Hungary-Poland: Marco Rossi is undefeated against Paulo Sousa

 

We have some good news ahead of the Hungary-Poland World Cup qualifier: Marco Rossi is undefeated against Paulo Sousa

They haven't met many times in their football and coaching careers, but the Italian professional coaching the Hungarian national team can still say the hasn't lost to his Portuguese mate who is in charge of the Polish national team. Two games, one win, one draw – that's 56-year-old Marco Rossi's statistics against his junior colleague of six years. They met once as footballers, and once as coaches.

In the hope that the Hungarian captain will maintain his unbeaten record, it's worth reviving both occasions before their third clash on Thursday.

As for the players' past, although Marco Rossi and Paulo Sousa could've met on the pitch in the 1994–95 Serie A season, the Sampdoria defender and Juventus midfielder's journey didn't cross at the time. On September 25, 1994, in Turin, neither of them had an opportunity, but Sousa was at least happy that his team won 1–0 in his absence. The goal net was vibrating in the Genoa meeting on February 26, 1995 once when Sven-Göran Eriksson counted on Marco Rossi from the first minute to the last. Though Marcello Lippi didn't deploy the Portuguese, Sousa was comforted by Gianluca Vialli's goal that made the “zebras” win again.

Though it seemed as if a Rossi-Sousa battle won't happen ever, on May 3, 1998, Internazionale welcomed Piacenza. In the host's team, Sousa played in jersey no. 19 while the guest's Marco Rossi wore number 14 on his shirt at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza. The fact that no goals were scored in the match is primarily a compliment to Piacenza's back formation which the then-33-year-old full back was a part of for 45 minutes. He still clearly remembers that clash and that he couldn't return for the second half due to injury. The minutes show that there was another person who played for one half – he was Paulo Sousa. He later played in Serie A while Marco Rossi's 0-0 in Milan was his 81st and final appearance in the Italian topflight.

Fourteen years later, Rossi sat on the bench for his third Hungarian League (NB I) game on the day his team Honvéd was about to play at the Sóstói Stadion. Paulo Sousa, who had been in charge of Fehérvár, formerly known as Videoton, for a year at the time, was leading the team quite well. In the 2011–2012 season, he led Videoton to second place. Just 72 hours before the match in question on August 12, 2012, Videoton defeated Ghent with two wins with an aggregate score of 4-0 at the Europa League's third qualifying round. In the rematch in Belgium, they won 3–0 in a way that along with Filipe Oliveira, Nemanja Nikolić scored twice.

Actions were then followed by words. Nikolić gave our newspaper an interview leading up to the match against Honvéd. He spoke about the victory in Ghent as well, the forfeit/play-off, which he later successfully won, and the fact that the fans demanded him for the Hungarian national team ("If they think I should be there, I'm glad because football is for them after all. However, there is no need to go deeper into this subject because I have not yet received an invitation. If I get it, I'll be happy to go!") The interview was accompanied by a photo of Ivan Lovrić of Honvéd trying to prevent Nikolić, who first put on his Hungarian national team jersey on October 11, 2013 and who now prepares for his 36th cap, from scoring. We risk saying that even our photo editor didn't think how important his choice would be because the Croatian legionnaire had performed a memorable, great feat in the match – to the greatest sorrow of Paulo Sousa and to the happiness of Marco Rossi.

The Italian head coach can still say that he hasn't lost a point as a coach to the Portuguese trainer. It took not only Boris Živanović's goal in the 11th minute, but also a defender to block Nikolić's penalty in the 91st minute. In the first minute of extra time, Szabolcs Kemenes collided with Sándor Torghelle within the penalty arc, and Zsolt Szabó awarded a penalty first, then excluded the goalkeeper. With Marco Rossi taking advantage of all his subs by then, the field players needed to get to the goal line - and Lovrić, who was wearing a distinctive top and gloves, corner kicked the ball into the bottom right.

It's part of the story that Zsolt Szabó sent Paulo Sousa off the bench because he applauded one of his judgments to which the culprit responded in Nemzeti Sport: "Does that mean I can't applaud my own player? I must say, in Hungary the referees are saints and invulnerable, the fourth referee, like the captain of some army, reprimanded me..."

 

Marco Rossi was on the front page of Nemzeti Sport on August 13-14, 2012, leaning on Paulo Sousa's shoulder on the first, and by himself on the second one apropos of an extensive interview with him. The coach, who was almost unknown in Hungary at the time, spoke to Péter Csillag about Paulo Sousa the day after the match ("He was a great player, a highly-ranked footballer, higher than me. As coaches, we strongly support our team in front of the bench, but between the two of us, Sousa represents the southern European style more while I consider myself a northern type in this regard.") Rossi also talked about the experience of the 91st minute ("The incident had its prelude since during the week Kemenes and Lovrić had a penalty kicking contest for fun. I might add, Szabolcs won it.”) Finally, the interview concluded what Rossi's hope is in the league. After Honvéd was at the top of the rankings after the third round, he said, "Videoton and Debrecen stand out from the domestic clubs, and maybe Győr as well. We would love the third place too, but I always say that goals shouldn't be talked about but achieved.” Marco Rossi wasn't completely wrong: Győr won the League before Videoton and Honvéd. There was a change in coaches in Fehérvár halfway into the season as Paulo Sousa said goodbye for family reasons, so he didn't have the opportunity to get revenge on his Italian colleague in the spring. Nine years after their last match, he may be able to do it, but perhaps he understands it as well that if, like Marco Rossi, we hope that what he couldn't have as a player and as a club coach will not work out as a head coach either.

POLISH NATIONAL TEAM'S 27-MEMBER SQUAD
Goalkeepers:Lukasz Fabianski (West Ham United – England), Lukasz Skorupski (Bologna– Italy), Wojciech Szczesny (Juventus– Italy)
Defenders:Jan Bednarek (Southampton – England), Bartosz Bereszynski (Sampdoria– Italy), Pawel Dawidowicz (Hellas Verona– Italy), Kamil Glik (Benevento – Italy), Michal Helik (Barnsley FC – England), Kamil Piatkowski (Raków Czestochowa), Arkadiusz Reca (Crotone – Italy), Maciej Rybus (Lokomotiv Moscow – Russia)
Midfielders:Rafal Augustyniak (FK Ural – Russia), Kamil Grosicki (West Bromwich Albion– England), Kamil Józwiak (Derby County– England), Mateusz Klich (Leeds United– England), Sebastian Kowalczyk (Pogon Szczecin), Kacper Kozlowski (Pogon Szczecin), Grzegorz Krychowiak (Lokomotiv Moscow – Russia), Jakub Moder (Brighton & Hove Albion– England), Przemyslaw Placheta (Norwich City– England), Bartosz Slisz (Legia Warszawa), Sebastian Szymanski (Dynamo Moscow – Russia), Piotr Zielinski (Napoli – Italy)
Forwards:Robert Lewandowski (Bayern München – Germany), Arkadiusz Milik (Olympique Marseille – France), Krzysztof Piatek (Hertha BSC – Germany), Karol Swiderski (PAOK – Greece)

HUNGARIAN NATIONAL TEAM SQUAD
Goalkeepers:Dénes Dibusz (FTC), Péter Gulácsi (RB Leipzig – Germany), Balázs Tóth (Puskás Akadémia)
Defenders:Endre Botka (FTC), Attila Fiola (Mol Fehérvár FC), Szilveszter Hangya (Mol Fehérvár FC), Ákos Kecskés (Lugano – Switzerland), Ádám Lang (Omonia Nicosia – Cyprus), Gergő Lovrencsics (FTC), Willi Orbán (RB Leipzig – Germany), Attila Szalai (Fenerbahce – Turkey)
Midfielders:Tamás Cseri (Mezőkövesd), Dániel Gazdag (Budapest Honvéd), Filip Holender (FK Partizan – Serbia), Zsolt Kalmár (DAC – Slovakia), László Kleinheisler (NK Osijek – Croatia), Ádám Nagy (Bristol City – England), LoïcNégo (Mol Fehérvár FC), András Schäfer (DAC – Slovakia), Dávid Sigér (FTC)
Forwards:Krisztián Géresi (Puskás Akadémia), Nemanja Nikolić (Mol Fehérvár FC), Roland Sallai (Freiburg – Germany), Ádám Szalai (Mainz – Germany), Kevin Varga (Kasimpasa – Turkey), Roland Varga (MTK Budapest)

WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS, EUROPE
GROUP I SCHEDULE
ROUND 1, MARCH 25, THURSDAY
8.45PM:HUNGARY – Poland
8.45PM:England – San Marino
8.45PM:Andorra – Albania

ROUND 2, MARCH 28, SUNDAY
6PM:Albania – England
8.45PM:San Marino – HUNGARY
8.45PM:Poland – Andorra

ROUND 3, MARCH 31, WEDNESDAY
8.45PM:Andorra – HUNGARY
8.45PM:England – Poland
8.45PM:San Marino – Albania

ROUND 4, SEPTEMBER 2, THURSDAY
8.45PM:HUNGARY – England
8.45PM:Andorra – San Marino
8.45PM:Poland – Albania

ROUND 5, SEPTEMBER 5, SUNDAY
6PM:Albania – HUNGARY
6PM:England – Andorra
8.45PM:San Marino – Poland

ROUND 6, SEPTEMBER 8, WEDNESDAY
8.45PM:HUNGARY – Andorra
8.45PM:Poland – England
8.45PM:Albania – San Marino

ROUND 7, OCTOBER 9, SATURDAY
8.45PM:HUNGARY – Albania
8.45PM:Andorra – England
8.45PM:Poland – San Marino

ROUND 8, OCTOBER 12, TUESDAY
8.45PM:England – HUNGARY
8.45PM:San Marino – Andorra
8.45:Albania – Poland

ROUND 9, NOVEMBER 12, FRIDAY

8.45PM:HUNGARY – San Marino
8.45PM:Andorra – Poland
8.45PM:England – Albania

ROUND 10, NOVEMBER 15, MONDAY
8.45PM:Poland – HUNGARY
8.45PM:San Marino – England
8.45PM:Albania – Andorra

(Translated by Vanda Orosz)