U16s take fight to Italian counterparts

This is the last gathering of the year for the Under-16 national squad and includes two matches within five days against their Italian counterparts. The first of these contests took place in Telki on Tuesday afternoon and the visitors settled into their rhythm straightaway, surging into a fourth-minute lead thanks to Samuele Vignato's 16-metre shot low into the right corner of Hungarian goalkeeper Martin Dala's net.

The goal woke Hungary up and they soon started to dominate possession and push their opponents back. Plenty of possession was seized high up the pitch and a few chances to equalise came the hosts' way too, only for imprecise shooting to block the restoration of parity. Italy only had two more chances to score in the entire half but couldn't take either of them, thus their lead remained one goal at the break.

Attila Belvon's side started the second period better than their guests, Áron Dragóner's header drawing a tremendous save from Italy's keeper, but despite posing more danger than the away team, Hungary fell behind in the 50th minute when a long-range effort following a corner rebounded off a post for Tommaso Mancini to stroke the ball into an empty net, Dala still prone on the floor. The pattern of the second half then repilcated that of the first, Hungary dominating but unable to find the concentration required to finish off several promising moves.

Two-nil was how the game ended, the two teams due to face each other again at the same venue on Thursday afternoon.

"I'm very disappointed with the result because on the basis of the performance we deserved a lot more in this match. Tactically, the players did what we asked of them; our defensive play in midfield worked well and we transitioned well into attack but no5hing came off for us in the opponent's penalty area today. I'm sure our game will be similar on Thursday but we need to step forward with our use of chances", Hungary head coach Attila Belvon told MLSZ.hu.

Hungary 0-2 Italy (HT: 0-1)

Hungary (surnames first): Dala Martin - Varga Dominik (Farkas Bendegúz, 41.), Dragóner Áron (Pekár István, 63.), Nagy Zoltán, Kovács Patrik (Földing Engelbert Márk, 63.) - Polyák Kristóf (Berki Marcell, 53.) - Gruber Zsombor (Petres Márk, 63.), Keresztes Noel (Sipos Szabolcs, 53.), Kocsis Domonkos, Vancsa Zalán (Földi Dominik, 41.) - Ulbert Renátó (Perfetto Gabriel, 63.)