Even the Germans came to the event in Hungarian jerseys, with scarves displaying the colors of the Hungarian tricolor around their necks, in which 600 lucky people could participate as spectators. The greatest interest surrounded Szoboszlai.
Due to the love of the locals and the fandom of the Hungarians, the public training session of the Hungarian national football team, which is preparing for the European Championship starting on Friday, was held on Wednesday in Weiler-Simmerberg in southern Bavaria.
Sixty minutes before the start of the training scheduled for 6 p.m., the track of the town of 6,500 inhabitants was full, where 600 lucky people could enter, the locals received 450 tickets, and 150 were distributed by the Hungarian association.
Many people - even the Germans - arrived in Hungarian jerseys, with scarves around their necks or hats, regardless of age or gender. A kind of village day festival atmosphere surrounded the event, where fried potatoes and freshly baked Bavarian sausages were sold for three and four euros, respectively, right next to the playing field.
And the beer came straight from the brewery next door to the seventh-grade club.
After the warm-up, the practice itself started with player tasks, and then the football players primarily practiced the short passing game and ball possession at a fairly intense pace. Among the injured footballers, Nego Loic moved separately from the beginning, while Callum Styles practiced together with his teammates, and then when the main role became the shots, passes, headers and the game, he left.
The audience rewarded each goal with an ovation during the shots, and Szoboszlai's hits were especially popular. The Liverpool star also gave reason to be happy, he checked Péter Szappanos, who was in goal at the time, by orders of magnitude more times than his teammates.
At the end of the slightly more than one-hour training, what the fans were most waiting for came, as the road leading out of the field was closed with cordons, and the members of the Hungarian national team marched out amid the enthusiasm of the locals, the fans and the children. The football players signed autographs and took photos on the approximately 100-meter long stretch.
The greatest interest surrounded Szoboszlai, who patiently welcomed the enthusiastic fans and walked along both sides of the cordon so as not to miss anyone.
The training session made it clear that the residents of the picturesque village, located between meadows and forests and green mountains, have locked the Hungarian team in their hearts, and they don't just say that, they really want the Hungarians to advance from Group A alongside the hosts, the Germans.
The Hungarian national team will start their continental competition against the Swiss in Cologne on Saturday, then they will meet the hosts Germany on June 19 in Stuttgart, and the Scots four days later in the group stage.
MTI
Cover photo: Dominik Szoboszlai, a member of the Hungarian national team participating in the European Football Championship in Germany, after the team's public training in Weiler-Simmerberg on June 12, 2024.
Source: MTI/Tibor Illyés
