The enormous feat of the Georgians was lost in Hungarian dreams

Euro, group stage, round 3, group F:
Georgia-Portugal 2-0 (1-0)
Gelsenkirchen, v.: Schärer (Swiss)
scorers: Kvarachelia (2nd), Mikautadze (57th, from 11th)
yellow card: Mekvabisvili (85th), Ronaldo (28th), Neto (44th), Neves (53rd)

Taking advantage of a Portuguese error, the Georgians surprisingly quickly took the lead, Cristiano Ronaldo’s team then scored in vain for almost the entire first half, but could not equalize until the break.

Even after the turn, the Portuguese, who changed eight places compared to their previous match, continued to press, but the Georgians doubled their advantage due to another defensive error. In the continuation, the European newcomers maintained their advantage with a stable defense, and the Portuguese lacked breakthrough power. The Caucasians finished third in the group and will clash with the Spaniards in Cologne on Sunday. The Slovenians will be waiting for the Portuguese in Frankfurt on Monday.

The most unlikely scenario

The Hungarians’ situation is made even more painful by the fact that the other match of the group went well for us, as the Turks – playing with a man advantage from the beginning of the match – led and eventually won. If not for the Georgian feat against Cristiano Ronaldo, we would be in the top sixteen at the European Championship.

The loss of the Hungarian team – obviously in addition to the fact that it lost two of its three matches – was ultimately caused by two star teams, but it can also be understood as the fact that we were the winners of the expansion of the European Championship several times, and now we have become the losers. In the diluted strength tournament, the winner in four of the six groups could enter the final round having already secured first place. It was also seen in his performance for the English and Portuguese national teams.

It is up to the analysts to decide whether the European Championship was a success, where we played a bad match against Switzerland in all respects, with an acceptable performance, but lost to the hosts and got three points with a smartly structured, cathartic victory against Scotland. It was no longer up to us that this was not enough, and we were pushed to the sidelines of the Georgian joyous celebration.

In any case, we thank the team, the staff and everyone who was part of it for the experience! The Hungarian national team got stronger, Marco Rossi already made it to the European Championship by winning his qualifying group, and overall he stood his ground in this very strong field. By the time Barni Varga fully recovers his health, it will be easier to see the good in the European Championship. Come on Barney!

Hungarians go for it!