P W D L F A Pts
CROATIA 5 3 1 1 10 5 10
SLOVAKIA 5 3 0 2 9 7 9
HUNGARY 5 3 0 2 7 6 9
WALES 4 2 0 2 4 4 6
AZERBAIJAN 5 0 1 4 5 13 1
Revelation
DOMINIK SZOBOSZLAI
Hungary
The Magyars are well-equipped
at either end of the age
spectrum, from the vast
experience of veteran winger
and skipper Balazs Dzsudzsak
to teenage midfielder Szoboszlai,
who is just starting to make a
name for himself on the
international stage and for
Austria’s Red Bull Salzburg.
Since making his first start for
Hungary, in the 2-1 home win
over Croatia in March, the 18-
year-old has grown steadily in
influence and he opened his
national-team scoring account,
curling in an unstoppable free
kick in a 2-1 loss at home toSlovakia in September.
Upright, elegant, cultured on
the ball and able to play in a
variety of attacking midfield
roles, he joined Salzburg from
Videoton in the spring of 2017.
He is reported to be on the
watch-list of a string of big
European clubs but says he only
recently realised that he must
apply himself more, and that
“talent alone is not enough”.
Some of his best displays to
date have been in European
competition: a Europa League tie
against Napoli last spring and
Salzburg’s 6-2 hammering of
Genk in this term’s Champions
League, a game in which he
scored his side’s fourth.the last 18 months he has gone from
strength to strength, a result not only
of greater maturity but also positional
certainty. Croatia coach Zlatko Dalic
now deploys the 26-year-old solely in
a holding role and it did not take long
before Inter boss Luciano Spalletti took
the hint and made the same adjustment.
A former Dinamo Zagreb starlet,
Brozovic was at his influential best in
Croatia’s 4-0 victory in Slovakia, twice
providing assists, rattling the crossbar
with a rasping left-footed drive and
catching the eye with his confidenceon the ball and tempo-setting guile. In
the absence of injured midfield pair Ivan
Rakitic and Mateo Kovacic, the Croats
might have been found wanting – but
not with Brozovic in such fine form.
Dinamo Zagreb coach Nenad Bjelica
claims to be at a loss as to why Brozovic
seems to attract so little acclamation in
the media. “Not much is said or written
about him,” Bjelica recently declared to
Croat TV station Nova.“For me he is
among the top three midfielders in the
world. I have to point out the great things
he’s doing.”- 0 3 .19 Slovakia-Hungary 2-0
- 0 3 .19 Croatia-Azerbaijan 2-1
24.03.19 Wales-Slovakia 1- 0
24.03.19 Hungary-Croatia 2-1
08.06.19 Croatia-Wales 2-1
08.06.19 Azerbaijan-Hungary 1-3
11.06.19 Azerbaijan-Slovakia 1- 5
11.06.19 Hungary-Wales 1- 0
06.09.19 Wales-Azerbaijan 2-1
06.09.19 Slovakia-Croatia 0-4
09.09.19 Azerbaijan-Croatia 1-1
09.09.19 Hungary-Slovakia 1- 2
10 .10 .19 Slovakia-Wales
10 .10 .19 Croatia-Hungary
13 .10 .19 Hungary-Azerbaijan
13 .10 .19 Wales-Croatia
16 .11.19 Azerbaijan-Wales
16 .11.19 Croatia-Slovakia
19 .11.19 Wales-Hungary
19 .11.19 Slovakia-AzerbaijanGROUP E
Elegant...
SzoboszlaiResult...Croatia’s Karlo
Bartolec (left) beats
Slovakia’s Lukas HaraslinAdjustment...Brozovic