Expat Coach Not Satisfied With Hungary's Single-Goal Victory Over Estonia
- 27 Mar 2023 12:19 PM
- mlsz.hu
Striker Martin Ádám's first international goal proved the difference as Hungary posted a single-goal victory over Estonia in the Puskás Aréna in Budapest on Thursday evening.
The winning goal game four minutes before half-time when Zsolt Kalmár miscued a first-time shot from a corner and Ádám was in the right place at the right time to head the ball past Estonia goalkeeper Hein and into the Estonia net.
That came just four minutes after Bendegúz Bolla had seen a strike ruled out for offside as Hungary asserted their authority on the game having encountered a challenging first half-hour of the game, goalkeeper Dénes Dibusz earlier having been forced into an excellent save from Sappinen's goalbound effort.
Predictably the second half brought a raft of substitutions but despite those fresh legs, neither team was able to change the scoreline, the hosts coming closest when Roland Sallai saw his 70th-minute penalty saved by Hein and then six minutes later when debutant Kevin Csoboth saw his superb shot saved by the away team's in-form goalkeeper.
Overall, Hungary deserved their narrow win and will now look forward with confidence to Monday evening's opening Euro 2024 qualifier against Bulgaria in the Puskás Aréna in Budapest.
Hungary 1-0 Estonia (HT: 1–0)
HUN: Dibusz – Lang, Orbán, Szalai A. – Bolla (Botka, 84.), Kalmár (Kleinheisler, 60.), Vécsei (Nagy Á., 46'), Kerkez – Szoboszlai (Csoboth, 76.), Ádám M. (Gazdag, 60.), Sallai R. (Németh A., 76.)
EST: Hein – Paskotski, Kuusk, Baranov (Tougas, 82.), Pikk (Reinkort, 84.) – Ojamaa (Sorga, 46'), Shein (Miller, 46'), Vassilev (Tunov, 64.), Käit, Sinyavskiy – Sappinen (Zenov, 46')
Goalscorer: Ádám M. (41.)
Rossi: We'll Need to do More Against Bulgaria
Marco Rossi, who celebrated his 50th game as Hungary head coach against Estonia on Thursday, saw positive signs throughout the match, but overall he was not satisfied with the team's performance in the narrow victory:
"Even though we won, I'm not satisfied with our game overall," Marco Rossi said post match. "I saw positive things on the pitch and we created some good attacking moves, but at the same time we made too many unforced errors. In some periods, we suffered a lot because of Estonia's attacks, and we couldn't win enough of the second balls.
This is primarily a question of concentration and we definitely need to improve in this element of the game, because it isn't the first time we've found ourselves in a difficult situation because of the opponent's crosses. When we were able to possess the ball more, the switches of play worked and we played good football at the right speed, but overall we'll need to do more in the match against Bulgaria (on Monday)".
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