Rossi: We ended the year in front of our home fans well

"We knew before the match that we didn't stand a chance of making it to the World Cup, but that became mathematically certain today," Marco Rossi began at a news conference following the World Cup qualifier against San Marino.

"I've said many times that we represent Hungary in every match, and therefore we must always play with maximum effort. We'll do the same in Warsaw. I rested some players tonight, such as Zsolt Nagy, Attila Fiola and András Schäfer from the starting lineup. I always want to send the best team onto the pitch and I always want to see nice football. Tonight, our intention was to win a good game with a relatively big goal difference in front of our fans in the new Puskás Aréna, and in this, we have succeeded. I’m therefore happy with the way the boys have met my requests".

Rossi was also asked by journalists about Dominik Szoboszlai, who scored twice:

"I've never doubted he feels responsible and is proud every time he can put on the national team jersey. It’s an experience that’s common to all of my players, but it’s particularly relevant to him. When he's here, he only thinks of the Hungarian national team; he wants to play every single minute with all his strength. If it would be essential, he would be on the pitch every minute," Rossi said.

"I'm also pleased that we were able to introduce two newcomers in the forms of Tamás Kiss and Botond Balogh. I'm convinced that they are talented players and I trust that their introductions will give them the confidence to become even better from training session to training session. This is how every young player should be, as my staff and I pay attention to everyone. If we are confident in someone, we’ll invite them, so everyone needs to keep working hard.

Finally, Hungary's Italian coach gave a brief assessment of the recent period:

"As far as the year is concerned, the balance has been upset by two matches against Albania. Apart from these two matches, we've had a positive year. At the European Championship, we gave an impression of ourselves that will remain memorable to all football fans, not only for Hungarians, and indeed maybe even more for foreigners, who hadn't followed our development up to that point".