Under-17s defeat the Netherlands to secure place in Elite Round

Matchday 1 had seen group favourites the Netherlands defeat Kosovo 3-1 at the Óbuda stadium – Chelsea’s Daishawn Redan scoring a hat-trick – and Hungary edging Wales 2-1 in Telki courtesy of goals from Dominik Cipf and Benedek Varju. Both teams thus came into their Matchday 2 encounter knowing that another victory would all but seal their qualification for the Elite Round.

Hungary began on the front foot, enjoying plenty of possession in the early minutes of the match, but found it hard to make headway against a disciplined Dutch defence. The visitors did create the first real goalscoring opportunity, attacking midfielder Kenzo Goudmijn firing over from 20 metres after being sent clear. A strong wind made for a somewhat scrappy encounter, both teams struggling to find any real their rhythm to their play and neither goal being seriously threatened in what was, in the main, a fierce midfield battle.

The deadlock was broken in the 49th minute, Péter Beke firing a free-kick low into the net past goalkeeper Joey Koorevaar after Liam van Gelderen had fouled Erik Burai just outside the box. The Netherlands went quickly on the offensive thereafter, coming close twice, first through Redan, whose shot was blocked, and then from the resultant corner as right-back Vincent Schippers shot over the bar from close-range.

The Netherlands continued to press, much of their play going through the all-action Wouter Burger in midfield, his range of passing appearing to be his side’s best chance of prizing open the Hungary defence. Up front, Redan hit the woodwork, and substitute Joshua Zirkee made a nuisance of himself on more than one occasion, but Hungary held on to secure a 1-0 victory which, couple with Wales’ 2-0 win against Kosovo, means that Szélesi’s team are in the draw for the Elite Round. The team’s last group-match is against Kosovo at 16:00 on Monday at Újpest’s Szusza Ferenc Stadion.

Speaking after the match, head coach Zoltán Szélesi said that “This result means a lot; the Netherlands team are made up from the very best that Feyenoord, Ajax and PSV have to offer and everyone is well aware of the standard that those clubs represent. It represents a great success that we can match such strong opponents; to actually beat them speaks for itself. At the same time, development is the name of the game at youth level, albeit it’s obviously great if you can pair that with results. As a coach my most important task is to help my players realistically evaluate the situation; we can’t let the victory go to our heads. We have to play with similar discipline and effort in our final game against Kosovo to that which we showed against Wales and the Netherlands”.

Hungary 1-0 Netherlands (0-0) 
Hungary: Balázs Ásványi – Patrik Posztobányi, Benedek Varju, Kevin Körmendi, László Papp – Patrik Nyári, Erik Burai (Bálint Szabó, 70’), Kocsis Máté Bence – Dominik Cipf (Gergő Irimiás, 75’), Péter Beke, Marcell Papp (Csaba Bukta, 59’) 
Goalscorer: Beke (49’)