Szoboszlai seals tight victory in Azerbaijan

Head coach Rossi made several changes in playing personnel from Friday's 2-0 home loss to Sweden, Balázs Tóth replacing Dénes Dibusz in goal and Alex Tóth stepping in for Bence Dárdai, both players making their first starts for Hungary. Experienced internationals Barnabás Varga and Loic Nego were also brought in as Rossi employed a 4-3-3 formation, a back four of Nego, Willi Orbán Marton Dárdai and Zsolt Nagy lining up behind Szoboszlai, András Schäfer and Tóth in midfield and Bendegúz Bolla, Varga and Roland Sallai in attack.

All the goals in this friendly match came in the first half, Varga scoring his first international goal since Euro 2024 last summer and Hungary's 100th under Rossi's stewardship by heading in Nego's right-wing cross in the fifth minute. Two minutes later, hosts Azerbaijan restored parity through Renat Dadasov, the forward who plays his club football for Radomyak Radom in Poland stroking the ball into Balázs Tóth's net from close range after the visiting goalkeeper had parried the same player's instinctive effort from Rahman Dasdamirov's header following a right-wing corner.

Undeterred, Hungary reasserted their control of the game, Márton Dárdai heading over Szoboszlai's cross and the latter's free-kick also just clearing the crossbar. Balázs Tóth easily held Dadasov's long-distance effort before Schäfer, Varga and Orbán all threatened to re-establish the away team's lead. Finally, it took the captain to achieve it, Szoboszlai latching on to Varga's pass in the 33rd minute and drilling the ball past Cafarov into the bottom-right corner of the Azeri goal from 13 metres. 

Chances came and went for both teams thereafter - mainly for Hungary - but no more goals were forthcoming, thus Rossi's side succeeded in ending their season in positive fashion, a 2-1 victory just reward for a hardworking and dominant away performance.

Azerbaijan 1–2 Hungary (HT: 1–2)

Azerbaijan: Cafarov – A. Hüseynov, Y. Hüseynov (Akhundadze, 55), Mustafadze, Dashdimirov – Nurilev (Abdullazade, 69), Makhmudov, Ibrahimli (Rustamli, 85), Cafarquliyev (Bayramov, 55) – Emreli (Aliyev, 69), Dadasov (Gurbanli, 69)

Hungary: Tóth B. (Szappanos, 58) – Nego (Styles, 71), Orbán, Dárdai M. Nagy Zs. – Szoboszlai, Schäfer (Csongvai, 85), Tóth A. (Bence Dárdai, 58) – Bolla (Osváth, 58), Varga B., Sallai (Csoboth, 46)

Goalscorers: AZE: Dadasov (7), HUN: Varga (5), Szoboszlai (33).