‘Hungary Inches Away from World Cup Play-Offs after Victory over Armenia’—we wrote in our last headline about the Hungarian National Team’s World Cup qualification campaign. Well, in a matter of a few days, those inches have turned into an infinite number of miles.

First off, Portugal did not do us the favour of beating Ireland in Dublin hours after Hungary’s victory over Armenia, which would have rendered the last game between the Irish and the Hungarians moot. Instead, Ireland beat Portugal 2–0. However, Dominik Szoboszlai and the rest of the squad still went into their last game on Sunday, 16 November at the Puskás Arena in Budapest, Hungary in a favourable position. All they had to do was avoid defeat against the Irish, and their first appearance in a World Cup qualifying play-off since 1997 was guaranteed.

What’s more, Hungary even took an early lead in the 4th minute. After a clever short-corner play, captain Szoboszlai found Dániel Lukács at the near post, who flicked the ball into the Irish net with his head—at that point, who would have thought it all would end in heartache?

Troy Parrot, who also scored his nation’s two goals against Portugal, quickly equalized from a penalty in the 15th minute. In response, Roland Sallai came close to taking back the lead for Hungary, but his half volley from short range was deftly saved by Caoimhin Kelleher in the Irish goal.

In the 37th minute, however, there was nothing even he could have done against Barnabás Varga’s absolute stunner of a goal. He is known as a threat inside a box—this time, he smashed the ball into the top far corner from 20 yards out, on the turn after controlling with his chest. Hungary went to half-time up one goal; while Ireland went into half-time with the knowledge that they needed to find two goals in the second half to make it into the play-offs.

And the game did not seem to be going in the favour of the Irish after the break either. Hungary created quite a few chances, with Kelleher having to come to the rescue again and again. Still, Parrott struck again against the run of play, beating the Hungarian off-side trap and putting the ball past Dénes Dibusz in the 80th minute.

To be fair, after their equalizer, and as the game was nearing the final whistle, Ireland created some real danger in front of the Hungarian goal as well. Bence Ötvös, coming on as a substitute, had to clear the ball from in front of the goal line after it passed Dibusz once, while the Hungarian goalie had to make a difficult save after a short-range shot from Johnny Kenny.

The five minutes of added time had passed, and Hungary was still in second place in their group, with a 2–2 tie on the scoreboard. However, Hungary's head coach Marco Rossi made two substitutions in added time, and Willi Orbán was briefly treated for an injury as well, thus not blowing the final whistle was reasonable for the referee.

Sadly so, since the unstoppable Parrott found his third goal for the day (five in his last two games for Ireland!), putting Ireland ahead of Hungary both in the game and on the group table. Goalkeeper Kelleher collected a loose ball after a clearance and floated it into the Hungarian box from around the halfway line, which could not be dealt with by the Hungarian defence. Parrott beat both freshly subbed-in defender Attila Mocsi and goalkeeper Dibusz for the ball, and knocked it into the net from inside the six-yard box.

In the other game of the group, Portugal obliterated Armenia 9–1 at home (without the suspended Cristiano Ronaldo, who got sent off against Ireland in the previous round). Thus, the Portuguese join England, France, and Croatia among the European teams who have already secured qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

As for Hungary, the path to the tournament is officially closed. 1997 remains the last year they made it to a World Cup qualifier play-off. Meanwhile, their most recent World Cup appearance remains Mexico 1986.

The UEFA Nations League spots in the play-offs are reserved for group winners in that competition. Thus, the absurd reality is that now San Marino have more of a chance of advancing in qualification than Hungary.

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