Nothing is easy at international level

Hungary Men will play against Azerbaijan at 8pm local time (18:00 CET on Tuesday 10th June) and ahead of the friendly match, Marco Rossi and winger Loic Nego spoke to reporters at the pre-match press conference.

"I expect Azerbaijan to be an opponent who will fight for a good result on home soil. We haven't won in our last five matches; we drew twice, then lost two matches against Turkey, and then last Friday's friendly against Sweden. The most important thing is to focus on ourselves, because whoever the opponent is, we want to achieve a good result. Everyone in the squad is at my disposal - Milos Kerkez and Dániel Gazdag are not with us at the moment, but all the others still here are available, including Barnabás Varga, who missed Friday's match. It's normal in preparation matches that one match is given to one goalkeeper and the other to the other, so we've planned it this way. It's not because of a mistake that Dénes Dibusz will not start. In line with our plans, Balázs Tóth will be our starting goalkeeper because we want to see him too and we know that Péter Szappanos is also ready. There will be some changes in the starting team and the lineup, but not because of Friday's result; rather, we prepared this in advance," Rossi explained

Hungary's head coach added that although the games against Turkey and Sweden were even, the result is the most important thing in football, so you can't look for excuses. Instead, you have to find a solution to make the team more effective. Rossi emphasised that he expects a tough match, that there's no such thing as an easy match at international level and we are not a top team, so we shouldn't underestimate anyone.

"The last time we played here, it was an easier match and we had fewer difficulties, but the home match was particularly difficult, despite the fact that we managed to win in the end. This is why I'm saying that it won't be easy for us against Azerbaijan," added Rossi, who said that Azerbaijan is similar in strength to our World Cup qualifying group opponent Armenia, which is also why Tuesday's match will be useful.

Thereafter, Loic Nego echoed his coach's assertion that Tuesday's match will be a hard-fought contest.

"We can't look at the fixture as if it were just a warm-up match; we have to give everything out there. The result is important not only because of the World Cup qualifiers ahead of us, but also because it always matters, and accordingly we want to win now too. I have a long season behind me and I've played a lot of matches, which is tiring, but also a good thing. I'm happy to join up with Hungary, because it's always an honour to play for the national team," admitted the Le Havre player.

A trio of Belarussian referees will be in charge of the match on Tuesday, with Viktor Shimusik in charge, his assistants being Anton Gusev and Sergei Kosovets, while the fourth referee will be Javid Jalilov from Azerbaijan.

The Azerbaijan squad:

Goalkeepers: Rza Cafarov (Neftci), Sahrudin Mahammadaliyev (Qarabag), Aydin Bayramov (Zira)

Defenders: Mert Celik (Sabail), Abbas Huseynov (Qarabag), Behlul Mustafazade (Qarabag), Zamiq Aliyev (Egnatia, Albania), Rahman Dasdamirov (Sabah), Elvin Badalov (Sumqayit), Elvin Cafarquliyev (Qarabag), Calal Huseynov (Samakhi)

Midfielders: Sabuhi Abdullazade (Sumqayit), Ceyhun Nuriyev (Zira), Ismayil Ibrahimli (Zira), Rauf Rüstamli (Samakhi), Sahin Sahniyarov (Qabala), Emin Mahmudov (Neftci), Anatoli Nuriyev (Sabah), Toral Bayramov (Qarabag).

Forwards: Mahir Emreli (Nuremberg, Germany), Nariman Akhundzade (Qarabag), Khayal Aliyev (Sabah), Renat Dadasov (Radomyak Radom, Poland), Musa Qurbanli (Qarabag)