7M - International Friendlies Preview: Hungary vs Kazakhstan - prediction, team news, lineups

Both nations find themselves on the outside looking in ahead of this year's World Cup, meaning their 2025-26 international campaigns will officially wrap up on Tuesday evening as Hungary play host to Kazakhstan. Meeting at the Nagyerdei Stadion in Debrecen for an international exhibition, both squads are eager to utilize the occasion to lay critical foundations for their upcoming UEFA Nations League cycles.

Match Preview

Hungary will once again endure an agonizing absence from the global stage after falling just short during the qualification process. The historic footballing nation, who finished as World Cup runners-up in both 1938 and 1954, will see their painful separation from FIFA's premier tournament stretch to four full decades after missing out on a coveted playoff position.

Following the heartbreak of a dramatic defeat to the Republic of Ireland that officially crushed their qualification dreams, head coach Marco Rossi immediately handed in his resignation. However, the Hungarian football federation swiftly rejected his departure, convincing the Italian tactician—who has steered the Magyars since 2018—to remain in the dugout for three subsequent exhibitions. Under his steady guidance, Hungary picked up a slim 1-0 triumph over Slovenia and fought to a scoreless stalemate with Greece during the spring window.

The positive momentum continued into the summer break in Budapest, where Barnabas Varga's clinical first-half brace propelled the team to a solid 2-0 victory against Finland on Friday. Rossi now has exactly 90 minutes of football left to experiment and test alternative tactical shapes before their new Nations League campaign bursts into life at the end of September, where they are scheduled to clash with Georgia, Ukraine, and Northern Ireland in League B Group 2.

Historically, there is very little separating Tuesday's combatants, with each nation claiming one win apiece from their two previous friendly meetings. Notably, Kazakhstan walked away with a thrilling 3-2 victory during their most recent trip to Hungarian soil eight years ago.

Similar to their hosts, the Kazakhs will have to watch the upcoming tournament from afar after a disappointing qualifying phase left them finishing a distant fourth in their section. Despite capturing a pair of victories over Liechtenstein and extracting admirable draws against North Macedonia and Belgium, the Hawks never truly threatened to break their long-standing drought and secure a historic tournament debut.

Now operating in his third distinct stint as the senior team manager, Talgat Baysufinov has been handed the keys to reconstruct the squad ahead of the next Nations League cycle, especially after Kazakhstan endured a miserable prior campaign that yielded only a single point and resulted in relegation. Following a competitive 1-1 draw in Armenia on Saturday, Baysufinov will look to blood more fresh talent in Debrecen before turning his focus to a League C group that contains Slovakia, Moldova, and the Faroe Islands.

Team News

With an eye firmly fixed on future cycles, Marco Rossi handed international bows to multiple uncapped prospects during this post-season double-header, including teenage forward Bendeguz Kovacs, who secured his first senior cap on Friday.

With experienced netminders Peter Gulacsi and Denes Dibusz omitted from the current roster, youthful Liverpool goalkeeper Armin Pecsi will battle Blackburn Rovers' Balazs Toth and veteran keeper Peter Szappanos for the starting spot in goal. Team captain and talisman Dominik Szoboszlai, who stands as his nation's leading active goalscorer, is virtually guaranteed to dictate proceedings in the engine room after a sparkling performance against Finland where he carved out three distinct opportunities and directly assisted Varga's opening goal.

Meanwhile, Kazakhstan's defensive unit will be anchored by team captain Nuraly Alip, with the Zenit St Petersburg center-back starting at the heart of the backline.

Up front, 17-year-old prodigy Dastan Satpaev is expected to spearhead the visitors' offensive line once again; the highly-rated Kairat forward has already finalized a high-profile agreement to complete a transfer to Chelsea when he celebrates his 18th birthday this coming August. Unfortunately for the visitors, Dynamo Moscow winger Bakhtiyar Zaynutdinov—who found the net when these sides locked horns back in 2018 and currently reigns as the Hawks' all-time leading goalscorer—remains completely sidelined through injury and missed out on the squad selection. Roman Murtazaev, who also etched his name onto the scoresheet in that 2018 encounter, is expected to begin the match among the substitutes.

Possible Lineups

Hungary possible starting lineup:
B. Toth; Osvath, Orban, K. Szucs, Kerkez; Schafer, Styles; A. Toth, Szoboszlai, Sallai; Vargas

Kazakhstan possible starting lineup:
Anarbekov; Ashirbek, Kasym, Alip, Vorogovskiy; Orazov, Kuat, Tapalov; Chesnokov, Satpaev, Samorodov

Prediction: Hungary 3-1 Kazakhstan

Even if Marco Rossi opts to hand opportunities to an experimental starting eleven, Hungary possess more than enough quality to control the tempo of this match against a visiting side sitting 68 places below them in the official FIFA World Rankings.

The hosts display significantly more cutting edge in the final third compared to a low-scoring Kazakhstan outfit that has struggled immensely on their travels, suffering seven defeats across their previous 10 away fixtures. Hungary should run out comfortable winners on home soil.