Both Hungary and Albania will be looking to keep their hopes of a second-placed finish in the UEFA World Cup qualifying Group I when they face off at the Puskas Arena in Budapest on Saturday with kickoff at 21:45.
Hungry made an impressive start to their qualifying campaign as they recorded two wins and a draw in their opening three matches. However, after exiting the Euro 2020 in the first round, Hungary couldn’t continue their opening form as they lost two of their three September World Cup qualifying fixtures, suffering a 4-0 home defeat at the hands of England before the 1-0 away loss to their Saturday rivals in the reverse fixture.
However, Marco Rossi’s side bounced back with a morale-boosting 2-1 win over Andorra in their last qualifying match with goals from Adam Szalai and Endre Botka ending their six-match winless run across all competitions. Hungary are now in the in the fourth position with 10 points in the group standings, two points behind their upcoming second-placed opponents and one behind Poland who face whipping boys San Marino this weekend.
Therefore, Hungary will enter the match desperate for the three points as they look to make a crucial step forward towards what would be their first World Cup finals since 1986 but they face an Albanian side that is daring to dream too.
Meanwhile, Albania are still seeking their first ever World Cup finals and they could be on their way to booking a playoffs place as they have had an impressive qualifying campaign having collected 12 from their opening six matches.
Indeed, Albanians have been one of the surprising sides of the 2022 FIFA world Cup qualifiers and sit second in Group I, four points behind group leaders England. They continued to show their determination by collecting four wins in their opening six while they have only lost two and head into the match off the back of back-to-back wins over Hungary (1-0) and San Marino (5-0).
However, Albania have one concern and that is their recent poor away record as they have lost their last two matches on the road, suffering a 4-1 defeat to Poland in their last away match, although, having already edged Hungary, Albania might fancy their chances of doing a double against their hosts this weekend.
Hungary vs Albania head to head
Both sides have met in four encounters since 2008 with Hungary claiming three wins whereas Albania have claimed one win and they are yet to register any sort of draws.
- Albania 1-0 Hungary 05/09/21
- Hungary 1-0 Albania 04/06/14
- Albania 0-1 Hungary 28/03/09
- Hungary 2-0 Albania 11/10/08
Home
- Hungary 2-1 Andorra
- Albania 1-0 Hungary
- Hungary 0-4 England
- Germany 2-2 Hungary
- Hungary 1-1 France
Away
- Albania 5-0 San Marino
- Albania 1-0 Hungary
- Poland 4-1 Albania
- Czech Republic 3-1 Albania
- Wales 0-0 Albania
Hungary team news
Hungary have called up a 26-man squad for the upcoming fixtures and none of they men are missing.
Albania team news
Albania named a 25-man squad with key features including Elseid Hysaj, Etrit Berisha and Armando Broja. However, Erion Hoxhallari was ruled out due to testing positive for Covid-19.
Prediction and odds
- Draw
- Double chance
- Both sides to score
