Republic of Ireland v Hungary: Back visitors to Dom-inate in Dublin | OneFootball

Republic of Ireland v Hungary Saturday 06 September, 19:45

The Republic of Ireland's bid to qualify for the World Cup finals starts with one of the most important games of the schedule. With Portugal widely expected to win the group, it looks like a straight fight between the Republic and Hungary to take the runners-up position and a playoff spot.

Coach Heimir Hallgrimsson is used to beating the odds. He helped Iceland overcome England at Euro 2016, one of the biggest ever shocks in European football, and then qualified for the 2018 World Cup.

With Ireland, Halgrimsson made an inauspicious start which included home and away defeats to Greece and England in theNations League. Bulgaria were beaten twice in a relegation playoff success, but friendly draws with Senegal and Luxembourg didn't exactly get the pulse racing.

That said, Halgrimsson is approaching these World Cup qualifiers in a positive frame of mind. He feels the players have grown in stature in the year since he joined, and that leaders are emerging in the group. One green shoot of recovery is the recent form of young forward Evan Ferguson, who has been revitalised at Roma under renowned striker whisperer Gian Piero Gasperini.

Hungary are looking to qualify for their first World Cup since 1986, and there is optimism after appearances at the last three European Championships. The last two of those have been under the guidance of long-serving Italian coach Marco Rossi, who has been at the helm since 2018.

Hungary had a tough time in the recent Nations League. In a hard group at the A level, they won just one of their six matches, and then they were well beaten home and away by Turkiye in a relegation playoff that saw them demoted to Group B.

After scoring a stunning winner for Liverpool against Arsenal in the Premier League, Dominik Szoboszlai is ready to play a more central role for his nation. The former Leipzig star already has 55 caps at the age of 24, and he has scored 16 goals. Some of those have been truly spectacular.

Szoboszlai has had at least one shot on target in nine of his last 14 competitive internationals, and I'm happy to back him to do that here in conjunction with backing Hungary to draw or win. Hungary only lost two of their six Nations League A games, and they were defeats at Germany and the Netherlands, and there's little evidence in the Republic of Ireland's results to back up Halgrimsson's claims of progress.