This is a pivotal time for Vasas. An expensive new stadium is nearing completion but the team are stuck in the second division playing villages instead of big-hitters like Ferencváros and Honved. Key players Balajti and Birtalan are on fire, but unless promotion is achieved they’re likely to leave in the summer. Given the team’s reliance on them, it’s vital Vasas go up this term or the next season in NBii will be a very long one.
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This lovely shirt arrived via a friend last week. In 1995 Tokyo Verdy were still known as Verdy Kawasaki (despite the badge saying Yomiuri Nippon FC), and were still a successful team in the J-League. They came second this year and also won the Japanese Super Cup.
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Last year I found myself holding two human skulls. The people they were formerly attached to had died from the plague, and I had to identify who was who in order to save another life. I worked quickly; measuring jawbones, assessing facial features and trying not to think about the incessant tick of the clock. I was running out of time…
I got to see the inside of a Hungarian public hospital last week; a hernia surgery meaning I missed the last few Vasas matches. Whilst the aesthetic was a wee bit Cold War and the welcome not as warm as the dear old NHS, I am now the proud owner of three small scars and a fixed stomach – thanks to the staff at Péterfy Kórház for that. And so I managed to get myself up and about in time to see Vasas play Balmazujvaras, a team determined to take top spot from Nyiregyhaza in the “teams whose names I can’t pronounce” stakes.
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It’s hard to motivate yourself to write after watching such a complete capitulation. Let’s get the score out of the way early. Vasas lost 4-0 today and – without exaggeration – it should have been at least seven. Győr were incisive, playing dangerous balls through the Vasas backline with alarming and repeated ease. I was surprised by how well the away team played given their league position; their direct, first-touch, purposeful work too much for a Vasas team that seem to have frittered away their pre-Christmas confidence. Tóth and Kelemen in the Vasas defence were bypassed by slide-rule passes to Győri strikers at will, and the pacy forwards gave them a torrid time all game.
Continue readingDebrecen’s 18-year-old debutant Dániel Zsóri officially has nowhere to go now but down.
After scoring 39 goals this season for the Debrecen reserves, Zsóri was brought on in the 86th minute against current league leaders Ferencváros. Debrecen sit in third.
The score was 1-1. It was his debut. He did this…
That, my friends, is a hit and a half.
Workrate can be deceiving in football. A player can bustle around for 90 minutes with plenty of the ball and yet hold back his team through lack of intent. When players start to think that running around, making sideways passes and looking busy are the same as having purpose, teams get into trouble. Yes, the manager can’t fault the workrate, but matches aren’t won with directionless effort.
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I’ve seen a few of these knocking around online and managed to pick one up fairly cheaply. The design is the classic Adidas template which was used for Colombia’s Italia 90 strip, leading me to believe this is from the 90/91 season,
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Over the years I’ve owned a fair few football shirts (ever since getting the Evening Gazette Boro shirt for Christmas as a kid). When I started travelling and following other teams I resolved to collect at least one from each of them. So I thought it was time to start documenting them on here. Consider this a rare bonus feature.
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The nearly-completed Illovszky Rudolf Stadion – future home of Vasas FC.
Due to an improbable series of events, I ended up being interviewed on Hungarian national media for creating an Instagram account about statues (@statuesofbudapest – should you be curious). The topic of the interview turned to football and I mentioned how I’d come to support Vasas since arriving in Budapest (namely – I like underdogs and the shared ironworking history of Vasas and Middlesbrough).
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