Hungary will travel to European minnows San Marino in their second World Cup 2022 qualifier on Sunday evening hoping to record their first victory in Group I.
The visitors head into this fixture after drawing a six-goal thriller against Poland on Thursday, while the hosts were beaten heavily by England at Wembley Stadium.
Match preview
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San Marino, who sit bottom of the FIFA world rankings in 210th place, lost once again as England cruised to a 5-0 victory on Thursday evening.
A brace from Dominic Calvert-Lewin, as well as strikes from James Ward-Prowse, Raheem Sterling and Ollie Watkins, helped the Three Lions claim their first three points in Group I, leaving San Marino rooted to the foot of the table once again, an unwanted yet familiar position for Franco Varrella's side.
In the 67 World Cup qualifying matches that San Marino have played, they have only ever picked up two draws, losing the other 65 games and conceding an incredible 315 goals in the process.
Their last victory against an international side came back in 2004 with a 1-0 win over Lichtenstein, and their only realistic hopes of claiming a win in Group I will be against Andorra, who they face later this year.
The home team are not expected to claim any points against Hungary on Sunday and will just want to give a good account of themselves.
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A six-goal thriller in Budapest saw Hungary draw 3-3 against Poland in their opening World Cup qualifier on Thursday evening.
After Roland Sallai scored early in the first half, Adam Szalai doubled the home side's lead in the 52nd minute, but they were pegged back when two goals in two minutes scored by substitutes Krzysztof Piatek and Kamil Jozwiak drew Poland level.
Hungary thought they had won it when Willi Orban restored their lead with 12 minutes left to play, but Robert Lewandowski found the net from his first attempt on goal to claim a point for the Poles.
Having lead twice in the match, manager Marco Rossi will be disappointed that his side were not able to open their account with three points but with a favourable fixture on Sunday against San Marino, the Italian will feel that Hungary should have enough quality to bounce back and secure a commanding victory.
Hungary – two-time World Cup runners-up – have won all four of their previous meetings with San Marino by an aggregate score of 19-0.
With successive away fixtures against San Marino and then Andorra on Wednesday, Hungary will be looking to claim six points and put themselves in a strong position to finish in Group I's top two.
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Team News
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Only two members of San Marino's 23-man squad have ever scored for their country – forward Filippo Berardi and left-back Mirko Palazzi – and both are expected to start on Sunday.
Elia Benedettini, who plays for Italian third division outfit Cesena, is the man with the unenviable task of playing in goal, while club teammate Nicola Nanni could start once again in attack.
Hungary centre-back Attila Fiola is suspended after he was shown two yellow cards against Poland, which could see Adam Lang start in his place.
Star midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai is ruled out with a thigh injury, but his absence should not be an issue for the visitors when facing San Marino this weekend.
Freiburg's Sallai and Mainz 05's Szalai both scored in the draw with Poland and are both expected to keep their places up front.
Winger Kevin Varga could be one player brought into the first XI at the expense of left wing-back Szilveszter Hangya.
San Marino possible starting lineup:
E. Benedettini; Battistini, Brolli, Rossi, Grandoni, Palazzi; Berardi, Lunadei, Golinucci, Hirsch; Nanni
Hungary possible starting lineup:
Gulacsi; Lang, Orban, At. Szalai; Lovrencsics, Kleinheisler, Nagy, Kalmar, K Varga; Sallai, Ad. Szalai
We say: San Marino 0-5 Hungary
San Marino have not managed to avoid defeat in a World Cup qualification game since holding Latvia to a 1-1 draw in 2001, and their chances of replicating such a result against Hungary are slim.
The visitors should have no problems in securing a comfortable victory at the Stadio Olimpico di Serravalle on Sunday.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Hungary win with a probability of 59.16%. A draw had a probability of 23.2% and a win for San Marino had a probability of 17.62%.
The most likely scoreline for a Hungary win was 0-1 with a probability of 13.09%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (11.5%) and 1-2 (9.66%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.99%), while for a San Marino win it was 1-0 (6.25%). The actual scoreline of 0-3 was predicted with a 6.7% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Hungary would win this match.
