Men's U17s: Hungary open elite round with victory over Norway

With head coach Sándor Preisinger having to make do without the services of several key players for the elite round – Péter Baráth, Roland Bekker and Csaba Mester all missing from the side which manoeuvred its way through the qualification round last autumn due to injury – it was a new-look Hungary that took to the field against Norway at a cold and windy Telki.

Hungary saw plenty of possession in the opening minutes but had to wait until past the quarter-our mark to register their first real opportunity, Ákos Zuigeber’s shot being saved by Frank Stople in the Norway goal. The game was being evenly contested, neither team creating serious goalscoring opportunities, the half-time score of 0-0 being a fair reflection of the proceedings.

Preisinger made a half-time substitution, bringing on György Komáromi for András Németh, but despite this Norway were marginally the more dangerous side. Krisztián Hegyi was called into action in the 68th minute to deal with a Sivert Mannsverk effort. Norway grew in stature as the second half wore on, Hungary having to focus on closing their opponents down rather than launch their own attacks.

A rare foray forward in the 90th minute paid dividends though, Brage Skaret fouling Komáromi and picking up a yellow card for his troubles, and Zuigeber curling the resultant free kick low into the right-hand corner of the net past the outstretched Stople to give Hungary all three points.

In the day’s other match, Belgium beat Bosnia 1-0. Hungary now face Bosnia at Telki on Friday, followed by Belgium on Monday.

“The lads gave their all to win the match, but it has to be recognised that we were lucky to pick up the three points. The Norwegians played a very organised match and gave us very little to work with. We made a number of mistakes at the back, and the match shows that we still have plenty of work ahead of us,” said head coach Sándor Preisinger after the match.

Hungary 1-0 Norway (HT: 0-0)

Goalscorer: Zuigeber (90’)

Hungary: Krisztián Hegyi – Gábor Buna, Milán Horváth, Botond Balogh, Donát Orosz – Márk Kosznovszky (Sámuel Major, 61’), Patrik Posztobányi (Borisz Tóth, 73’), Mihály Kata, Dávid László (Benedek Kalmár, 61’) – András Németh (György Komáromi, 46’), Ákos Zuigeber (Zoltán Dávid, 90+2’)