Women’s national teams train together at Telki

The first get-together of the year involved physical evaluations alongside regular training sessions, and the senior national team and the under-19s also prepared for the coming spring season by playing against each other. National-team head coach Edina Markó invited 26 players to the camp, including Zsanett Csontos (ETO Győr), Barbara Bartalis (St. Mihály), Cintia Öreg, Emese Szakony and Kinga Siklér (Haladás-Viktória), as well as Ágnes Nagy and Zoé Magyarics (MTK Hungária), who weren’t involved in the European Championship qualification matches last year.

“During the January get-together we try to take a look at everyone who might come into consideration. Those players based in Germany remained with their club sides, and in their place, we invited players who have been involved before because its important for there to be plenty of competition within the squad. We carry out the usual physical tests at this time of year and based on the results we can give players individual tasks for their development” said national team head coach Edina Markó, who also stated that based on the results the team has been developing year-on-year with the players becoming ever-more dynamic and resilient. “It was also useful for us to play the under-19s, given that this is our only joint get-together before the international tournament in Turkey,” she added.

Both the senior national team and the under-19s will continue their preparations in Turkey during the first week in March, and Markó and her coaching staff are endeavouring to ensure that the preparations are more varied, hence the break with the five-year routine and heading for Turkey instead of participating in the Cyprus Cup, therefore avoiding a meeting with European Championship qualification rivals Slovakia and instead taking on Hongkong and Venezuela in the group-stage, with France under-23, Italy under-23, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan or Ghana possible opponents later on.

Under-19 head coach Sándor Turtóczki also spoke to mlsz.hu: “The under-19s are also appearing in the elite round, with our matches taking place in Poland. At the moment we’re mainly focusing on physical evaluations, training and gaining match time. Based on the test results we’ll give the girls individual training programmes which they can carry out away from the camp. A coach is always a maximalist and would like to spend more time with his team, but we’re making the most of the time available. We’ll be looking to fine-tune those aspects of our game which worked in the autumn, and step-up performance-wise in the elite round, and so far, the girls are looking stronger than they were this time last year.”

The under-17s took on the Mészöly Focisuli boys’ under-14 team during the winter break. Qualifying for the elite round in the spring courtesy of finishing top of their group without conceding a goal, and the squad was bolstered by the addition of new players Zsófia Mayer (MTK Hungária), Lili Nagy and Virág Sipőcz (Puskás Akadémia), and Dominika Balogh (Diósgyőr), who weren’t part of the European Championship qualifiers in Szombathely.

“I would have liked to have run the rule over a few players from the age level below us who have been performing well in the championship. We’re trying to increase the squad and give an opportunity to as many players as possible. I hope that the newcomers can bring something to the team” said under-17 head coach Dorottya Schumi. “We’re at the beginning of our preparations; the girls didn’t return to training with their club sides that long ago. We’ve been carrying out physical tests. The aim hasn’t been for everyone to be in peak condition, but that we are ready come the elite round in March. It’s a motivating factor for the youngest age-group that they can train together with their more senior counterparts. It’s been a highly useful three days”, she concluded.