Rossi: The stakes are high and there's great pressure on both teams

Hungary returned home after their World Cup qualifier in Yerevan on Thursday and reached the national-team training centre in Telki at around 3am on Friday morning. By then, it had become clear that Sunday's home match against Ireland would have plenty riding on it, our last group-stage opponent having upset the odds and defeated Portugal 2-0 in Dublin to retain a chance of finishing second in the group. However, to do so, they need to win on Sunday afternoon at the Puskás Arena, while for the Hungarian team, a draw would be enough to secure second spot and thus qualify for the play-offs (we still have a mathematical chance of winning the group, but for this, Armenia would also have to win in Portugal).

At the press conference before Sunday's match, Hungary head coach Marco Rossi revealed that he may field the same starting line-up against Ireland as started in Armenia, but the final decision will only be made on the day of the match.

"This'll be one of our most important matches in recent years and whether we still have a chance of participating in the World Cup, depends on this match. The stakes are huge, the pressure is enormous, but not only on us, because the opponent is in similar shoes," Rossi said. "It's difficult to predict Ireland's game plan, but we know they have an extremely physical team and are very strong at set pieces. There are players with good characteristics in every part of the team, so it's very difficult to play against them. We are preparing for all eventualities, but we are primarily focused on ourselves - this time we'll play to win again, and I am sure that the fans will give us extra strength.

Rossi also said in response to a journalist's question that he's not the least bit interested in how the Portugal-Armenia match will turn out, because he cannot imagine the Portugal losing their last group match.

Bendegúz Bolla, who was also present at the pre-match press event, echoed these sentiments:

"We're not paying any attention to the group standings, but are focusing exclusively on our own match - we want to do everything to end our match against the Republic of Ireland with a win. Our fate is in our own hands and we want to secure second place in the group with a win. It'll be a decisive match for both teams and only a win is good for Ireland, while a draw is also good for us, but we're not going out onto the pitch with this attitude: we'll give everything we have and will play to win in front of our home crowd," Bolla explained.

Following the press conference, Marco Rossi held his last training session before the match, during which every member of the squad participated fully. The referee for Sunday's Hungary-Ireland match kicking off at 15:00 CET will be Norwegian Espen Eskås and he will be assisted by his compatriots Jan Erik Engan, Isaak Elias Bashevkin and Sigurd Kringstad, while Spanish Juan Martínez Munuera and Norwegian Kristoffer Hagenes will be in the VAR room.