Men's Under-18s finish fourth in Czech tournament

Having been defeated by hosts Czech Republic in their opening match and recorded a victory over Latvia in their second, Hungary’s Under-18s final match at the Václav Ježek Memorial Tournament saw them take on North Macedonia in Most for third place.

Head coach Sándor Preisinger was without the services of Ákos Zuigeber, Mihály Kata and Sámuel Major for the match, all three players having returned to their clubs, and with the temperature hitting 30 degrees by the time the match kicked off at 11am, Hungary struggled to find their rhythm early on, making numerous unforced errors which resulted in the loss of possession. It was from one such situation that the Macedonians took the lead, Hungary losing the ball in the middle of the pitch and Ivanov firing past Krisztián Hegyi from distance in the 10th minute. The goal appeared to affect Hungary and their opponents punished them for more defensive mistakes in the 23rd and 27th minutes as they took a commanding 3-0 first-half lead.

The second half brought a slightly improved Hungarian side, the team controlling possession but they were unable to seriously threaten the Macedonian goal. Hungary’s opponents were reduced to ten men in the 57th minute and from then on Preisinger’s side began to dominate. The Macedonian goalkeeper saved an András Németh penalty but that was as close as Hungary came to scoring, as impatient play on one side was matched by time-wasting on the other, thus North Macedonia held on to their three-goal lead.

“Currently, what is missing are the aspects of our game which made us successful: hunger, passion, humility. Instead, I feel that we’ve been complacent, and if so, the players aren’t on the right path. So far, it appears that World Cup qualification has brought negative rather than positive traits to the fore. We have much to change before the World Cup if we want to perform like we did in the European Championships”, said Preisinger after the match.

Hungary 0-3 North Macedonia

Hungary: Krisztián Hegyi - Gábor Buna (Balázs Farkas, 68’), Alex Szabó, Botond Balogh, Donát Orosz (Zétény Hosszú, 79’) - Gergő Ominger, Márk Kosznovszky, Dominik Kovács (Patrik Posztobányi, 46’) - Dávid László, András Németh, Roland Hajdú (Szabolcs Szalay, 46’).