HUNGARY: SOCCER/ FOOTBALL : Hungary prepare to face Portugal in World Cup qualifier

Record ID: 784921

  • Title: HUNGARY: SOCCER/ FOOTBALL : Hungary prepare to face Portugal in World Cup qualifier
  • Date: 9th September 2009
  • Summary: SLATE INFORMATION
  • Embargoed: 24th September 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Hungary
  • Country: Hungary
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA12K4V235N2M7JX71YSY8Q4G1O
  • Story Text: Hungary hope to beat Portugal despite their recent loss to Sweden.
    Hungarian football team prepared for their Wednesday's (September 9) World Cup qualifying game against Portugal at their training camp in Telki, near Budapest on Monday (September 7).
    Erwin Koeman's men will try to forget the last-minute defeat to Sweden on Saturday (September 5) and look for a good result against struggling Portugal.
    "They sold so many tickets, so many people are coming to watch, that the minimum is that we draw against Portugal," team captain Pal Dardai said.
    "It will be very, very difficult. We would like to win but a Hungarian team has not too much chance against a Portuguese team. Our chance is when we all give the maximum, and everybody runs, everybody pushes, and maybe we will have a good match. But we should not forget that Portugal is the best team in the group."
    Lying second in Group 1, four points behind Denmark and two clear of upcoming rivals Portugal, Hungary are understandably optimistic about their chances of reaching the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa.
    "I am sure that it will be an excellent match and we hope that on Wednesday the balance will turn to our side," goalkeeper Gabor Basos said.
    The man responsible for leading them to that position of strength, 46-year-old Dutchman, the older brother of Netherlands and Barcelona legend Ronald said Portuguese team posses lots of quality and should have done better in the qualifying.
    "Technically they are the best in Europe. If you saw them during the qualifier against Denmark, they could have won by four or five goals, so nobody really understands how they only collected the points they have now."
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