Hungary came from behind in Debrecen to beat Kazakhstan 3:1 and confirmed its role as favorite
The Hungarian national football team defeated Kazakhstan 3:1 in a friendly match played on June 9, 2026, at Nagyerdei Stadion in Debrecen. Although the home side entered the match as the favorite, the final result does not fully show how demanding the duel was for Marco Rossi's team, because Kazakhstan took the lead already in the early phase of the match. According to the match report published by UEFA, the encounter was played as part of the schedule of international friendly matches, and Hungary reached victory only after a second-half comeback. The scorers for the home national team were Dominik Szoboszlai, András Schäfer and Rajmund Tóth, while Sergey Maliy scored for Kazakhstan. Hungary thus made use of home advantage, but reached the convincing final result through a combination of greater possession, stronger pressure after the break and clinical finishing in the final third of the match.
- Match: Hungary - Kazakhstan 3:1
- Competition context: international friendly match
- Date: June 9, 2026
- Stadium: Nagyerdei Stadion, Debrecen, Hungary
- Scorers: Szoboszlai, Schäfer and Tóth for Hungary; Maliy for Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan's early goal opened the match differently than expected
Kazakhstan quickly showed in Debrecen that it did not intend to play the match exclusively defensively. According to the match chronology published by Sky Sports, the visitors took the lead in the 9th minute after a set piece, when Sergey Maliy headed in the move after Maksim Samorodov's corner delivery. That goal changed the initial tone of the match because Hungary, instead of calmly building play in front of the home crowd, had to look early for a way to break through the organized Kazakh block. In the first half, the Hungarian national team had more of the ball and several attempts, but did not turn possession into clear chances quickly enough. Kazakhstan, meanwhile, used every opportunity to move into transition, and the early goal gave it room to position itself more patiently and wait for mistakes by the home team.
Rossi sent out a lineup with Dominik Szoboszlai as captain and an important creative point between midfield and attack. According to UEFA's presentation of the starting lineups, Hungary also had Barnabás Varga, András Schäfer, Callum Styles, Milán Vitális, Attila Osváth, Willi Orbán and other players from the first minute who were supposed to ensure control of the rhythm. Kazakhstan, according to the same source, started with Nuraly Alip as captain and attacking and midfield options that included Maksim Samorodov, Ramazan Orazov, Dastan Satpayev and Galymzhan Kenzhebekov. In such a balance of forces, the home side had greater individual potential, but the visitors, with the opening goal, forced Hungary into a more patient and more demanding match than the favorite status suggested. That is precisely why the final 3:1 for the home side is more important to view as the result of a comeback than as a one-sided victory from the first minute.
The second half brought Hungary's response and takeover of control
After the break, Hungary played more directly, and the first concrete effect arrived in the 52nd minute. According to Sky Sports' match report, Dominik Szoboszlai equalized with a goal from close range after an assist by Tamás Szűcs, who came on at the start of the second half. That goal had double value: it restored the balance on the scoreboard and opened space for the home side to continue the pressure with more confidence. After the equalizer, Kazakhstan found it increasingly difficult to keep the ball in midfield, while the Hungarians more often reached areas from which they could threaten with a shot or a cross. Hungary thus erased the visitors' psychological advantage in the first ten minutes of the continuation and shifted the match into a rhythm that suited it better.
The comeback was completed in the 67th minute, when András Schäfer scored for 2:1. According to the match report, Schäfer struck with his right foot from outside the penalty area, and the assist was credited to Dominik Szoboszlai after a set-piece situation. The Hungarian federation MLSZ, in its post-match release, especially highlighted Schäfer's goal and the character of a team that, after a weaker start to the match, managed to turn the result around in the second half. That moment was crucial because the home side took the lead for the first time, and Kazakhstan had to abandon its previous plan of protecting the advantage and waiting for counterattacks. In the closing stages, the difference in squad depth and freshness became increasingly visible, especially after the Hungarian substitutions that brought additional energy on the flanks and between the lines.
Samorodov's sending-off made Kazakhstan's job even harder
An important detail occurred in the 63rd minute, just before Hungary's go-ahead goal, when Maksim Samorodov received a second yellow card. According to Sky Sports' match report, the Kazakh forward was sent off for a foul, which left the visitors with a player less in a period in which Hungary was already increasing the pressure. Such a development significantly changed the balance on the pitch because Kazakhstan had to defend the space in front of its own penalty area even more cautiously. At that moment, Hungary gained an additional opportunity to stretch play and create an overload, while the visitors increasingly rarely managed to connect several passes forward. Although the sending-off does not diminish Hungary's comeback, it explains why the home side controlled the match more easily in the closing stages.
The third goal came in stoppage time, when Rajmund Tóth confirmed Hungary's victory. According to the available reports, Tóth scored in the final minutes after an assist by Tamás Szűcs, with which Szűcs rounded off a very notable appearance from the bench. That goal removed the last uncertainty about the result and turned Hungary's comeback into an apparently secure 3:1. For Rossi's team, it is especially important that three different players got on the scoresheet, and not only the team's most prominent individual. In that way, Hungary received confirmation that in the attacking part it can find solutions from several sources, including the midfield and players who enter during the match.
The statistics show Hungary's dominance, but also the visitors' good initial organization
According to ESPN's statistics, Hungary had 71.3 percent possession, while Kazakhstan remained at 28.7 percent. The same source states that the home national team took 20 shots toward goal, six of them on target, while Kazakhstan had nine attempts and two shots on target. These data confirm that Hungary spent much of the match controlling the ball and looking for space around the Kazakh block. Still, the numbers do not mean that the match was calm for the home side from the beginning, because Kazakhstan took the lead from an early set piece and, at least in the first half, managed to slow down Hungary's play. The difference was seen most clearly after the break, when the home pressure, substitutions and numerical advantage gradually broke the visitors' resistance.
The card statistics also show that the match was tougher than expected for a friendly. ESPN gives the yellow-card ratio as 2:5, and Sky Sports records Samorodov's second yellow card in the 63rd minute in the match chronology. Kazakhstan, after the early lead, had to defend deeper and deeper, and such an approach often brings a higher number of fouls in the zone between midfield and its own penalty area. Hungary, on the other hand, had enough possession to avoid an excessive number of defensive interventions, but it also received cautions of its own in the closing stages in situations when the match had already turned on the scoreboard. The corner ratio according to ESPN was 3:5 in Kazakhstan's favor, which additionally shows that the visitors had concrete moments at least from set pieces, including the move from which they took the lead.
Nagyerdei Stadion was once again an important stage for the Hungarian national team
The match was played at Nagyerdei Stadion in Debrecen, a venue that the Hungarian Football Federation described in the match preview as a stadium with a capacity of around 20 thousand spectators. According to the MLSZ release, the match between Hungary and Kazakhstan was scheduled for June 9 at 19:00 local time, and tickets were sold through the Hungarian federation and supporters' club system. Debrecen also had symbolic value for Hungary, because according to the MLSZ release, the national team achieved its third victory in its fourth appearance at that stadium. Such a record gives additional weight to the home ground, especially in friendly matches in which coaches often combine the result, testing squad depth and maintaining a relationship with supporters outside the capital. The victory over Kazakhstan is therefore not just another control result, but also a continuation of a good national-team rhythm in Debrecen.
The encounter also had an interesting organizational context. The Football Federation of Kazakhstan announced in March 2026 that, by agreement between the Kazakh and Hungarian federations, the June friendly match had been moved from Turkistan to Debrecen. According to the same announcement, Kazakhstan was due to play two away matches in the June international break: against Armenia in Yerevan on June 6 and against Hungary in Debrecen on June 9. This means that the Kazakh national team entered the encounter after additional travel and in the rhythm of two tests in a short interval. Such a schedule often affects coaches' decisions on minutes, workload and rotations, especially when the result is not competitively decisive. For Hungary, meanwhile, the home atmosphere enabled more stable preparation conditions and a clearer focus on testing tactical solutions after the match against Finland a few days earlier.
Rossi received confirmation of squad depth, Baisufinov useful answers before autumn
For Hungary, the victory is valuable because it came after falling behind and because the substitutions had a direct impact on the result. Tamás Szűcs, according to Sky Sports' match report, assisted the first and third Hungarian goals, while Rajmund Tóth, as a player from the bench, closed out the match in stoppage time. Such details are important for the coach because friendly matches also serve to assess players who do not always have to be in the foreground, but who can offer solutions in specific phases of a match. Dominik Szoboszlai again had a central role, not only as a scorer but also as the assister for Schäfer's goal, which confirms his importance in Hungary's play between the lines. In terms of the result, Hungary justified its favorite status, but the manner of the victory showed that the team still has to work on its starts to matches and defending set pieces.
Kazakhstan can draw several different conclusions from Debrecen. On one hand, Talgat Baisufinov's team took the lead away from home, was dangerous from set pieces and showed that it can punish an opponent's lack of attention. On the other hand, the drop after the equalizer, Samorodov's sending-off and the home side's ever-increasing pressure exposed the problem of maintaining intensity throughout the entire match. The Football Federation of Kazakhstan announced before the June fixtures that Baisufinov had described the friendly matches against Armenia and Hungary as a kind of dress rehearsal for the autumn commitments. In that sense, the 1:3 defeat is not only a negative result, but also material for analyzing discipline, reaction after conceding a goal and defensive behavior in phases when the opponent is numerically and technically superior. For a national team seeking stability, such matches are often useful precisely because they clearly show where the limits of the existing game plan lie.
The comeback is more important than the scoreline itself
The final 3:1 may suggest a routine Hungarian victory, but the course of the match shows a different picture. Kazakhstan took the lead, held the advantage until the break and forced the home side into a patient continuation, while Hungary only in the second half found enough speed, precision and depth for a full comeback. According to the MLSZ release, Rossi criticized after the match the way his team opened the encounter, but praised the play in the second half. That assessment nicely summarizes the evening in Debrecen: Hungary won a match it had to win, but it did not get there without problems. That is exactly why the victory can be a useful test, because the home side had to respond to a deficit, adapt to the opponent and maintain pressure all the way to the final minutes.
For Kazakhstan, the impression remains that the initial plan made sense, but did not withstand the full rhythm of the match. The early goal from a set piece, several dangerous transitions and a higher number of corners show that the visitors were not harmless, but the red card and Hungary's control of possession ultimately proved decisive. Hungary, on the other hand, turned home ground into an advantage only when it raised the tempo after the break and when players from the bench began to make a concrete difference. In friendly matches, the result is not the only measure, but a comeback victory often has added value for the atmosphere in the dressing room. Debrecen thus saw a match in which the favorite ultimately confirmed its quality, but also received a clear warning that against a disciplined opponent every early lapse can quickly turn into a scoreboard problem.
Sources:
- Hungarian Football Federation MLSZ – report after the match Hungary - Kazakhstan and description of the comeback in Debrecen (link)
- Hungarian Football Federation MLSZ – Marco Rossi's reaction after the victory over Kazakhstan (link)
- Hungarian Football Federation MLSZ – match preview, date, stadium and capacity data for Nagyerdei Stadion (link)
- UEFA – official match information, lineups, report and details of the match Hungary - Kazakhstan (link)
- Sky Sports – match chronology, scorers, assists and cards (link)
- ESPN – match statistics, possession, shots, cards, corners and basic information about the encounter (link)
- Football Federation of Kazakhstan KFF – confirmation of the change of venue from Turkistan to Debrecen and the schedule of June friendly matches (link)
- Football Federation of Kazakhstan KFF – preview by coach Talgat Baisufinov on the role of the June friendly matches in preparation for autumn commitments (link)