U19 Men: Hungary nearly triumph over Croatia

After an even start, the visitors settled in more quickly and capitalised on a loss of possession to counter quickly, Dion Drena Beljo completing the move with a precise shot into the bottom/right corner of the net in the 32nd minute. Five minutes later though, Patrik Posztobányi equalised when his shot hit the crossbar and rebounded down into the net. There were no further goals in the first hour before both sides changed most of their whole lineups and indeed the scoreline stayed the same until Hungary coach Márton Oross substituted the final three players who'd been on the pitch from the start. That was in the 90th minute and three minutes later, Hungary found themselves behind again, Croatia exploiting another defensive mistake to go ahead through Marko Domancic.

Oross' team didn't give up though and drew level again in the 113rd minute following Ákos Zuigeber's strong run and shot into the bottom-right corner of the goal. The same player could have handed ten-man Hungary the win from the penalty spot, his side shorn of Szabolcs Szalay due to injury with no substitutes left, but Croatia's goalkeeper pulled off a crucial save to ensure the final result read 2-2.

Márton Oross, U19 head coach: "I'm satisfied with the team's attitude, discipline and ability to battle. It was a difficult match and the 120-minute duration was unfamiliar, but I think the players responded well to the circumstances and we could easily have won the match during the dramiatic finish. We're developing well ahead of the European qualifiers at the end of March and I await the continuance of this".

Hungary 2-2 Croatia (HT: 1-1)

Hungary, 1st half (surnames first): Auerbach Martin - Hosszú Zétény, Horváth Milán, Csontos Dominik, Major Ernő - Posztobányi Patrik, Kosznovszky Márk, Bocskay Bertalan - Komáromi György (Kállai Kevin, 16.), Kocsis Dominik, László Dávid

2nd half: Auerbach Martin (Ruisz Barnabás, 88.) - Auer Ákos, Dávid Zoltán, Csontos Dominik (Schuszter Ronald, 88.), Debreceni Zalán - Lehoczky Roland, Ominger Gergő, Vitális Milán - Kállai Kevin, Szalay Szabolcs, Kosznovszky Márk (Zuigeber Ákos, 88.)

Croatia: Krizanovic - Unusic, Mekic, Cavar, Skaricic, Tomek, Beljo, Vasilj, Bilic, Perkovic, Stojkovic
Substitutes: Cavlina, Dzankic, Groznica, Lisica, Hodza, Bakula, Saranic, Domancic, Cubelic, Rukavina, Zivkovic, Brkljacal