Striker shortage hits Hungary

A shortage of fit strikers has hampered Hungary's selection for their UEFA EURO 2004™ qualifiers against Poland and Sweden.

Injured hitmen
Coach Imre Gellei has been forced to do without Ferencvárosi TC's Zoltán Gera and Miklós Fehér of SL Benfica, both of whom are injured. In their place, the coach has recalled AEL Limassol FC striker József Sebok and Újpesti FC youngster Tibor Tokody, who has not played for his country since scoring on his debut in a 5-0 win against F.Y.R. Macedonia in November 2002.

Defensive replacements
With Ferencváros defender Gábor Gyepes also on the sick list, Debreceni VSC's Tamás Szekeres could be in a position to earn his sixth international cap. Also in defence, MSV Mainz's Tamás Bódog has been called up again for the first time since suffering a serious knee injury in Hungary's 2-0 defeat at home against Croatia in May 2002.

Bright start
Hungary travel to Chorzow to play Poland on 29 March and follow that with a home game against Sweden on 2 April. Gellei's side remain unbeaten after two qualifying games in Group 4, having won 3-0 against San Marino before picking up a valuable point on their travels against Sweden.

'Names will change'
The coach is hoping for a similar result against Poland. "We know that only a win is a good result for the Polish side but we would like to stop them," said Gellei. "Everyone has to do their best to produce a good result in Chorzow. We will play in the same structure as we did before although some names will change in the Hungarian team."

Hungary squad
Király, Babos, Bodnár, Bódog, Dragóner, Fehér, Füzi, Juhár, Low, Szekeres, Urbán, Dárdai, Korolovszky, Lipcsei, Lisztes, Miriuta, Tóth, Kenesei, Sebok, Tokody, Tököli.