Hungary welcome France to Puskas Arena, Budapest in a must-win Group F clash for the hosts if they’re to keep their knockout dreams alive.
Victory would at least temporarily lift Hungary off the foot of the table, whereas France can seal qualification with a win.
Team News
Daniel Gazdag has withdrawn from Hungary’s squad due to a serious knee injury which forced him to miss Tuesday’s 3-0 loss to Portugal.
Manager, Marco Rossi has no other injury concerns and could name an unchanged lineup to start against France.
France also boast no fresh injury concerns as Didier Deschamps prepares to name an unchanged starting eleven, although Benjamin Pavard could be rested after suffering a brief blackout during Tuesday’s victory over Germany.
Stat Attack
- Hungary have lost both previous meetings against France at 1978 and 86 FIFA World Cups respectively, conceding three goals in both clashes and scored just once. .
- France have won just one of eight previous away trips to Hungary (W1, D1, L6).
- Hungary have scored just once in their last three home matches in all competitions, courtesy of Andras Schafer in a 1-0 friendly win over Cyprus earlier this month.
- Two of France’s last nine goals have come from own goals scored by Kazakhstan’s Serhiy Malyi and Germany’s Mats Hummels.
- Two of Hungary’s last 11 goals have been scored from the penalty spot.
Prediction
Hungary shouldn’t be too disheartened by Tuesday’s loss because for the first 80 minutes, they more than matched Portugal despite doing most of the defending yet they just ran out of energy and were ruthlessly punished.
France meanwhile knew that the first goal against Germany would be key which luckily went their way, thus allowing the current world champions to sit in and control the match with an excellent counter-attacking strategy which ultimately worked perfectly.
I however can see France coming to Budapest looking to play a more open game given the slightly weaker quality opposition, which will suit them nicely in attacking ability but I think Hungary might just have enough to cause them some issues and ensure this isn’t a runaway result given France’s poor form in Hungary.
Prediction: Hungary 0-2 France
Result: Hungary 1-1 France