Hungary vs France
Hungary vs France takes place on June 19 at the Puskas Arena in Budapest. The home side started their Euro2020 campaign in spirited fashion but three late goals conceded to Portugal consigned Hungary to the bottom of Group F. They play a France side who had two goals chalked off for offside in a 1-0 win over Germany. Read on for more analysis, match predictions and betting tips.
Form
The 3-0 defeat to Portugal on Tuesday was the first reverse Hungary have suffered since they lost 3-2 to Russia in the Nations League, some 11 games ago last September. For a long time it looked like the Magyars were going to hold out and get a creditable draw but the superior strength of the Portuguese told at the end. Despite having a large home crowd cheering them on, Hungary now are in danger of fulfilling their role as the group whipping boys.
They play a French side whose only defeat in the last two years was in a friendly against Finland back in November last year, and who looked to justify why they were considered one of the pre-tournament favourites to win it all. Kylian Mbappe and Karim Benzema both thought they had scored in the opening game only to find their goals rightfully disallowed for offside. Instead France’s only goal came from a mistake by German defender Mats Hummels who sliced a clearance into his own net. It would be dangerous to write off France’s strike force based on that game.
Injuries
Hungary have no new injuries following their game with Portugal allowing head coach Marco Rossi the luxury of a full squad to choose from. While that squad is shorn of their star player Dominik Szoboslai due to injury, there were some good performances and it could be that Rossi starts again with the same 4-3-3 formation which frustrated Portugal for so long.
France right-back Benjamin Pavard may well miss this game despite playing on for the full 90 minutes against Germany. The Bayern Munich defender was knocked out after a blow to the face and under the new concussion protocol he should probably have been taken off. He could be replaced by Lyon right-back Leo Dubois for this fixture.
Match predictions
France are very short favourites to win this game despite playing away in Hungary with some bookies only offering 1.30 against Les Bleus winning. The bookies are also offering under 2.00 against over 2.5 goals and have made BTTS:No favourites in the both teams to score market which suggests they expect another heavy defeat for Hungary. Although Hungary haven’t lost many at home in recent times, it’s also true they’ve not played many strong teams there. With France -1 being priced as competitively as 2.00, the value betting tips might well be in the handicap market.
