Ireland play this fixture with many doubts around the future.

Currently John O’Shea is the head coach, since Stephen Kenny left their position after their team failed to qualify to the Eurocup. However, he is the interim boss. He took charge of March’s fixtures against Belgium and Switzerland, and once again Ireland will use him to prepare the Nations League campaign which will be played in September. But he has been confirmed only for this fixture and just as interim boss, not still as official coach. It looks like Ireland is still looking for a real and better coach, with England U21 boss Lee Carsley leading the list of big-name potential candidates.

Nearly seven months on, the wait is ongoing and 118-times-capped defender O’Shea, who was initially ruled out of the race, has been handed a second audition having edged himself into contention

Ireland is still looking for goals. Since their legendary topscorer Robbie Keane retired in 2016, Ireland has been far from prolific. They have been struggling to score goals and to find a reliable scorer: since the impressive win 3:0 against Scotland in 2022 (Nations League) they have scored more than 2 goals just in 4 games: against minnows Armenia, Latvia and Gibraltar twice. And failed to score in 5 of their last 8 fixtures. Furthermore, they only achieved victories (since Scotland in 2022) against those weak sides (Armenia, Latvia and Gibraltar). In the meantime they weren’t able to beat average sides like New Zealand or Greece, which are worse teams than Hungary.

For this fixture they’ll miss two important attackers: Brighton teenager Evan Ferguson and Luton striker - Chiedozie Ogbene. In their absence, Leicester U21 player - Tom Cannon, will make his senior debut. Another player who will be lacking experience is Blackburn striker Sammie Szmodics, who made his senior debut in the March’ friendlies.

Their key player will be Celtic’s forward Adam Idah, with 8 goals scored in 15 games (he signed for Celtic in February).

On the other hand, Hungary is a very hungry team. With Italian head coach Marco Rossi they qualified for the second time to the Euro making a great campaign, finishing leaders of their group with 4 points advantage. They are unbeaten since 2022 where they lost against Italy, but before that game they also beat England (twice) and Germany. In the meantime played against weak-average teams, but made good performances with Szoboszlai playing brilliantly and beating Serbia twice, for example. But in previous fixtures, they were close to winning the Nations League death group (Italy, Germany and England), which shows how hungry and confident this team is. They really don't want to lose even in a friendly match.

They are an offensive team with a lot of quality upfront, where captain Dominik Szoboszlai is in his top form and will be the one to create a difference in the match. Another key player will be midfielder Zsolt Nagy, the one who can make the goal and is capable enough to score them as well. In the NB I league, while playing 26 matches, Zsolt has scored 11 goals and has assisted five goals.

Hungary are in great form, as their top players are available and also they haven’t lost in their last few matches. Ireland are having problems right now, as their manager has also changed and their few top players are out due to injury. For me Hungary is the favorite here not only to avoid defeat, but also to win the fixture. I expect a game with goals, maybe from both sides, but could result in Hungary’s favour at the end. Also one last point to mention the difference between both teams: Ireland is 60th in the FIFA Ranking, and Hungary 24th.

爱尔兰在这场比赛中对未来充满了疑虑。

目前主教练是约翰·奥谢，因为斯蒂芬·肯尼在球队未能晋级欧洲杯后离开了他们的位置。然而，他是临时老板。他负责3月份对阵比利时和瑞士的比赛，爱尔兰将再次使用他来准备9月份的国家联赛。但他只被确认参加这场比赛，而且只是临时主帅，而不是正式教练。看起来爱尔兰仍然在寻找一位真正的、更好的教练，英格兰U21主帅李·卡斯利是最有可能的人选。

近7个月过去了，等待仍在继续，118次出场的后卫奥谢，最初被排除在竞选之外，已经获得了第二次试镜，并逐渐进入了竞争

爱尔兰仍在寻找进球。自从他们的传奇射手罗比·基恩在2016年退役后，爱尔兰就不再多产了。他们一直在努力进球，并找到一个可靠的射手:自从2022年(国家联赛)3:0令人印象深刻地战胜苏格兰以来，他们在4场比赛中进球超过2个:对阵小鱼亚美尼亚，拉脱维亚和直布罗陀两次。在最近的8场比赛中有5场没有进球。此外，他们只在对阵弱队(亚美尼亚、拉脱维亚和直布罗陀)时取得过胜利(自2022年苏格兰世界杯以来)。与此同时，他们无法击败新西兰或希腊这样的普通球队，这些球队比匈牙利更糟糕。

在这场比赛中，他们将失去两名重要的攻击手:布莱顿少年弗格森和卢顿前锋奥格本内。在他们缺席的情况下，莱斯特U21球员汤姆·坎农将迎来他的成年队处子秀。另一个缺乏经验的球员是布莱克本前锋萨米·斯莫迪奇斯，他在三月的友谊赛中完成了他的成年队首秀。

他们的关键球员将是凯尔特人的前锋亚当·伊达，他在15场比赛中打进8球(他于2月份与凯尔特人签约)。

另一方面，匈牙利是一支非常渴望的球队。在意大利人主教练马尔科·罗西的带领下，他们以4分的优势以小组第一的身份出线，第二次晋级欧洲杯。自2022年输给意大利以来，他们一直保持不败，但在那场比赛之前，他们也击败了英格兰(两次)和德国。在此期间，他们与一些实力较弱的球队交手，但表现出色，比如绍博什莱就表现出色，两次击败塞尔维亚。但在之前的比赛中，他们曾差点赢得国家联赛死亡小组(意大利、德国和英格兰)的冠军，这表明这支球队是多么渴望和自信。即使是在友谊赛中，他们也不想输。

他们是一支进攻型球队，前场有很多优秀的球员，队长绍博什莱处于最佳状态，他将在比赛中创造不同。另一名关键球员将是中场球员佐尔特·纳吉，他可以进球，也有足够的能力得分。在新甲联赛中，他参加了26场比赛，打入11球，助攻5球。

匈牙利的状态很好，因为他们的顶级球员都可以上场，而且他们最近几场比赛都没有输过。爱尔兰现在遇到了麻烦，因为他们的主教练也换了，他们的几名顶级球员也因伤缺阵。对我来说，匈牙利是这里最受欢迎的球队，不仅可以避免失败，而且还可以赢得比赛。我期待一场有进球的比赛，也许双方都有进球，但结果可能是匈牙利在最后获胜。还有一点要提一下两支球队的区别:爱尔兰在国际足联排名中排名第60，匈牙利排名第24。