Our U17 side began its campaign at the 18th Puskás–Suzuki Cup in Felcsút on Wednesday against Czech side Slavia Prague. As is traditional, our players were accompanied by a large group from the academy, creating an excellent atmosphere.
The first chance fell to the Czech side in the second minute, but the long-range effort went wide of Dávid Czinki's goal. At the other end, our first clear chance came after winning the ball, but after Kovács's cross Érsek was beaten to it by his defender and could not turn the ball into the Prague net. The team in blue punished the miss almost immediately: Masek ran onto a good pass inside the penalty area and, from a tight angle, smashed a superb shot inside the near post (1–0). The second Czech goal arrived in the final third of the half. The first-time effort was cleared, but despite Czinki's dive, Procházka converted the rebound to double the hosts' lead. In the closing minutes of the half we went close to reducing the deficit twice, with Bokor threatening on both occasions: first he received a good ball on the left but Suchy saved his curling effort, then he headed narrowly wide of the right post following a free kick.
The second half began with an immediate fine save from Czinki, but soon afterwards, in the 33rd minute, Prague extended their lead. After an attack down the left, Masek finished from close range (3–0) to complete his brace. Slavia then created several more dangerous situations, but the next goal was ours: Érsek headed Csörgő's free kick from the left under the crossbar (3–1). In the 57th minute we cut the deficit to one. Balaskó dribbled inside from the right, threaded his way past two Czech players and fired powerfully inside the near post (3–2). Chasing an equaliser, we even had a chance to make it 3–3, but Balaskó's deflected cross came back off the outside of the post. From the counterattack, Czinki then produced a huge save after another well-worked move similar to the third goal.
Our U17 side therefore opened the Puskás–Suzuki Cup with a 3–2 defeat despite an excellent second-half performance.
In the next round we face Greek side Panathinaikos on Friday, before closing the group stage against Juventus on Saturday in a rematch of last year's final.
PUSKÁS–SUZUKI CUP 2026 – ROUND 1
SLAVIA PRAHA–BUDAPEST HONVÉD 3–2 (2–0)
SLAVIA: O. Suchy - M. Suchy, Hlavaty, Procházka, Kozhushko, Ilincic, Cimpl, Belzík, Masek, Pancír, Reil.
HONVÉD: Czinki - Ferencz, Csörgő, Varga-Sós, Szanka, För, Érsek, Molnár, Kovács, Bokor. Head coach: Viktor Petrók
Goals: Masek (12., 24.), Procházka (21.); Érsek (46.), Balaskó (56.)
