Gera keeps Hungary hoping

Midfielder Zoltán Gera believes Hungary remain well-placed to qualify for UEFA EURO 2016 despite the frustration of Sunday's goalless draw at home to Greece.

Pál Dárdai's side sit third in Group F with eight points from five games, although Gera knows victory slipped through their grasp against the 2004 champions. "We had two or three chances, which was our target – create a few chances, find one goal and that would be enough for the win," the No10 told UEFA.com. "But we missed our opportunities and Greece are a good team. A draw was a fair result."

While acknowledging that the hopes of Hungary's opponents are fading fast – "Greece are out of the race" – Gera is optimistic his team can challenge in the second half of the qualifying programme. "The next game is critical, in Finland [on 13 June]," said the 35-year-old. "If we don't lose there, we have a good chance to stay in third position. Unfortunately we lost the first game against Northern Ireland here. That was a bad loss for us, but we have a good chance."

Gera points to the September appointment of Dárdai as a turning point in Hungary's campaign. "With the new coach, we have won two, drawn two [qualifiers] and conceded only one goal, so if we continue our work and play like this, we have a good chance. We're organised and that's the key. Dárdai knows international football so he doesn't want us to dominate the whole game; he knows what we have and what we can do. We have played together for a long, long time so he knows what we're capable of."

The Budapest stalemate kept Greece bottom of Group F, six points adrift of their hosts, yet Kostas Stafylidis has not given up on qualification despite another wasted opportunity. "We lost two points [against Hungary] because we dominated and had control of the match – if we'd have scored, we'd have won," the defender said.

Greece have also switched coaches this season, Claudio Ranieri leaving his post in November and Sergio Markarián taking over last month, with Stafylidis seeking a similar improvement in fortunes to the Hungarians'. "The change of coach has been a key factor for us," said the left-back. "We needed to prove we could play better and he has motivated us. We changed our playing style a lot and did exactly what he asked of us.

"We knew what we had to do here. We knew it was a do-or-die match which we had to win, but it's OK – we didn't lose and it was a huge improvement. There are still five matches left, so of course there are still chances. We're going to try our best and since we're not dead, there is always hope. We can chase our dream, even through the play-offs. It wouldn't be the first time."