Last-minute concessions put paid to Under-17 hopes

Hungary’s Under-17 national team were left to regret the concession of goals in the last 15 minutes of all three European Championship group games as they exited the competition at the first-round stage.

Their opening fixture against Romania saw them fall behind to an early Alexandru Craiu shot from a narrow angle and although the hosts had chances to equalise, most notably through Levente Szabó, Zoltán Szélesi’s side had to wait until the 66th minute to gain parity, Zsombor Bévárdi rifling in a shot from 12 metres following a corner. Having worked so hard to level the scores, Hungary were barely able to keep the scoreline the same for a minute before Romania retook the lead, captain Dragomir Vlad of Arsenal FC crashing in a loose ball in off the crossbar after a defensive error left him with a clear shooting opportunity from close range. Just one chance to equalise came Hungary’s way but Martin Kundrák couldn’t convert it and so it was Romania who took all three points.

In Hungary’s second match they took a 24th minute lead against Slovakia through Ákos Virág’s penalty but Bévárdi and Szabó were both dismissed in the second half and the two-man disadvantage proved just too much in the end, Ladislav Almási knocking in a rebound in the very last seconds to make the final result 1-1 and ensure Hungary needed to win their final group match against Georgia to have any chance of finishing in the top two places and thereby qualifying for the Elite round in March.