There is one group left to get underway at Euro 2020 and it does so on Friday when the opening games of Group F are played out on what promises to be a wonderful day of football. Everyone has been looking forward to this group beginning and it does so with Hungary taking on the defending champions Portugal in Budapest.
France and Germany make up this wonderful section of the competition, wonderful for us watching on of course, so both these sides will be eager to take something from this match to take into those two very difficult outings.
Where to watch
This match will be televised in full on ITV1 for those of us who are in the UK. The build-up to the action begins at 4pm with the contest kicking off at 5pm.
Hungary
Qualifying for this tournament was such a fantastic achievement for Hungary but getting out of the group would be something miraculous given who they find themselves in with. The good news for the Hungarians is that they have home advantage in two of the matches but even then you suspect they are going to have their work cut out here. There is an air of them having nothing to lose in this tournament but they won’t want to be disgraced at the same time.
Hungary have actually found some real form in front of goal in recent competitive matches. They have scored 10 goals in their three World Cup qualifiers to date, including three against a usually defensively proficient Poland side. They also finished above Russia, Turkey and Serbia in the latest Nations League so as tough as they have it here they shouldn’t be underestimated. They need to find a way to look to hurt Portugal here because if they look to sit in it is going to be a long afternoon for them.
Portugal
There aren’t many people talking about Portugal as outright contenders in this competition. That can only be because of the group they have landed themselves in but if they don’t come out of this match with a positive result their title defence might be over before it really gets going so they are under big pressure to deliver here. This is a much better Portugal side than the one which won the tournament five years ago so in that regard they should fancy their chances here.
If there is a concern about this Portugal side then it comes in the form of the fact that they sometimes sit back on things a little too much. With the amazing quality they have in their front four you just wish they would keep driving at opponents and really put them to the sword. If they do that here it would put a marker down for the remainder of the group. They certainly have the personnel to do that should they want to.
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Team News
The Hungary hopes were dealt a huge blow before the tournament began when leading playmaker Dominik Szoboszlai picked up a serious injury in January which has ruled him out of this competition. That means Adam Szalai carries the hopes of a nation.
Portugal look set to give Diogo Jota and Bernardo Silva the positions either side of Cristiano Ronaldo in the attacking areas with Bruno Fernandes just behind them. Ruben Dias and Wolves keeper Rui Patricio are going to be key figures at the back.
Betting
I’ve spoken a lot about the absence of Dominik Szoboszlai and what it might mean for this Hungary side in terms of their creativity and goal scoring but he didn’t play in the last Nations League game which they won against Turkey 2-0 and hasn’t featured in World Cup qualifying where they have bagged 10 goals so perhaps they are going to create and score even without him which makes me think we might be in for a high scoring game.
We might not get the 3-3 draw that we got when these two met in Euro 2016 but we can still get more than 2.5 of them because I can’t see Hungary getting any joy from sitting back and inviting Portugal onto them. Portugal could easily cover a 2.5 goal line on their own if they are on it, especially with this attacking core that they have at their disposal. I expect to see a few goals in this one so I’ll play the over.
Tips
Back Over 2.5 goals for a 3/10 stake at 2.05 with Betfair
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