After Saturday's success in Mezőkövesd, our team was back in action on Tuesday in the Hungarian Cup semi-final, facing ZTE FC, who sit an impressive fourth in the top flight. The Zalaegerszeg side reached the last four after beating, among others, three Budapest teams — Budafok, Vasas and Soroksár. Alongside Móri SE and ESMTK, we had eliminated two NB I sides, DVSC and DVTK, on our route through the competition. Interest in the match was enormous, and that was reflected in the stands: more than five thousand spectators came to the Bozsik Arena and created an incredible atmosphere.
Tamás Feczkó made five changes to the starting eleven from Mezőkövesd, bringing in Gellért Dúzs, Bonifác Csonka, Barna Kesztyűs, Patrik Pinte and Ádám Gyurcsó. Kevin Kállai was suspended, while Kevin Varga and Ákos Baki missed out through injury.
The first serious chance fell to us. In the 10th minute, the in-form Pauljevic fired goalwards, but the visiting defenders blocked in time and the ball went over the bar. We clearly controlled the opening half hour. In the 25th minute Medgyes received a good ball on the left and Mauricio pushed his shot behind for a corner. In the 44th minute Calderón made a huge error inside the penalty area, Pauljevic gladly took advantage, dispossessed the Spanish defender and placed the ball past Mauricio into the left corner (1–0). It was not our defender's first cup goal, as he had also scored in Debrecen. After the restart ZTE began to threaten too, Szendrei firing over the crossbar after an excellent solo run. After an hour Dúzs was called into action, producing a superb save from Maxsuell's shot from the edge of the area. In the 77th minute Zuigeber tried from a tight angle, but Mauricio saved. Although the referee added four minutes, it appeared ZTE would not be able to equalise. Then, almost from nothing in stoppage time, Calderón crossed, Bitca headed it back and Joao Victor acrobatically smashed the ball into the top-right corner (1–1). Two periods of 15 minutes followed, and in the second minute of extra time came another cold shower. Again Joao Victor carried the ball forward on a counterattack and laid it off to substitute Alfonso, who shot into the net (1–2). Yet our team did not collapse. Ten minutes later we equalised: Ujváry crossed and although Mauricio got a hand to it, the ball dropped to Szamosi arriving at the far post, who headed superbly into the net (2–2). In the 113th minute we produced another beautiful move, Ujváry, Szamosi and Zuigeber combining down the right, with Kántor missing the latter's sharp cross by only centimetres. In the 115th minute the visitors were also close to progressing when Akpe headed from a corner, but Dúzs was perfectly positioned. The penalty shootout followed, and the visitors were the ones celebrating as they advanced to May's Hungarian Cup final. Our next match is on April 27, when Soroksár SC visit the Bozsik Arena.
MOL HUNGARIAN CUP, 2025/26, SEMI-FINAL
BUDAPEST HONVÉD FC–Zalaegerszegi TE 2–2 (1–0) – penalties: 4–5
Bozsik Arena, 5450 spectators. Referee: Dr. Bence Csonka (Gergő Vígh-Tarsonyi, Balázs Szalai).
HONVÉD: Dúzs – Csonka (Ujváry, 90+9.), Szabó A., Csontos – Pauljevic, Pekár (Szamosi, 66.), Kesztyűs (Szabó T., 66.), Hangya – Gyurcsó, Pinte (Zuigeber, 70.), Medgyes (Nyers, 90+9.). Head coach: Feczkó Tamás
ZTE: Mauricio – Csonka A. (Bitca, 73.), Akpe, Várkonyi (D. Silva, 118.), Calderón (D. Cedillo, 119.) – Amato (Daniel Lima, 73.), Szendrei, Kiss B. – Skribek, Joao Victor (Elosú, 90+8.), Maxsuell (Alfonso, 79.). Head coach: Nuno Campos
Goals: Pauljevic (44.), Szamosi (102.); Joao Victor (90+3.), Alfonso (92.).
Tamás Feczkó:
It is very difficult to assess what we saw, because tactically, physically and emotionally the team gave everything. We dominated the entire first half and deservedly took the lead. In the second half we dropped deeper defensively so that there would be space for our counterattacks. Our opponents had more of the ball, and I am disappointed that we did not finish our counters the way we should have. We were 80 seconds away from winning the match, and mentally it is particularly difficult when the opponent equalises at a moment like that. Very few teams are capable of recovering from that mental state, but the boys showed how strong they are mentally, and the supporters stood by us through the most difficult moments. A positive was that in the second half of extra time, after our second goal, we controlled the match. It is frustrating, however, that although we got behind the defensive line, we could not create a truly big chance. Congratulations to Zalaegerszeg.
Nuno Campos:
First of all, I would like to congratulate both teams. Those who were here in the stadium, and those who watched at home, saw a very good match. It was a very tough game, but we expected that because we played against a team that really knew what it was doing. They thoroughly deserve to be promoted back to the top flight. Both teams deserved to progress. In the end the tie was decided by penalties, which often comes down to luck, but perhaps also to how strongly you believe in winning. I am happy that we went through, but I think both teams would have deserved victory.
