Youthful Hungary gain valuable experience at Cyprus Cup

Margret Kretz's side settled earliest and created numerous excellent chances, but none were converted. By the end of the half Croatia had recovered and the game was slightly more balanced thereafter, but still Hungary dominated possession and chances.

Head coach Kretz made one substitution at half-time, Zsanett Kaján being replaced by Hanna Németh, and the pattern of the game begin to change too. The Croatians started the second half with much more composure than the first and as a result they scored in the 54th minute following a swift counter-attack.

Hungary's players did everything they could to equalise, threatening the Croatia goal throughout. Viktória Nagy, a replacement for the injured Fanni Vachter in the squad, replaced Petra Kocsán in the 63rd minute and later Diáná Csányi and Loretta Németh came on for Evelin Fenyvesi and Viktória Szabó, but it was to no avail and Croatia instead held on for a narrow victory.

"Of course I'm disappointed with the result, but considering the picture of the match, I wouldn't complain", Kretz said after the match. "Considering the entire match, we had 80% of the ball and could have taken the lead several times in the first half, but missed four big chances. We conceded a goal from a counter attack and were becalmed for a bit, but we didn't lose our enthusiasm and kept trying to equalise. In this tournament, the main aspect was not results, but to give young players the opportunity to each be on the pitch for at least one half, or even 90 minutes. This actually would have happened anyway, because six of our players were missing from our starting lineup for the tournament, and today a further three couldn't start, including Fanni Vachter who couldn't play at all due to an injury and had already travelled home after the match against Romania".

Hungary 0-1 Croatia (HT:0-0)

Hungary: Ágnes Pongrácz – Viktória Szabó (Loretta Németh, 82), Laura Kovács, Lilla Turányi, Virág Nagy – Evelin Fenyvesi (Diána Csányi, 82), Luca Papp – Zsanett Kaján (Hanna Németh, 46), Fanni Vágó, Petra Kocsán (Viktória Nagy, 63.) – Emőke Pápai

Tournament results:

Romania-Hungary 2-1
Croatia-Finland 1-4
Finland-Hungary 8-0
Romania-Croatia 0-2
Finland-Romania 4-0
Hungary-Croatia 0-1

Table:

Finland: 9 points
Croatia: 6 points
Romania: 3 points
Hungary: 0 points