So now, to Russia. The next time you’ll see this Australian team it will be when they face France in Kazan, on June 16. If they play like that against Griezmann, Mbappe and Pogba, they will get absolutely gubbed. But weird things happen at the World Cup. Thanks for reading!
Well, what to make of that from an Australian perspective? A win’s a win’s a win, but they were entirely unconvincing for the majority of the game, the first goal a rare moment of quality and the second an absolute gift. Their attack was a little toothless and the defence shakey, although admittedly the latter only really became so after Mat Ryan went off and Brad Jones came on.
Full-time: Hungary 1-2 Australia
Peeeeeeeeeeeeeep.
90 mins + 2: Oh boy. Oh boy oh boy oh boy. The slapstick is catching: Irvine gets down the left, he hooks his left foot around a cross and Kadar is there - under precisely zero pressure from zero attackers - to neatly slot the ball between his own goalkeeper’s legs. The nutmeg was a nice, if slightly too flamboyant touch.
GOAL! Hungary 1-2 Australia (Kadar OG 90 +2)
90 mins: Eesh, that was unnecessary. Three minutes of added time.
89 mins: Well that was weird. Fiola put a cross in from the right, only one Hungarian attacker seemed half-interested in going for it, had Sainsbury left it then Jones would have collected it with no problems at all. But for some reason, at the last minute Sainsbury ducked his head into the ball, sending it past Jones as he frantically put on the brakes and tried to clear up his colleague’s horrendous rick, but to no avail.
GOAL! Hungary 1-1 Australia (Sainsbury OG 89)
Oh, Trent...
86 mins: Cahill and Vinicius go up for a header, they clash bonces but only the Hungarian seems to suffer any pain. Cahill trots off with nary a care in the world.
83 mins: Cahill amongst things straight away, going up for a header with Dibusz from a big cross to the back post, but he fouled the goalkeeper and a free-kick is thus awarded.
80 mins: Well this can’t be good news: Juric, of course carrying that knee injury, has to come off after himself only coming on at half-time. There didn’t look to be a specific incident and he wasn’t in obvious, troubling pain, but unless this is a truly unconventional motivation technique by Van Marwijk then it could be bad news for his chances in Russia. Tim Cahill replaces him.
78 mins: Fiola (who came on for Lovrencsics just before the goal - sorry) gets into a tangle with Mooy, and unconventionally tries to get himself out of the tangle by lifting the Huddersfield midfielder off his feet with his back. Which was a bit weird. He gets a booking for it, anyway.
76 mins: Hungary go close to getting straight back in it, as Varga curls a free-kick over the wall but Jones skips across to make a fairly straightforward save.
74 mins: Well that worked out nicely. In his first involvement since coming off the bench, Arzani cuts in from the left, just outside the box and shoots. There was some power behind it but Dibusz in the Hungary goal really should have saved it.
GOAL! Hungary 0-1 Australia (Arzani 74)
Impact rating: instant.
72 mins: Change for Australia: Daniel Arzani replaces Kruse.
70 mins: Risdon loses the ball by tripping over his own feet, which sort of sums up this performance from Australia. Leckie has to commit a foul to stop Hungary countering.
68 mins: Irvine gets involved straight away, shooting from just inside the area but it’s saved fairly easily. Again, not quite happening for Australia.
66 mins: Leckie drives towards goal and shoots, but it’s a fairly lame effort, well wide and never really looking like doing otherwise. Meanwhile Kleinheisler comes off, and Marton Eppel replaces him.
65 mins: Another set-piece: long-shot combo for Hungary, as Lovrenscics collects a half-cleared corner and launches a shot from way out, but it goes over.
64 mins: A substitution for Australia, as Jackson Irvine comes on for Rogic.
63 mins: Leckie puts in a cross from the left but there’s no Australian forward there. It only becomes dangerous when Loverencsics tries an absurd flicked clearance that only manages to rebound towards his own goal, but it’s easily saved.
61 mins: Change for Hungary, as Szalai goes off, Daniel Bode taking his place.
60 mins: Hungary go close again: Lovrencsics gets down the right and hooks his right foot around a cross, finding Szalai ahead of the near-post, but the angle was almost impossible and his header goes into the side-netting.
58 mins: Eeesh: Jones comes for a corner from the left, nobody in his general vicinity but not so much flaps at the ball as lets it bounce off his palms. Luckily for him he was in so much space that nobody was there to pick up the pieces of his clanger.
55 mins: A few minutes of peace, as both teams just knock the ball around a bit. A little quiet time.
51 mins: From the resultant free-kick, the ball drops to Sallai who controls nicely on his chest, does his best to get his foot over the shot but despite it having some serious power behind it, it zips over the bar.
50 mins: Leckie leaves one on Kleinheisler, but it was one of those where he went to hook the ball but the opponent arrived from over his shoulder, nicking said ball and getting himself kicked in the process.
49 mins: Australia already look sparkier: Rogic drives into the box but is crowded out, then in the next phase Mooy tucks a nice pass to Kruse, steaming down the right side of the box, but his cross is overhit.
47 mins: Sorry, make that three changes: Mile Jedinak replaces Luongo, and Brad Jones gets a go in nets in place of Ryan.
46 mins: And we’re away again for the second-half: one change for Australia, as Tom Juric - still nursing that knee injury - replaces Nabbout up top.
Half-time: Hungary 0-0 Australia
Peeeeeeeeeeeep. Not the best half for Australia: indeed, if they play like that in Russia then it’s going to be a pretty grim few weeks all told. Aside from flurries at either end of the half, they’ve created little and of course taken none of what they have come up with. Interesting to see what Van Marwijk does at half-time.
45 mins + 1: On the stroke of half-time, Hungary go close once more, as Kadar gets on the end of a corner, and Risdon has to clear off the line.
45 mins: Mooy shoots from the resultant free-kick, but the less said about its power or direction the better, probably.
44 mins: A booking for Jozef Varga, who chases Rogic from the centre-circle to about ten yards outside the box, all the while with a handful of Australian shirt, then he manages to keep a straight face while protesting his yellow card.
43 mins: Australia win a corner on the right, which Mooy lines up. He sends it to the far post, it’s half-cleared and breaks to Kruse who shoots...but without much direction and it goes harmlessly wide.
40 mins: Luongo tries a defence-splitter from deep, but it’s intercepted. Just not happening for Australia at the moment.
37 mins: And Hungary go close once more, with what might have been the goal of the year: Kleinhesiler regards a ball dropping at just the right height, launches into a brilliantly-struck volley which kisses the top of the crossbar. What an astounding strike that would have been.
34 mins: The lively Sallai looks to create some mischief on the left, but rather carelessly runs the ball out of play instead.
31 mins: Good lord, Hungary should be in the lead. on their right, Varga dispossesses Milligan, the ball is squared to Szalai in the box occupying the space where Milligan probably should have been. He measures the shot, it’s saved, but then rebounds past Ryan off Risdon, who then actually does quite well to stop his own ricochet from dribbling over the line.
30 mins: Hungary on the other hand have looked surprisingly decent. Sallai produces a lovely bit of skill to skip down the left but his cross is easily gathered by Ryan.
27 mins: Slightly frustrating stuff so far from Australia. They haven’t quite been able to get any proper flow going, and although they’ve created a couple of chances, nothing especially convincing either. They haven’t really been bad, it’s just they haven’t really been good either.
23 mins: Ambitious from Szalai: he drifts to the back stick and tries a big, Ronaldo-style bicycle kick, but skews it rather so it very nearly turns into a decent cross more than a shot.
22 mins: Busy minute: Ryan scrambles to gather the ball in the six-yard box after Kleinheisler’s shot is flicked goalwards by Szalai, then Leckie goes into the book for a stupid slap on Sallai’s back. He might have been lucky this isn’t a competitive game: a referee might have been tempted to bring out a different coloured card if so.
20 mins: Things livening up a bit now. Big chance for Australia as Leckie finds Kruse in the middle, 12-odd yards out and with a clear path to goal, but he snatches at the shot rather and sends it carelessly over the bar.
19 mins: Half chance for Hungary: they have a free-kick from deep on the right, its curled over and Vadocz is there at the back stick, but he wellies the volley when a little more art might have been more appropriate, and it goes wide.
17 mins: Australia hit the bar! Nabbout drops deep and curls a lovely cross in from the left, and it finds Kruse about 12 yards out. He twists his body and flicks a left-footed volley that dips over Gulasci and hits the underside of the bar. The flag was up so it wouldn’t have counted, Kruse just straying beyond the last man, but that was still lovely work.
14 mins: Hungary have been the better team so far, even if that is somewhat damning with faint praise. Australia have barely got into the final third, bar that early header, while the hosts have launched one or two promising attacks, at least.
11 mins: Sallai gets down the left, then plays a lovely reverse pass to the overlapping Szabo, but the Hungarian left-back absolutely leathers his cross, Aleksandar Kolarov-style, and it sails harmlessly out of play. Subtlety overrated, clearly.
9 mins: Little bit of needle early on, some wee digs here and there from both teams. Perhaps they’re just trying to trick their brains into thinking this is a super-competitive match.
7 mins: A long pass down the right from Lovrencsics looks for the run of Varga, but there’s too much on the ball and it skips out for a goal-kick.
5 mins: Predictably enough, Szalai gets a smidge of revenge by barging Sainsbury over from behind. The referee gives them both a talking to, presumably telling them to be friends and if they can’t play nicely, then they’re not going to play at all.
3 mins: Trent Sainsbury has done some damage already: going up for a header, he barrelled into the back of Szalai, who crumples in a heap on the floor and has to briefly retreat for some attention. He’s fine, though.
2 mins: Australia win a corner on the left, which Aaron Mooy takes short then crosses when returned to him. Leckie gets his head on it, but he was a good 15 yards out and with barely any momentum: it floats over the bar, gently, delicately, like a feather on the breeze.
1 min: We’re away. Australia are in their change kit of green with gold trim. Hungary in all white with bits of red and green.
The teams are out, anthems are being played - the Hungarian going for a bit longer than the fans anticipated, starting to applaud while the band still played. The stadium is, I would guess, maybe half full, if that. But the ones who are present have some sort of vuvuzela-esque horns, which frankly is not ideal.
If you’re in the UK and you like ‘things’, you can pick up your super soaraway World Cup preview today. From all good newsagents, and also WH Smith.
In today's Guardian, get your free, 100-page, definitive guide to the World Cup, and then a glossy wallchart in Sunday's Observer pic.twitter.com/nNFquFPRwK
— Guardian sport (@guardian_sport) June 9, 2018
A welcome, from uncle V.
Vladimir Putin: 'We have opened our country and our hearts to the world. Welcome to the Fifa World Cup. Welcome to Russia' pic.twitter.com/AdVtRbabVK
— Guardian sport (@guardian_sport) June 9, 2018
The Hungary team is in now. In the entry below...
Have you read our implausibly comprehensive guide to every player at the World Cup? Almost certainly not all of it. Get stuck in.
No Hungary team announced yet. Perhaps they’ve been overtaken by a profound sense of ennui after the defeat to Luxembourg and have just decided to sit in the park this afternoon. Can’t massively blame them. It’ll be in the post with the Australia team when it is eventually put out.
Updated
Care for a little pre-match reading?
Jonathan Howcroft on Tim Cahill:
Ante Jukic on Bert van Marwijk and the centre-forward question
Ange Postecoglou on impending humiliation
Team news
Hungary
Gulasci, Jozsef Varga, Vinicius, Kadar, Szabo, Kleinheisler, Szalai, Vadocz, Sallai, Lovrencsics, Roland Varga. Subs: To follow...
Australia
Ryan; Risdon, Milligan, Sainsbury, Behich; Luongo, Mooy; Leckie, Rogic, Kruse; Nabbout. Subs: Degenek, Meredith, Cahill, Juric, Jerman, Jones, Jedinak, Vukovic, Irvine, Petratos, Arzani, Maclaren.
Updated
Preamble
Listening to and reading some of the previews from around the globe, it doesn’t seem like there’s a huge amount of optimism ahead of this World Cup. Apparently even Brazilians and Germans aren’t especially positive about their chances, and when those two aren’t whooping it up then you know the general mood isn’t exactly positive.
Where would you pitch Australia in that? Clearly nobody is expecting to win the thing, but what would constitute success? Is getting to Russia already success? Given the relative turmoil that comes with losing a manager shortly after qualification brings, and a tough draw, is merely a respectable showing the group a success? Is making the knockout stages a success? Beyond that?
Preparations seem to be going roughly as well as can be expected, aside from Tomi Juric’s injury scare, with Bert van Marwijk’s gameplan a little more simple and pragmatic that Ange Postecoglou’s. The 4-0 win over the Czechs may have been against a team who would rather have been doing something - anything - else, but a 4-0 win is a 4-0 win. The preparation specifically for this game hasn’t been ideal, after Van Marwijk returned to Holland to visit an ill friend, his flight to Budapest delayed so he missed the first training session.
Will Tim Cahill get a run in this one? Van Marwijk’s emphatic response to that question earlier this week was: perhaps. “Maybe I will let him play for a period,” the Dutchman said. “He needs it but he will not become a better player by one game. The problem was already in the last half-year...When I need him he must be ready. We’ve discussed that and he’s ready for that. If it’s thirty seconds or thirty minutes, when I need him he will be ready.”
Today they face a Hungary team in something of a mess, who not only didn’t qualify for the tournament but drew with the Faroe Islands while doing so, and lost to Luxembourg in a friendly last November. Will this prove a meaningful exercise for Australia and Van Marwijk, or a glorified training game? Let’s find out...
Kick-off: 16.30 BST (01.30 Sydney)
