U20 World Cup: Dominating Montenegro to Start

Although former sensational world-class player, Mladen's son, Srdjan Janovic quickly gave Montenegro the lead from a man-up situation, Varga Vince managed to score from a Szitas David save, blasting it in from about six meters. Apart from this man-to-man effort, we couldn't break them early on – no man-ups came our way, and there was no reason for it. Later on, left-hander Stupar scored a similar goal to Varga. Eventually, we got a chance after an initiative, and Balogh Botond fired a nice shot, making it 2-2.

It was close as Leinweber Oliver couldn't precisely place the ball when he had a half-time advantage near the goal, and the defense lagged behind Petrovic in the center. Consequently, instead of 3-2, it became 2-3. Nonetheless, Balogh made a dazzling shot beating the block and goalkeeper from the wing, bringing the score even again at 0:50. Montenegro managed to score one after a corner, but at the counter-attack end, Tóth András performed a sensational fake shot, resulting in a man-up situation, and through Leinweber, we got the leading goal, the first after fifteen seconds, meaning we were looking better after eight minutes (4-3).

Olivér continued with an incredible twisted shot from a free throw – meanwhile, we double-teamed the center once and managed to reach Szitás once. Unfortunately, we missed the second man-up opportunity, and Janovic outsmarted us so much that he scored over the block after a corner. The following advantage was more credible, and Tóth András' shot was unstoppable. Next was a huge defensive play in disadvantage, followed by another man-up and another rocket shot from Leinweber, extending the lead to three. Once again, Szitás reached well for a long-distance shot, and they feared Lugosi Csongor, allowing Tóth András to score from five meters amidst the closing defenders, a half-chance in his hand at best. This was followed by another defensive move, then a fantastic pass from Benedek Mór and a spinning shot from Tóth Martin…

At this point, the Montenegrin coach intervened, as we made a 4-0 rush in just 2:26. The timeout did not do much for them, as Tóth András stole the ball from them after precisely four seconds. Although the goalkeeper saved Balogh’s chance, from the ensuing corner, Cseh Maxim gave Tóth Martin such a ball that he effectively pocketed it.

After two saves by Szitás, the Montenegrins managed to score again through Nikaljevic. Quickly, Fortuna equalized: in our last attack before the quarter, we scored with our third shot, as Balogh not only beat the goalkeeper but also the buzzer, concluding an incredible 7-2 quarter before halftime. According to the new rules, the break lasted for five minutes, and we could have regretted it, considering the incredible momentum the team gained.

Okay, there were no drastic changes, and after a minute and a half of play, Leinweber stood out, and Szitás made a precision pass, extending our lead to seven. Then to eight – Pörge Zsombor freed himself from his defender, then performed a fantastic lob, solving a tight offensive situation. Unfortunately, we did not take Nikaljevic seriously again, except for one more goal, Szitás remained impenetrable, while Tóth Martin netted another one from the center (the saves ratio stood at 10-2).

They managed to recover a bit from a distant shot, which might have upset us if it had happened at 14-6, but we couldn’t complain about the officiating - we actually missed a double man-up. Szitás covered the Montenegrin man-up once more, leading to another offensive play, and Leinweber scored his fifth goal. In our next man-up, the pass after the set play missed, allowing Stupar to score, pushing our advantage to seven as we entered the last eight minutes (15-7).

All of this allowed key players to rest, and despite that, our defense remained solid – combined with the Montenegrins' discouragement, this led to Szabó Gergő not meeting the ball for four and a half minutes during the final quarter, and there were no shots on goal either (there was no shortage of blocked attempts). Pörge then executed a fantastic lob, followed by Lugosi centering to score during a man-up – the ten-goal lead seemed apparent until Kojicic scored a nice goal, and Stupar’s shot found its way past the block in a man-down situation (17-10). Thanks to Tóth Martin's spin move, Peőcz Ádám also joined the scorers (from a man-up). In a way, the world has changed significantly since the U19 European Championship, where we could only manage three goals in three quarters and eventually lost 6-5 – now the match ended at 18, and the crazy part is that we could even say at the end: there was perhaps even more in it...

U20 World Cup, Zagreb

Group A, Matchday 1

Hungary vs. Montenegro 18-10 (4-3, 7-2, 4-3, 3-2)

Our Goals: Leinweber 5, Tóth M. 3, Balogh B. 3, Tóth A. 2, Pörge 2, Varga V., Lugosi, Peőcz