Hungary vs Belgium Predictions & Betting Tips, Match Previews

Hungary are one of the many surprise packages in Euro 2016 so far. Their opening game success against dark horses Austria was followed by a 1-1 draw with Iceland that secure them passage into the knockout stages. Their final group game against Portugal could see them shockingly top the group after many predictions suggested that they would be footing the table.

Hungary continued to show an impressive level of organisation and teamwork going forward against Portugal, with veteran Zoltan Gera netting the opener inside 20 minutes. Nani equalised before the break, but the real action came in the second half. Just two minutes after the restart Balazs Dzsudzsak put Hungary back in front with a deflect free Kick, but three minutes after that Cristiano Ronaldo produced a bit of magic to flick in another equaliser. Another five minutes passed before Dzsudzsak saw another of his shots deflected into the net, but once again Portugal levelled when Ronaldo headed in to make it 3-3. It all calmed down then as both teams settled for a point, but a last minute Iceland goal relegated Portugal to 3rd place in the group to add a final twist to this unpredictable group.

The group may have changed multiple times over the course of the night, but one thing that remained constant was Hungary’s determination and impressiveness. Now they turn their attentions towards a possible success over Belgium in the knockout stages.

Belgium, long touted as the future of international football, were among many people’s predictions as possible front runners for Euro 2016. This changed when Italy outclassed them in the opening group game. Belgium looked disjointed and lacking in teamwork as they fell to a 2-0 defeat, and they didn’t look great in the first half against Republic of Ireland either. The second half in that match was a different matter as Romelu Lukaku netted either side of an Axel Witsel header as Belgium won 3-0.

Their final group game saw them return to their struggling ways as they failed to finish off attacking moves despite a very entertaining first half of football. Lukaku and Zlatan Ibrahimovic each had goals ruled out. Kevin De Bruyne then cleared the ball off his own line to preserve the 0-0 scoreline, but minutes later Radja Nainggolan fired in a spectacular and unsaveable winner that condemned Sweden to defeat.

They undoubtedly have the talent in their squad to go all the way, but at the moment they just can’t seem to click. We briefly saw what they were capable of against Republic of Ireland though.

Hungary don’t have the talent, but they do have an excellent tactical set up and players who seem to perform very well together. They have scored in every match of this tournament and the dodgy Belgium back line will be worried. Belgium’s defence was poor against Italy and were lucky to keep a clean sheet against Sweden as well.

Hungary have netted in nine of their last 11 games as well, whilst Belgium have conceded in eight of their last ten games. The Belgians have found the net in all but one of these games though, and considering Hungary have conceded at least one in eight of their last 11 matches Belgium will know that a goal is to be had. I don’t see Belgium keeping a clean sheet either though, so my prediction is for both teams to score at incredibly good value odds of 13/8. I think Belgium’s quality will be too much for Hungary though, so I’m going for a 2-1 win for Belgium at 9/1 for my correct score predictions.