A solitary goal from Navarro sealed the victory (0-1) in Hungary
MADRID, 10 Sep. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish men’s under-21 football team won 0-1 on Tuesday in their visit to Hungary, with a solitary goal from Robert Navarro, and has mathematically sealed their ticket to the European Championship in this category, which will be held in Slovakia in 2025.
Santi Denia’s men faced their eighth Group B match in this qualifying phase at the Széktói Stadion in Kecskemét. And until half-time they had a monologue with the ball, repeatedly looking for Samu Omorodion with crosses from each wing.
Once again, the FC Porto striker was the key player in attack, just like last Friday against Scotland. And once again, his boldness and ambition were not enough to put the rival goalkeeper, Krisztián Hegyi, in trouble, who solved the problems together with his defence.
But in the 21st minute, a poor clearance between Hegyi and one of his defenders ended up on the edge of the area at the feet of Navarro; without thinking twice, the RCD Mallorca midfielder lined up to execute a low right-footed shot that touched two legs on the way.
That ball ended up in the back of the Hungarian net and the Spanish team breathed fairly easily from then on, monopolising possession in a clear manner and without suffering any mistakes at the back. After the break, Barça attacking midfielder Pablo Torre wanted to be more prominent.
He had already been brilliant in the first half, but with space on the edge of the opponent’s area he continued to play well. A nice pass to the far post gave rise to another great chance for Navarro in the 53rd minute, with his right-footed volley going over Hungary’s crossbar.
Although home coach Zoltan Szelesi made changes when he saw Spain’s obvious superiority, they bore little fruit. The ‘Rojita’ continued to dominate and dangerously approached Hegyi’s goal, who in the 59th minute made a great save after a low shot from Torre from outside the area.
Santi Denia also made some changes to his bench, such as bringing on Mateo Joseph. However, the Leeds United striker was not as accurate as he was against Scotland. With his and other substitutes’ gunpowder dampened, Spain slowed down somewhat.
Just when it seemed that the game would end smoothly, the home team put pressure on Alejandro Iturbe’s goal. Not in vain, Krisztián Lisztes came onto the pitch in the 89th minute and just a minute later he fired a right-footed shot from the edge of the box that grazed the top corner.
Having overcome this scare, Denia’s men calmly secured their victory and reached 22 points to extend their lead in the group. Thanks to this situation, with only two games left to play, the ‘Rojita’ confirmed their access to next year’s EURO.
TECHNICAL SHEET.
–RESULT: HUNGARY, 0 – SPAIN, 1 (0-1, at half-time).
–LINEUPS.
HUNGARY: Mountain; Barath, Yaakobishvili, Szabo; Eordogh (Lisztes, min.90), Komaromi, Vitalis (Okeke, min.70), Kosznovszky, Benczenleitner; Gruber (Denes, min.66) and Vancsa (Kerezsi, min.66).
SPAIN: Iturbe; Juanlu (French, min.83), Cubarsí, Huijsen, Carreras; Turrientes, Nico (Javi Guerra, min.59); Navarro (Moro, min.83), Diego López, Torre (Veiga, min.73); and Omorodion (Mateo Joseph, min.59).
–GOL:
0-1, min.21: Navarro.
–REFEREE: Robert Ian Jenkins (GAL). He gave yellow cards to Kosznovszky (min.45+1), Okeke (min.72) and Szabo (min.87) for Hungary, and to Francés (min.89) for Spain.
–ESTADIO: Széktó Stadium (Kecskemét).