Rossi names 26-man squad for September's World Cup qualifiers

Marco Rossi has again called up three goalkeepers and 23 outfield players to the national team for the thre fixtures against this summer's European Championship runners-up England in the Puskás Arena on 2nd September, Albania away on 5th September and Andorra at home on 8th September. Rossi can again count on Dominik Szoboszlai and Dániel Gazdag, who had to withdraw from the European Championship due to injury, but Dániel Sallói has been recalled and Márk Tamás will be able to work with Marco Rossi and the national team for the first time.

The latest Hungary national squad:

Goalkeepers:
Ádám Bogdán (Ferencváros)
Dénes Dibusz (Ferencváros)
Péter Gulácsi (RB Leipzig)

Defenders:
Bendegúz Bolla (Grasshoppers)
Endre Botka (Ferencváros)
Attila Fiola (MOL Fehérvár)
Ákos Kecskés (Nizhny Novgorod)
Ádám Lang (Omonia Nicosia)
Gergő Lovrencsics (Hajduk Split)
Willi Orbán (RB Leipzig)
Attila Szalai (Fenerbahçe FK)
Márk Tamás (Slask Wroclaw)

Midfielders:
Dániel Gazdag (Philadelphia Union)
László Kleinheisler (NK Osijek)
Ádám Nagy (Bristol City)
Loic Nego (MOL Fehérvár)
András Schäfer (DAC)
Dominik Szoboszlai (RB Leipzig)

Forwards:
János Hahn (Paks)
Nemanja Nikolic (MOL Fehérvár)
Roland Sallai (SC Freiburg)
Dániel Sallói (Sporting Kansas City)
Szabolcs Schön (FC Dallas)
Ádám Szalai (1.FSV Mainz 05)
Kevin Varga (Kasimpasa)
Roland Varga (al-Ittihad Kalba)

"The European Championship squad has played a role (in my thinking) for this squad too, because it consists mainly of young players who have proven themselves across the continent, and it is clear from the feedback from the fans that they also trust this team and these players", Marco Rossi told mlsz.hu. "Only two new players have come into the squad, one of them being Daniel Sallói, who has been playing explosively in American Major League Soccer in recent months and since March has scored 11 goals in 21 matches. The other is Márk Tamás, who we've been watching for a very long time, and has recently given such good performances for Slask Wroclaw that he deserved his call-up. The others have been monitored continuously since the European Championship, and since measurements from their clubs show that even those who've not been playing regularly are in excellent physical condition, so we've been able to invite them all".

Hungary will have three matches in just seven days, the first of which will be played at home against European Championship finalists England on 2nd September, before they travel to play Albania, who recently drew 0-0 with Wales in June, on 5th Sept and come home to entertain Andorra three days later.

"Once again, we have a very difficult task ahead of us, especially in the first match, because England are one of the best teams in the world and currently the second best in Europe", Rossi opined. "At the European Summer Championships, we all saw what they could do. I am aware of the heightened expectations of our fans about the match against England, but while we need to be positive about the game, we have to keep both feet on the ground! We mustn't forget who we are and who the opponent is. At the same time, I'm quite certain that, as we did against Portugal, France and Germany, we'll take to the pitch against England intending to do everything we can to achieve the best possible result. The same is true against Albania, where unfortunately our fans won't be able to be with us, because the Albanians are also excellent players, four to five of their starters representing stronger Italian sides at club level. Against Andorra, the most important thing will be to keep in mind that we must respect all opponents and not underestimate them, otherwise (a poor attitude) can produce catastrophic results".

Some of Hungary's squad members will arrive in Telki on Sunday evening, but several will only join up on Monday after their league matches, while the last to arrive will be Szabolcs Schön who plays in the USA on Tuesday. Fans will see the team for the first time in the match against England on Thursday 2 September at 8:45pm.

"Since the European Championships, I've not had the opportunity to thank our fans for the fantastic support and love we've been experiencing from them since the European Championship", Rossi told us. "This is very important to us, and also so that they can always be there with us in every match, but this can only happen if we are not punished for poor behaviour by a minority of fans at the matches. Our team is in real need of our fans' support at every match, so I urge everyone to completely avoid any homophobic, racist or hate speech and instead to respect the opponent if they behave differently to us during the national anthems! Such behaviour, as we all know, is given great importance and can be punished with behind-closed-doors matches, so I ask everyone to avoid poor behaviour, because this is the only way we can be together in every match. And our dream, as our slogan says, can only be achieved together"!