of the suspended Szabolcs Schön and András Csonka, and then suffered going down to ten men in he 65th minute after Dániel Csóka was sent off for a last-man challenge.

Next came hosts Croatia, also in Dugopolje, both teams in need of a victory to keep their qualification hopes alive. The hosts took control of proceedings not long into the match, and although Péter Kovács did well to deal with their first real chance, he could do nothing in the 18th minute as Boško Šutalo arrived to sweep a cross past Kovács to give Croatia the lead.

The hosts made it two just two minutes into the second half, Antonio Marin firing home a free-kick from 22 yards out. Cshasing the game, Hungary made a number of tactical substitutions, but were unable to breech the Croatian goal, the 2-0 defeat keeping the hosts’ hopes alive whilst snuffing out those of Antal Németh’s team.

There was little at stake for Hungary in the last match against German opponents who still harboured hopes of qualification. Holding the upper hand, Germany took the lead after 34 minutes through VfL Wolfsburg winger John Yeboah and he gave Germany a two-goal cushion early in the second half when a clearance cannoned off him into the net. Substitute Charles-Jesaya Herrmann wrapped up the scoring in injury time, albeit it was a bitter-sweet victory for Germany as Norway’s victory over Croatia saw them top the group and qualify for the finals in Armenia.

Hungary 0-0 Norway

Hungary: Péter Kovács – Krisztián Kovács, Ádám Újvárosi, Dániel Csóka, Martin Majnovic – Szilárd Bokros, Botond Nándori, Norbert Szendrei – Tamás Kiss (Gergő Major, 83’), Alexander Torvund (Norman Timári, 62’), Krisztofer Serető (Attila Temesvári, 66’)

Hungary 0-2 Croatia (HT: 0-1)

Goalscorers: Boško Šutalo (18’), Antonio Marin (47’)

Hungary: Péter Kovács – Krisztián Kovács, Ádám Újvárosi, Attila Temesvári, Martin Majnovic (Kevin Csoboth, 73’) – Szilárd Bokros, András Csonka (Botond Nándori, 73’), Márk Bencze (Alexander Torvund , 57’) – Tamás Kiss, Norman Timári, Szabolcs Schön (Krisztofer Szerető, 57’)

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

Goalscorers: John Yeboah (34’, 53’), Charles-Jesaya Herrmann 90+4’)

Hungary: Balázs Ásványi – Krisztián Kovács, Ádám Újvárosi, Dániel Csóka, Szilárd Bokros – Botond Nándori (Alexander Torvund, 47’), Norbert Szendrei, András Csonka – Szabolcs Schön (Norman Timári, 83’), Márk Bencze, Kevin Csoboth (Tamás Kiss, 57’)