BELGIUM
VS
HUNGARY
Hungary and Belgium will meet in the Round of 16 on Sunday night at the Stadium Municipal.
Hungary qualified for the last 16 as winners of Group F. Level on 5 points with Iceland, Bernd Storck’s side topped the group on goal difference.
Hungary’s final group, a 3-3 draw with Portugal, match was perhaps the most entertaining of the entire group stage. They took the lead on three separate occasions, but were powerless to stop Cristiano Ronaldo at his best.
Veteran midfielder Zoltan Gera opened the scoring with a smashing volley from outside the area. The former West Bromwich midfielder had a pass success rate of 100% before being substituted on 46 minutes. Balazs Dzsudzsak added to the scoreline with a second half brace.
Although getting off to a terrible start by losing 2-0 to Italy, Belgium qualified for the Round of 16 as runners-up of Group E following back to back wins against Ireland and Sweden.
Roma’s Radja Nainggolan scored the only goal of the game against the Swedes to put Belgium level on points and goal difference with the Azzurri, who top the group on head-to-head.
In the absence of the injured Vincent Kompany, Thomas Vermaelen has stepped in admirably at centre-half. The Barcelona defender made a tournament-high 13 interceptions in the group stage. Vermaelen was on the scoresheet the last time the two sides met in a 3-0 friendly win in 2009.
No player has more assists than Belgium’s Eden Hazard (2). The Chelsea winger has also completed the second most dribbles (10) at the tournament.
Mousa Dembele is doubt for the match due to an ankle injury. Hungary’s Adam Nagy, Laszlo Kleinheisler, Tamas Kadar and Krisztian Nemeth will all come back into contention having been left out of the team to face Portugal to protect them from incurring a second yellow card of the competition.
The winners of the match will face either Wales or Northern Ireland in the quarter-finals.
Possible XI
Hungary: Kiraly, Lang, Juhasz, Guzmics, Korhut, Gera, Pinter, Lovrencsics, Elek, Dzsudzsak, Szalai.
Belgium: Courtois, Meunier, Alderweireld, Vermaelen, Vertonghen, Nainggolan, Witsel, Carrasco, De Bruyne, Hazard, Lukaku.
All Credits: NAIRALAND
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