Euro 2020, Hungary Vs Portugal: Ronaldo Et Al's Efforts To Maintain An Unbeaten Record

JAKARTA - This was the only Euro 2020 group stage match that was witnessed by a full capacity crowd of a Euro hosting stadium when the 67,000-capacity Puskas Arena in Budapest, Hungary, hosted this match and it was also the second consecutive match the team in the group stage of the European Cup after a 3-3 draw at Euro 2016.

Portugal will at least maintain their unbeaten streak against Hungary and hunt for a win for some relief before embarking on a much tougher next two games against world champions France and four-time world champions Germany. Both France and Germany have won a total of five times European champions.

They had to lose right-back Joao Cancelo to COVID-19, but superstar Cristiano Ronaldo made sure it didn't make a big difference. "I don't think this is an important factor. It's a shame Joao tested positive but everyone in the team remained calm, we didn't discuss COVID-19 because we were all bored," Ronaldo said as quoted by Reuters from Reuters.

Maybe COVID-19 can be ruled out, but Hungary is definitely not. Portugal's first opponent in Group F had trouble Fernando Santos' team six years ago. But Santos ensured that his team is now much stronger after being blessed with attacking talents such as Diogo Jota, Andre Silva, Joao Felix, Bruno Fernandes, and Ronaldo himself.

ltimo treino antes da ! #VamosComTudo pic.twitter.com/eLnQAVYazB

— Portugal (@selecaoportugal) June 14, 2021

"It's a different group, we have a lot of young players starting their first major international tournaments even though our ambition and thirst is the same as at Euro 2016," said midfielder Danilo Pereira. "The previous team was very cohesive because they have played together for a long time, whereas we are a young team of developing talent, but we are also united."

Hungary itself was reduced in strength from the squad that entered the knockout round of Euro 2016 which was filled with great players such as Gabor Kiraly, Roland Juhasz and Zoltan Gera who are now not with the team. Hungary also lost two important midfielders Dominik Szoboszlai and Zsolt Kalmar through injury.

Five years ago, Hungary topped a group which, ironically, also included Portugal and Group F, before losing 4-0 to Belgium in the last 16, while Portugal went on to become European champions.

And what Hungary needs right now, says coach Marco Rossi, is cohesion, discipline and a bit of luck against the reigning champions if they are to get off to a good start to Euro 2020.

One of these cohesion and discipline is manifested in the pattern of play that mostly ward off Portugal's attacks while waiting to launch a counterattack. For this matter, a squad that is on average from domestic products can benefit because the opponent cannot assess their strength.

While one of the luck that can be obtained is 67,000 people who are almost entirely Hungarian supporters who will fill the Puskas Arena. This can be a big additional energy for Hungary to pick up points or even win.

This is the 14th meeting between the two teams. Hungary has never won, on the other hand Portugal has won nine times. Hungary can also only score two goals in nine defeats against Portugal.

This is also the third meeting between Hungary and Portugal in a major tournament after the 1966 World Cup and Euro 2016 which all took place in the group stages. In the previous two meetings, 10 goals were scored as Portugal won 3-1 in 1966 and drew 3-3 in 2016.

Hungary last eleven games unbeaten in all competitions which they won seven of them. In contrast, Portugal have lost just one of their last 15 matches since October 2019.

Ronaldo has scored 104 goals in 174 matches for the Portugal national team.

Euro 2020 is Portugal's eighth participation in the European Cup. In their seventh participation in 2016, Portugal finally won the Euros. Now they are trying to match Spain as a team who won the Euros twice in a row in 2008 and 2012.