Nations League: Hungary to face Estonia, Finland and Greece

Hungary have been drawn in Group 2 of League C, the group winners being promoted to League B and the bottom-placed nation being relegated to League D in the next edition. This group won't provide any surprises with Hungary having faced all three opponents already at least once in the past five years.

 

Greece:

 

FIFA ranking: 47

Head coach Michael Skibbe

 

Hungary have played Greece 19 times in official matches, most recently in the Euro 2016 qualification campaign when a goalless draw under the leadership of Pál Dárdai in Budapest in March 2015 was followed seven months later by a 4-3 defeat in Greece, Bernd Storck's first loss as head coach. 

 

Of those 19 matches, four resulted in Hungarian wins, six ended in draws and nine saw Greece finish the victors.

 

Finland

 

FIFA ranking: 68

Head coach: Markku Kanerva

 

That Euro 2016 qualifying group also featured Finland with both qualifiers ending in 1-0 wins for Pál Dárdai's side, ZOltán Gera striking an 82nd-minute winner in the home match in the Groupama Aréna and Zoltán Stieber notching an even later winner in the 84th minute of the away match in Helsinki.

 

Out of 16 matches against Finland, Hungary have won 11, drawn three and lost two.

 

Estonia

 

FIFA ranking: 88

Head coach: Martin Reim

 

Estonia have provided the opposition for Hungary on only four occasions, three of those resulting in Hungarian wins with just a single victory going the other way. The last occasions were in the 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign when Hungary posted two victories, 1-0 away and a crushing 5-1 win at home in one of the last matches in the now-demolished Ferenc Puskás stadium. The goalscorers on that occasion were Klavan Ragar (own goal), Tamás Hajnal, Dániel Böde, Krisztián Németh and Balázs Dzsudzsák in a team led by Sándor Egervári.

 

Georges Leekens, Hungary head coach: It's interesting that we've found ourselves in a very balanced group. I don't know much about the Estonians' style of play but I've faced both Finland and Greece before in my capacity as Belgium coach. All three teams play distinct styles of football so we know we need to be in top form if we want to be successful, but I trust it will be this way. Now we know our opponents we can start to prepare by collating all the important information. We can't make the mistake of underestimating our opponents because it won't be easy against them. We need to analyse all three of our opponents as thoroughly as possible because the small details can make all the difference. In summary, it's possible to say that Greece are rather unpredictable; there are times when they are very good and times when they've been less successful. Finland play a physical style and are very strong but at the same time it is also true that we must primarily concentrate on ourselves. If we prepare well, we'll find some good form and then anything can happen".

 

 

Netherlands   Iceland          Poland          Croatia

France           Switzerland    Italy             England

Germany       Belgium         Portugal        Spain

 

Czech Republic  Turkey      Northern Ireland   Denmark

Ukraine            Sweden     Bosnia & Herz.      Republic of Ireland

Slovakia           Russia       Austria Wales

 

Israel          Estonia      Cyprus             Lithuania

Albania         Finland      Bulgaria           Montenegro

Scotland      Greece      Norway            Serbia

                  Hungary    Slovenia           Romania

 

Andorra      San Marino    Kosovo          Gibraltar

Kazakhstan Moldova        Malta             Liechtenstein

Latvia         Luxembourg  Faroe Islands  Armenia

Georgia      Belarus          Azerbaijan      Macedonia