Member Associations | 4 Aug 2020

Hungarian players at home again, with the Croats

The Hungary men’s team trained with the Austrian men’s national team last week, while this week it is training together with the Croats.

 

Last week, the Hungarian national team had fourteen trainings in Stockerau, and then on Friday the team travelled to Slovakia, where they played a friendly match against the Vydrany team. Since then, the boys have been training at home again, with the Croatian national team who, similar to the Austrian players, are in good shape.

 

“Every player is different, the Croatian national team is also very strong, they qualified for the Olympics in the team event, so it is very good to have them here training with us this week. This is a very good opportunity to practice against different playing styles” shared his thoughts Ádám SZUDI.

 

He will take part in two foreign challenger competitions together with Bence MAJOROS in the coming weeks, and in the meantime, they will also have a training camp in Ochsenhausen.

 

“These matches against each other do not bring me the same stress-level at all as a bigger competition” Bence MAJOROS spoke about the main difference between matches played at competitions and the training or friendly matches. “You obviously try to create that kind of pressure on your own and deliver the same performance as in a competitive match, but I do not think that is possible.”

 

The highest ranked Croatian player, Tomislav PUCAR, is also already starving for real match situations.

 

“We are very good friends with the Hungarian team, as we have been preparing for competitions together many times before, I was also training in this hall a few years ago” evoked the player ranked 37th. “It is not easy to stay focused because we just train, train and train. We are really looking forward to the return of competitions.”

 

Practically all major battles have been cancelled until the European Championships, but Frane KOJIC (ranked 90th) is not very optimistic about that tournament.

 

“It is my first time here, the Hungarians gave us a very kind welcome” KOJIC confirmed the ‘rumors’ about the good relationship. „The conditions inside and outside the hall are excellent. In principle, we are preparing for the European Championships scheduled to mid-September, but because of the coronavirus, I do not think they can actually carry out the competition. It is important to interrupt the monotonous workouts with a few matches between us. Of course, the stress-level is not the same as in a sharp situation, but they can also be spiced up a bit by betting with a small sum of money or a coffee invitation.”

 

Both OLIVÉR could not go to Austria with the national team - the injured Tamás LAKATOS was replaced by Csaba ANDRÁS - but now he can also experience what it is like to train with the bests.

 

“Yesterday I played against a Bundesliga top level player, which I was very happy about. I hope I can still practice more with them the other today” revealed Olivér BOTH, who will join a Bundesliga 3 level team in the autumn. “They play very sharply, the ball passes very often, even twenty or thirty times smoothly, they hit big and sharp easily. I have to reach that level somehow.”

 

And when can this happen?

 

“It is hard to say. Maybe in a year, but maybe not in five years. During yesterday’s game against them, I realized that I was still quite far from their level, but I need to thrive for improvement and fix my weak points.”

 

Besides Olivér BOTH, Csaba ANDRÁS and Patrik JUHÁSZ have been training with the adult team for some time now. We asked the head of the national team about their role and their future.

 

“It would be great if in the medium term they would bring themselves up conditionally and in the quality of their game that if normal sports life returns and any of our four adult players come home, we could provide them a good quality practice with the help of these young players” expressed Péter MUSKÓ. “We still focus primarily on their fitness level. They conscientiously complete the fitness program prescribed by our fitness coach, Ádám TÓTH, and we expect their leap-like development from the work on these two paths.”