Men's Hungarian Cup: Vidi and Honvéd to contest final
Vidi and Honvéd will contest this year’s Hungarian Cup final at the Groupama Aréna on 25th May after successfully manoeuvring their way past tricky-looking semi-final ties against Debrecen and Soroksár, respectively.
Vidi 1–0 Debrecen (1–0)
Goalscorer: Márkó Futács (3’)
Vidi: Kovácsik – Nego, Juhász R., Vinícius, Tamás K. – B. Nikolov, Pátkai, A. Hadžić, Huszti – Kovács I. (Hodžić, 74’), Futács (Stopira, 81’)
Debrecen: Kosicky – Kinyik, Szatmári (Kusnyír, 64’), Pávkovics, Ferenczi – Varga K., Tőzsér, Csősz, Bódi – Szécsi (Haris, 82’), Zsóri (Takács T., 64’)
Vidi got off to the ideal start, taking the lead in the third minute as Márkó Futács rose unchallenged to head home a Boban Nikolov cross. Debrecen came back strongly, Kevin Varga hitting the woodwork in a half which ebbed and flowed but without further scoring. Debrecen pressed for an equalising goal in the second half, but were unable to breach the Vidi defence, despite the home side finishing the match with ten men after Roland Juhász picked up a second yellow card late on.
Debrecen 0-3 Vidi FC (HT: 0-0)
Goalscorers: Futács (66’), Elek (72’), Huszti (90+2, pen)
Debrecen: Kosicky - Kinyik, Kusnyír, Pávkovics, Ferenczi - Varga K. (Szécsi, 63’), Tőzsér, Csősz, Bódi (Damásdi, 75’) - Haris, Zsóri (Takács T., 63’)
Vidi: Kovácsik - Nego, Elek, Stopira, Tamás - Pátkai, Hadžić, Nikolov - Kovács (Šćepović, 89’), Milanov (Huszti, 69’) - Futács
Debrecen took the initiative straight from kick-off, but it was Vidi’s attacks which were the more dangerous, the closest the home side coming to scoring being a Richárd Czősz effort in the 28th minute which Ádám Kovácsik dealt with. Vidi all but killed the tie in the 66th minute, Márkó Futács drilling low into the corner from 20 yards after Máté Pátkai had intercepted a slack Debrecen pass on the halfway line. Ákos Elek added a second in the 72nd minute, his header from a Szabolcs Huszti corner squirming under Tomáš Košický. Debrecen dismay was compounded in injury time, Košický upending Šćepović in the box, and Huszti scoring from the penalty spot as Vidi won 3-0 on the night and 4-0 on aggregate. Vidi will now be looking to win the cup for the second time in their history, the first occasion being in 20106 at the old Üllői út Stadion when they defeated Vasas on penalties after a 2-2 draw.
Honvéd 2–1 Soroksár (0–0)
Goalscorers: HON: Holender (57’), Kálnoki-Kis (87’);
SOR: Gyömbér (76’)
Honvéd: Horváth L. – Batik, Kamber, Kálnoki-Kis – Mezgrani (Lovrić, 46’), Nagy G., Heffler T., Ben-Hatira (Danilo, 46’), Uzoma – N'Gog (Tischler, 69’), Holender
Soroksár: Kovács D. – Molnár R., Gárdos (Orosz, 67’), Gyömbér, Bor – Tamási (Csernik, 67’), Huszák – Derekas, Lőrinczy, Kundrák (Korozmán, 80’) – Erdélyi
Honvéd dominated the first half but were unable to break through a resolute Soroksár back line, David N’Gog coming closest to opening the scoring when he hit the post in the 36th minute. Filip Holender eventually broke the deadlock in the 57th minute, stroking home from ten yards after being set up by Danilo. Soroksár levelled in the 76th minute, former Ferencváros man Gábor Gyömbér curling the ball into the corner from 14 yards following a clever back-heel pass from Ferencváros loanee Norbert Kundrák. Honvéd would not be denied victory however, Dávid Kálnoki-Kis scoring with a header from a Holender corner in the 87th minute.
Soroksár 0-3 Honvéd (0-1)
Goalscorers: Ben Hatira (16’, penalty), Danilo (89’), Tischler (90+1’)
Soroksár: Kovács D. - Molnár, Valencsik, Gyömbér, Bor - Huszák, Csernik (Tamási, 67’) - Kundrák, Derekas (Pál, 46’), Lőrinczy - Erdélyi (Korozmán, 74’)
Honvéd: Horváth A. - Batik, Kamber, Kálnoki-Kis - Lovrić, Nagy G., Heffler T., Ben Hatira (Tischler, 73’), Kukoč - Szendrei (Danilo, 46’), Holender (Májer, 64’)
Honvéd carried on where they left off in the first leg, taking the lead in the 16th minute through Anis Ben-Hatira after Gergő Nagy had been fouled in the box by Attila Lőrinczy. Attila Supka’s side continued to attack but had to wait until the 89th minute before they scored again, Danilo scoring after Dániel Kovács had parried a Djordje Kamber header into his path. Substitute Patrik Tischler rounded off the scoring in injury time, heading in a Tonći Kukoč cross from close-range as Honvéd cantered through 3-0 on the day and 5-1 on aggregate.
Honvéd thus reach their 18th Hungarian Cup final, having won the trophy on seven occasions – the last time being in 2009 against ETO Győr – and finished as runners-up ten times.