Hungary – Ukraine

In Budapest, spectators will see at least two goals.

The Ukraine national team suffered a painful failure in the World Cup qualification in North America. After reaching the playoff round of the qualifiers following the group stage, the Ukrainians could do nothing against Sweden and one of its leaders, Viktor Gyökeres. After that, the fate of Serhiy Rebrov as head coach of the Yellow-Blue team was being decided for a while, but in May Andrea Maldera was appointed to the post of head coach of the national team. From 2016 to 2021 the Italian specialist had already worked on Andriy Shevchenko's coaching staff as the coach for technical development. With the current head of the Football Federation of Ukraine Maldara had also worked in Milan, which makes the choice seem not random. A somewhat worrying fact is that for Andrea the current job as coach of the Ukrainian national team is his first in his career where he leads the coaching staff. In recent years the Italian worked as an assistant to Roberto De Zerbi at Brighton & Hove Albion and Marseille. The Ukrainian team under the new coach managed to beat Poland and lose to Denmark in May and June friendlies respectively. Overall, the Ukraine national team can be described as somewhat raw, but very promising. The backbone of its squad is formed by players aged 20 to 27, who play either for good European clubs or for the flagship clubs of the local game: Shakhtar and Dynamo. Hungary in the previous Nations League season competed in League A, but finished third in a group with Germany, the Netherlands, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, being eliminated in playoff matches by Turkey. In World Cup qualification the Hungarians failed at the group stage, losing the home match of the final round to their direct rival Ireland. The setback did not push the Hungarian Football Federation to part ways with Marco Rossi, who has been in place since 2018. The Hungarian squad's lineup looks less world-class than that of their upcoming opponent. However, in Rossi's favor are the home stadium and the core of the team, featuring players who play for Liverpool, Leipzig, and other strong clubs in England and Germany. It is quite logical to expect plenty of goals in the duel between the Italian coaching staffs of Ukraine and Hungary.