Preview: Republic of Ireland vs. Hungary

Sports Mole previews Tuesday’s friendly clash between Republic of Ireland and Hungary, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.

Hungary travel to the Aviva Stadium to face the Republic of Ireland on Tuesday evening in the first of their two pre-Euro 2024 warm-up fixtures.

While the visitors are starting their preparation ahead of their opening game against Switzerland in the European Championship on June 15, the hosts failed to advance into the tournament through the qualifying stages.

Match preview
© Reuters

Hungary qualified for just their fifth European Championship in their history thanks to a phenomenal qualifying campaign that saw them secure their place in the tournament with a game to spare.

Marco Rossi’s men finished their qualifiers at the top of Group G with 18 points from eight fixtures and were one of only six teams to end their matches unbeaten, alongside European powerhouses such as Portugal, Belgium, England and France as well as Romania.

They will be hoping to continue their fantastic run of results in their third successive Euro tournament, currently on a 14-game unbeaten streak across all competitions with their last defeat coming in September 2022 against Italy.

After finishing at the bottom of the ‘group of death’ in 2021, facing up against Portugal, Germany and France, Hungary will fancy their chances of advancing into the knockout stages this time around as they come up against Switzerland, Scotland and Germany once again.

Their two warm-up games could be key if they are to carry their momentum into the tournament and two matches against the Republic of Ireland and Israel could challenge Rossi’s men.

The hosts failed to qualify for the upcoming tournament after placing fourth in their group, amassing just six points from eight matches, which resulted in manager Stephen Kenny departing from the role.

John O’Shea took over the managerial position ahead of their two friendly games with Belgium and Switzerland in March, but his start as boss of the Boys in Green was far from ideal as they failed to score in either outing.

O’Shea will be hoping his side can show signs of improvement in this upcoming friendly and potentially guide his team to a first victory at home since June last year as he hopes to land the role on a permanent basis.

Republic of Ireland friendly form:

Republic of Ireland form (all competitions):

Hungary friendly form:

Hungary form (all competitions):

The hosts are set to be without a number of usual starters for their two upcoming friendly fixtures against Hungary and Portugal.

Nathan Collins suffered a knee injury on the final day of the Premier League season that has ruled him out of these games, giving Olympique Lyonnais star Jake O’Brien the chance to make his first senior appearance.

Luton Town winger Chiedozie Ogbene is unavailable after being excused for family reasons, while Gavin Bazunu, Evan Ferguson and John Egan have all been ruled out with injuries.

Rossi is heading into these two pre-Euro 2024 warm-up matches with a fully fit squad and is expected to rotate heavily across the two games as he prepares his side for the upcoming tournament.

Captain Dominik Szoboszlai has been a mainstay in Hungary’s side in recent years and finished their Euro qualifiers as the joint-top scorer alongside Barnabas Varga, and both are expected to start in this one.

Republic of Ireland possible starting lineup:
Kelleher; Coleman, Omobamidele, O’Shea, O’Brien, Stevens; Szmodics, Knight, Cullen, Johnston; Idah

Hungary possible starting lineup:
Gulacsi; Balogh, Lang, Szalai; Nego, Nagy, Schafer, Kerkez; Sallai, Szoboszlai; Varga

We say: Republic of Ireland 0-2 Hungary
The Republic of Ireland have failed to score in three of their last four games and have only managed one victory in their last eight, while Hungary are currently on a run of 14 games without defeat and scored a brilliant 16 goals in eight qualifying matches.

Rossi’s side will want to continue that unbeaten streak going into the upcoming tournament, and we expect the visitors to win this one fairly comfortably.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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