I know what I did wrong, but I’m not the type to give up

“I’ve been happier,” he confessed Marco Rossi, when we caught up after the first two matches of the Nations League. The Hungarian team did not start the series well, they suffered a downright ugly defeat in Germany, and despite playing much better against Bosnia, luck turned away from them, and due to the many missed opportunities, only a meager 0-0 came together.

“I’ve been in football long enough to know that the game is a roller coaster. I can accept it if we don’t win, and even though I always want to win, I can make peace with a defeat.”

But it really doesn’t matter how we lose” said the captain.

What was missing against Bosnia?

The Italian specialist quickly stated that he cannot reproach his players because of the match against the Bosnians, and he is even very proud that the team was able to mentally overcome the ugly slap they received just a few days earlier. Or, as the captain asked before the game: we were full.

“We did what we could to win. We not only controlled, we also dominated the match, everyone did their job, but unfortunately there are days when the ball doesn’t want to go into the goal. We dictated the rhythm as planned and conceded very little to Bosnia.”(Dibusz) Dénes didn’t even have to make a big save, while the other goalkeeper became a hero.”

Rossi’s words are also supported by the statistics, we had twenty shots on goal, Nikola Vasilj, who was brilliant in the Bosnian goal, had five serious saves – including the match-deciding feat of Ádám Martin’s close header in Hajra. “In the past, luck has supported us several times, but recently – and this includes the European Championship – we have been particularly unlucky,” concluded the captain.

He added that he knows exactly that the final result is the most important, in fact, the only important measure of football, and he is also angry about the loss of points. But he also knows that his players are even angrier than he is.

“I saw the desire to win in the boys, which was sorely lacking in Germany. “We entered the field against Bosnia with a completely different mentality, in a different state of mind, I can’t say anything about this aspect. The boys played a good game tactically, we won the one-on-one situations, we attacked well and forced the Bosnians to play long balls, exactly the way we planned. Not like in Germany,” he sighed.

I made a mistake there

Three days before the match against the Bosnians, the Hungarian national team ran into the heaviest defeat of the Rossi era in Düsseldorf. Not only was the 5-0 final result ugly, but so was the second half, when the team’s play returned to the bitter years before the arrival of the captain, when opponents of this caliber routinely beat ours.

“Timing is a key issue, it is very important to find the right moment for everything, and I chose the wrong moment. Maybe I wasn’t clear and understandable enough in my instructions, and since everything is my responsibility, of course I take my share of the failure.“Like the players, theirs, because after the second goal we collapsed like almost never before.”

After the European Championship, we spoke with Rossi, who then said that development cannot stop, and that the team has roughly achieved what it could have achieved with its current tactics, so he wants to change. It is worth reading the entire interview, the gist of which can be summarized by the fact that the captain chose Atalanta as a model.

Gian Piero Gasperini’s defending Europa League team was able to be successful internationally with the intense pressure exerted deep in the opponent’s half. From a small team in Bergamo, it suddenly became a rival of the big ones, even though its players individually – with a few exceptions – do not belong to the narrow elite. The idea can absolutely be applied to the Hungarian national team, except that the players of Atalanta have one important point in common: everyone is in impeccable physical condition.

“I asked my team to attack aggressively, which we showed in the first 20-25 minutes, and even after Füllkrug’s goal we were in the game. But it turned out that we cannot maintain this kind of pressure long enough to embarrass a team as strong as Germany.” We have players who are able to do their work at a top-league pace throughout the match, but unfortunately this is not true for everyone.”

“As I said before, I was aware of the risk. I knew that we would end up in more one-on-one situations than usual, and since the opponent was playing with classy players, there was no question that we would get goals. This was only possible because, in order for this game system to work, everyone must be perfectly aware of their task, and it takes time to master this.”

“The job of the national team captains is difficult – or easy, as the captain chooses – because they get ready-made players. They are in the physical condition they are in. Not to mention that there are some who miss playing minutes, and unfortunately we have no influence on them.”

Everything points in that direction

We mentioned that under the captain’s guidance, we met the Germans quite a few times and played quite memorable matches with Rossi’s previous tactics. We narrowly eliminated them from the European Championship (at home), we beat them away with one of the most brilliant goals of Ádám Szalai’s great career, and Zsolt Nagy overturned the goal in the home 1-1 draw. Even this year’s Euro match was completely acceptable against the Germans, who enjoyed all the advantages of the home field. Is it worth switching then?

“Whoever watches the highest level of football, the Champions League and the European Championship, can see that the best teams all strive for the same thing: to get the ball as close as possible to the opponent’s goal.”

“The one-on-one game plays a bigger role, the players aggressively attack the ball and keep their opponents under constant pressure. If we want to improve, we also have to try to play as modern a game as possible, even if this is a risky thing. There is no other way forward, we stand still or we try to move forward.”

We’re back to the old game

Against Bosnia, the Hungarian team played a much more conventional game, the usual one under Rossi, our two inside midfielders did not go deep forward, and the team went forward with a stable game, shining its usual virtues. We can say that the national team reached back to basics.

“After a defeat like the one in Düsseldorf, something must be done immediately. We were shocked, we had to prove to ourselves again that we are capable of dictating the rhythm, winning duels and fighting until the last moment. I am happy and satisfied because we accomplished this task, so it is especially annoying to lose points.”

“We have to defend a lot against the elite field anyway, against them we will approach our own game more carefully in the future, but I am not willing to give up the most important goal: I ask my team to play more aggressively and physically, and to get the ball as high as possible.”

“We will see what we need to see in the next period. We will play very important matches against strong teams (we will host the Netherlands on match days in October and then travel to Bosnia), so by the time of the World Cup qualifiers we will know if we have the confidence, strength, speed and endurance to do the job.”

NL is no longer only important to us

Rossi also said that it is worth looking at how spectacularly different the star teams are for the League of Nations. It’s no wonder, since it can also have an effect on the World Cup performance; one team per division will be in the playoffs if they could not fight for their place in the qualifiers. Since the majority of the sixteen teams of the A league can solve the task easily, as many teams as possible should be overtaken, which might not make it to the playoffs. For example, Bosnia.

“We are aware that if we don’t get ahead of the Bosnians, the World Cup playoffs could even slip away, which is why I say that the game in Zenica will be the most important.”It will be very difficult for us, it is very difficult to win there, but we still have to beat them.”

It doesn’t matter what our team’s coefficient is, i.e. from which hat Hungary will be drawn in the World Cup qualifiers draw. “We could see the difference at the last two European Championships: when they drew from the fourth hat, our opponents were Portugal, Germany and France. We were drawn into the qualifiers of this year’s tournament from the first hat, and Serbia became our biggest opponent,” said the captain, who then beat the Serbians back and forth.

“But my thoughts are not yet on the World Cup qualifiers. Solving the current situation is the most important, important task awaiting us in the League of Nations. We still have time to deal with the World Cup qualifiers, as well as with my future.”

It doesn’t work unless they send it

“I have read and heard all kinds of news, so I would like to make it clear: I am not the type of person who leaves his team alone in a difficult situation. I want to make the Hungarian national team better, because we are on a great journey and we haven’t reached the ceiling yet. Many great successes await this team, I’m sure of that.”

“On the other hand, I have a living contract, and until my employer cancels it, I intend to respect it. I want to do my job as well as possible, and the results so far prove that I am not pointing in the wrong direction. The captaincy is a position of trust, but in football things change very quickly. Every coach should keep this in mind!”

“I think the talk about my departure is based on a misunderstanding. The Euro elimination, especially the way it was played, really hurt me, but when I said I had to think things over, I wasn’t referring to the captain’s position. I had to consider our team’s play, our limitations, and the possibility of breaking through them, and I did that.”

“I didn’t leave when they asked me from England, nor when they offered me a fortune from another country. I love this task and even if I said that I didn’t enjoy a minute of the Euro, I still feel that we haven’t reached the top. There’s more up there, and it’s my job to find a way to get there.“It’s an honor, it’s a big responsibility and a huge challenge. I’d be a fool to give it up,” concluded the captain, who even smiled at the end.