Rossi: We're in the same boat as Scotland

Hungary are without a point in the group as they prepare for their final Group A match of Euro 2024, while their opponents Scotland have only collected one point from their first two matches, so only a win can keep either team in the competition. On Saturday morning, Hungary's squad trained at its headquarters in Weiler, then left for Stuttgart in the afternoon. Loic Nego and Botond Balogh have still not trained with the rest of the group, and this time Dominik Szoboszlai didn't do ball work either, the backroom staff instead prescribing regeneration exercises for him.

At the early evening press conference, Marco Rossi confirmed they know Scotland's game well and that, like Hungary, they started the European Championship with an largely underwhelming performance, but improved in their second match.

"We're both rowing in the same boat, because we both need three points in order to have a chance to advance, so the pressure is the same on both teams. Our opponent is a team that plays aggressively and dangerously (in terms of their threat on goal), with quality footballers and we know their game well. I'm confident we'll come out of the decisive moments better this time, because so far we've not been lucky in those important moments. We didn't play well against Switzerland in the first half, but the second half was better and there were no complaints about our performance in the match against Germany either. We're not looking for an excuse for the two defeats, but we'll certainly try to close the group stage with a win," promised Rossi, who also revealed that there'll be changes in the starting team, but not because of any poor performances in the previous games, but just to make the team fresher. He added he's not worried about Dominik Szoboszlai's game and that regeneration had been the most important thing in the previous three days, which is why his team captain had missed training.

Also attending the press event were two of Hungary's defenders, Attila Szalai and Endre Botka, who were available to the journalists.

"Our 14-match unbeaten streak that ended recently was a great success and the team entered the pitch full of confidence in every match. This has diminished a little in the last couple of matches, but we are professionals, so we must be able to handle this," Attila Szalai admitted. "In the past few days, we've discussed what happened, gone back to basics and tried to bring out what made us strong in the past. We're confident we can show this on the pitch. We know that the Scottish national team represents serious playing power, an aggressive team which works really hard and defends compactly and in unison. They're also strong on the counter attack and set pieces. They have many players in top leagues, but we're not preparing for individuals; we're aiming to be better than them at team unity and fighting spirit. With the successes of the past period, we've set the bar high for ourselves, and now we have to meet these expectations too, so we want to get three points. If this happens, we have a chance to go further than we did at the previous European Championship."

"In the last three or four matches, we've conceded a lot of goals, which has not been typical of us until now, so we need to improve in this above all," Endre Botka explained. "We need to get back to basics and continue what worked well for us during our long unbeaten run. We've seen two different faces of Scotland so far - in their first game they left a large area for Germany to play in and it didn't go well for them. In their second match, they attacked much more bravely and more aggressively, so we're preparing for them to play this way this time too. We're not thinking about what kind of result we need to advance; we simply have to win, so it's not worth putting extra pressure on ourselves by speculating on what might be needed."

Scotland head coach Steve Clarke said at his press conference that he expects a tough match, but that they've analysed Hungary and their players very carefully, so they're perfectly prepared for their opponent:

 "We already knew before the European Championship that our progress would be decided in the last group game," Clarke said. "We were in a similar situation at the previous European Championship, so we'll try to show that we've learned our lesson. Hungary are an organised, disciplined team with talented players, so I hope we can neutralise them. We're talking about two teams of similar strength and playing in a similar style, so I hope our system will be a little better than the opponent's."