Rossi: Defence essential against stronger opponents

There was one enforced change in squad personnel ahead of Friday's journey abroad, goalkeeper Balázs Tóth's ankle injury necessitating his withdrawal and a call-up for MTK's Patrik Demjen in his place.

The Hungarian delegation headed straight from Amsterdam airport to the Johan Cruijff Arena where they surveyed the pitch while head coach Marco Rossi and defender Willi Orbán attended the pre-match press conference.

"Football is a simple sport - you don't need to be Einstein to understand it; if the opponent is stronger than you are, you'll need to defend", Rossi explained. "The stronger team always dominates, while the weaker team tries to create opportunities to achieve a result. Against the Netherlands and Germany, you firstly need to defend and be quick, clever and aggressive whenever you have the ball, to capitalise on the space you have available."

Willi Orbán also emphasised the importance of defending ahead of this fixture, but the RB Leipzig defender is sure that they can be as organised as they were during the 1-1 draw between the two teams in Budapest last month:

"We haven't come to the Netherlands to assist the hosts and favourites towards a win. We need to play in a compact fashion, just as we did in Budapest in October. It'll be important that we defend alertly and aggressively, position ourselves closely to each other and keep to the appropriate distances. We'll need to fight like lions and give everything we can to the best of our ability in the interests of gaining a positive result," Orbán concluded.