Hungarian Squad

On February 29^th Hungary will be hosting Bulgaria 18.00 (that is 6pm for you Americans) in a friendly football match at E.T.O. Park in Györ. The match will not be held at Puskas Stadion in Budapest because construction has FINALLY began on a new stadium for the national team. The five home matches that have been scheduled so far for 2012 will all be played in Györ. There will be three friendly matches (Bulgaria, Ireland and Israel) followed by two World Cup qualifying matches (Netherlands and Turkey). With the Bulgaria match about two weeks away national team manager Sándor Egervári has named his squad. Of course for the match he will be able to start 11 and have 7 on the bench, from which he will be able to use a max 6 for subs.

Here is a breakdown of the players.

Keepers: 

Ádám Bogdán  24 Bolton Wanderers FC (4 caps)- The young keeper has been on fire since the calendar was flipped to 2012. Yes he did let in a 90 yard shot from Timmy Howard, but one could argue that he has single handedly pulled Bolton away from relegation.

Norbert Csernyánszki 36 Paks SE (0)- Just filling in incase of injury. Probably lacks some match fitness since the Hunagrian league has not played a match since the begining of Decmeber. I personally would have chosen László Köteles from Genk in Belgium.

Király in his trademark pants

Gábor Király 35 TSV 1860 Müchen (85)- I don’t think he needs any introduction, the man who has made it cool for keepers to rock out sweat pants and made the 4 day bender look seem socially acceptable.

Defenders: 

Roland Juhász 28 RSC Anderlecht (69/5goals)-Arguably the most underrated center back in Europe and should be playing in the EPL. ’Nough said

Tamás Kádár 21 Newcastle United FC (2/0)- Young defender that has potential but probably will not be getting any regular playing time any time soon since Newcastle is battling for a top three finish and a chance to play in the champions league

Zsolt Korcsmár 23 SK Brann (5/0)- Another young defender who has turned into a solid defender in Norway. It is probably time for him to move on to a stronger league possably the Bundesliga, or the English Championship (English 2nd div.)

Zsolt Laczkó 25 UC Sampdoria (17/0)- If Hungary had a competent healthy left back he probably would not have a guaranteed spot in the squad. He is not playing regularly in the Italian 2nd division either.

Zoltán Lipták 27 Újpest FC (10/1)- It will be interesting how the lack of playing time will affect him. When Paulo Sousa basicly kicked him out of the Videoton squad Korcsmár got bumped into the starting lineup next to Juhász in the center of the D.

Vilmos Vanczák 28 FC Sion (60/2)- He is silently having a career year expect him to move on to greener pastures during the summer. There has always been a knock on him but he can play anywhere on the back line.

József Varga 23 Debrecen VSC (10/0)- I feel that he is a streaky player whether he is playing defensive midfield for Debrecen or right back for the National team. Sometimes he makes on the target pin point passes other times he look completely lost out there. Just like on the other side (left back) there is no one competent or healthy to be playing right back. So far the success of this experiment is still up in the air.

Midfielders:

 Ákos Buzsáky 29 Queens Park Rangers FC (19/2)- Finally he is healthy and playing regularly in the EPL. This is the first time that Egervári has called him into the squad. Lets see how he will be used.

Péter Czvitkovics 29 KV Kortrijk (10/0)- I don’t think he is anything special. Every coach or manager has a player that he plays on a regular basis but yet no one really understands why. This is one of those selections, Péter has never played horribly but sometimes his selection has been questioned.

Balázs Dzsudzsák

Balázs Dzsudzsák 25 FC Dynamo Moscow (41/7)- He was the biggest transfer of the winter shopping extravaganza. After not scoring a goal or having an assist in 6 matches during an injury plagued half season at Anzsi Balazs was sold for 19 million euros. He is slowly turning into the backbone of the national team.

Ákos Elek 23 Eskisehirspor (17/1)- I always felt that he played at a higher level with the National team than with Videoton. I have not seen him play in Turkey but it will be interesting to see what the past 2 months have done to his match fitness.

Tamás Hajnal 30 VfB Stuttgart (46/5)- Has had a hot and cold season will be starting versus Bulgaria. The quarterback of the offense since Gera is out for the rest of the season.

Vladimir Koman 22 AS Monaco (18/5)- This might be the most interesting situation. Since the start of the season he rarely played for Sampdoria but yet was called in regularly. “Volo” says he is happy in his new situation however the French 2^nd division is a step down from the Italian 2^nd division.

Ádám Pintér 23 Real Zaragoza (7/0)- Has been playing regularly in a struggling Zaragoza squad. Egervári has used him both in the midfield and the back line. I have no clue where he will put him.

Forwards:

Krisztián Németh 23 RKC Waalwijk (4/0)- Like always when he moves to a new club Krisztán playes great off the bench which then earns him a start, which is followed by a season ending injury. So far everything has happened according to the script since transfering to Waalwijk except luckily for the injury.

Tamás Priskin 25 FC Alania Vladikavkaz (38/11)- Transfered to the Russian 2nd Division from Ipswich Town. Lets leave it at that.

Gergely Rudolf 26 Panathinaikos FC (23/9)- Genoa loaned him out at the beginning of the season. When he is not sitting on the bench he is recoving from an injury. This has not been his season.

Imre Szabics 30 SK Strum Graz (26/12)- After a rash of horrible injuries he is back to where he should have been 6 years ago. Now providing veteran leadership among the forwards.

Ádám Szalai

Ádám Szalai 24 1.FSV Mainz 05 (6/4)- Just like almost every other Hungarian forward he is back from injury. After missing the past year with an ACL injury he is ready to prove that he is the scorer that both Hungary and Mainz have been missing.

Since this is only a friendly match expect Egervári to try somthing new, maybe play younger players more than just the last 20 minutes. Mostly likely he will try a new back line combination or a central midfield duo. The person I am surprised that is missing from the squad is Dániel Tözser from Genk, he was linked with about a dozen teams in Europe during the winter transfer period but ended up staying.

Projected Line up:

Király-Varga, Juhász Lipták, Laczkó-Koman, Hajnal, Elek, Dzudzsák-Priskin, Rudolf

What I would Do:

Bogdán- Vanczák, Juhász, Korcsmár, Kádár-Buzsáky, Hajnal, Elek, Dzsudzsák-Szabics, Szalai

Grapefruits and Cacti

In case you didn't notice spring training has started for the Seattle Mariners which means that the Grapefruit League and the Cactus League are just around the corner.

Linsanity

I feel there is always something to report about Jeremy Lin and this time it has gone a bit overboard. Jeremy Lin is moving off of his brother’s couch and will be subletting an apartment from former Knick David Lee, which was previously rented by Amar’e Stoudemire.

Remember folks the next time the Knicks step on the court the score board will read 0-0 or love all.