Ferencvaros 1-1 Vasas (2018)

Ferencvaros 1-1 Vasas
Nemzeti Bajnokság I
Saturday 12th May 2018

Although Hungarian football doesn't quite produce either teams or players capable of creating major headlines nowadays, its capital - Budapest, is still something of a hotbed for a decent sporting weekend.

There are a plethora of clubs located in this city which is cut in two by the River Danube.

Ferencvaros (the country's most successful club) will be the name known to most people and their Groupama Arena home is perfectly located adjacent to Budapest's main bus terminus. Not too far away is MTK Budapest's quaint 7,500-capacity Hidegkuti Nándor Stadium which has concrete walls behind both goals, whilst Ujpest, Budapest Honved, Vasas and several lower division clubs also have their own grounds in the suburbs.

Boasting a capacity of over 65,000, the newly-built Ferenc Puskas Arena is Hungary's largest stadium and is set to host games at the delayed Euro 2020 championship later this summer.

Whenever you visit Budapest, it's likely there'll be a game being played somewhere in quite close proximity and with both ticket prices and general living costs being significantly cheaper here than in many other countries - plus the various sightseeing opportunities in the tourist hot-spots on the banks of the Danube (and usually decent weather), it makes for a fantastic little break away.

My first visit in May 2018 was deliberately planned to coincide with Ferencvaros' home game against city rivals Vasas - a top versus bottom fixture in the Nemzeti Bajnokság I at the time!

Despite having been forewarned about the complicated process in obtaining tickets for the game, it was a mistake on my part in turning up two hours before kick-off and expecting things to run smoothly.

For those unaware, Ferencvaros' owners have a policy in place (allegedly introduced to tackle hooliganism which has long-since been associated with the club's name) whereby membership cards need to be purchased at a modest cost before you can actually buy a match ticket.

It isn't that straightforward, however, because becoming a member involves being photographed, filling in forms and then holding some sort of dome-shaped 'vein scanning device' which collects your palm and finger prints for individual identification purposes. Once that's all completed, and with your details on file, you can then queue again and purchase a ticket with your membership card before eventually heading to the turnstiles, scanning your membership card, match ticket and palm of your hand and entering the stadium - assuming, of course, you haven't lost the will to live by this point.

It's certainly one way to stop tickets being transferred around but sadly, queues in Hungary don't move particularly quickly and after snail-pace movement which inevitably led to a mass scrum to buy a membership card (with queue-jumping going on aplenty), it was some 20 minutes AFTER kick-off that I'd finally got a membership card and match ticket and plonked my backside on a seat.

The moral of the story is... if you're planning a visit here, you really, really, really need to get to the stadium a day or so beforehand and complete the formalities when there aren't hundreds of others trying to do the same. If not, you'll probably miss (some of) the game!

Thankfully I didn't miss any goals and what happened on the pitch proved to hugely frustrating for the hosts who toiled, lacked ideas and conviction, squandered their openings and saw a few shots saved, and seemed anything but bonafide title challengers. 

The most recognisable name in Ferencvaros' team was Tamas Priskin (formerly of Watford and Ipswich Town) but he was an unused substitute.

Vasas were resilient and dogged and kept their well-fancied opponents at bay. Joseph Paintsil came closest with a sweet 25-yard that ricocheted back off the post but the game looked set to be goalless until the 89th minute when Miha Blazic broke the deadlock with a rebound header from just a few yards out after visiting 'keeper Felix Burmeister did magnificently to keep out the first attempt.

The goal provoked a huge outpouring of joy, relief and pure unadulterated delight amongst the delirious home fans. It clearly meant an awful lot and it's importance seemed as if it would go a significant way to deciding whether or not Fradi would be champions by the end of the season.

Tempers soon flared with a brawl involving several players in the first of four minutes of injury-time though, surprisingly, it didn't result in any red cards being shown.

In terms of the scoreline, Blazic's late opener just a few moments earlier appeared as if it would settle proceedings but there proved to be a cruel and dramatic twist as Vasas went up the other end deep into injury-time and salvaged a point; Tamas Egerszeki firing a speculative shot through a crowded penalty area which somehow ended up in the back of the net!

Silence immediately descended on almost all quarters of the ground as Egerszeki wheeled away in celebration; the ball hitting the net with precisely 12 seconds of the contest remaining. It really had been one of those perplexing, puzzling and utterly frustrating nights for Ferencvaros who did go on to clinch the title whilst their counterparts fell through the relegation trapdoor.