Kornél Szűcs targets more success with Plymouth Argyle and Hungary
Kornél Szűcs has achieved two childhood dreams in the last three months after moving to England to play in the Championship with Plymouth Argyle and then making his national team debut for Hungary.
The 23-year-old defender has made seven Championship appearances for Wayne Rooney's Pilgrims, starting the last six games as the centre-back partner to Lewis Gibson, after joining from Hungarian side Kecskemeti in early August and he already looks to be a bargain buy after his reported £400,000 transfer.
His excellent form for Argyle earned the attention of Hungary's national team coach Marco Rossi, who called up Szűcs for the first time for their latest UEFA Nations League Group A games, at home to the Netherlands in Budapest and away to Bosnia-Herzegovina in Zenica.
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Szűcs was an unused substitute against the Netherlands, when the Dutch were trailing 1-0 late on and had Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk sent-off but still managed to draw 1-1 after an equaliser from Denzel Dumfries.
The Argyle defender then watched most of the Bosnia-Herzegovina game from the bench but in the 86th minute as Hungary headed towards a 2-0 win, after two goals from Liverpool's Dominik Szoboszlai, Szucs was given his debut by Italian-born Rossi.
Szűcs said: "It was a great experience and a very proud moment for me. As a kid my dream was to play abroad in a good team, and I'm really happy here in Argyle, and my other dream was to be called up for my national team and to have my debut.
"So, yes, I'm really happy about it but I will not stop now. I want to achieve more and more, with Argyle and with my Hungarian national team too.
"I was hoping I would be substituted on and in the second game it happened. When I had my warm up and my coach called my name I think I had one of my fastest sprints to the bench! I was ready to go on."
His Hungary call-up also had the added benefit for Szűcs that he could catch up with some familiar faces. "We spent a really good week at home, and of course we had the game away in Bosnia," he said. "The whole week was really nice and I also managed to see my family for a half-day.
He continued: "The first game I think a draw against the Netherlands is always good but we were leading 1-0 and they got a red card, and after that they managed to equalise so we were a little bit disappointed. In the end, it's a draw, it's a point.
"The second game I think we played very well tactically and mentally so we deserved the win and I was really happy to make my debut for the national team."
Getting the chance to see van Dijk, one of the world's best defender, so close up was an opportunity Szűcs was determined to make the most of. "It was a great experience to see players like him," he said. "I was watching him when he didn't have the ball too.
"When the Netherlands were attacking I was looking at what he was doing at the back. It's really good to see players like him and I try to copy him."
Hungary are level on points with the second-placed Dutch but below them in the Group A3 table on goal difference going into the final two games, still with a chance of qualifying for the quarter-finals. They will be away to the Netherlands in Amsterdam on November 16 and then host Germany, who have already booked their place in the last eight, in Budapest three days later.
Szűcs said: "I hope I will get my call-up again. I think we have proved now that at home we can be competitive against teams like this. Away against the Netherlands it will be hard but we will try to give our best.
"I think we are improving. We have some very good experienced guys there and we also have young players. I think we have a really good team there. We are improving and we can achieve more."
By making his national team debut, Szűcs has joined Akos Buzsaky, Peter Halmosi and Krisztian Timar as Argyle players who have represented Hungary as well.
Szűcs said: "They were great players for Argyle and for Hungary too. I want to follow them and be like them in the future for Argyle and for the national team. I don't know them personally, but I saw them play a few times.
One of the topics of conversation when Szűcs returned to his homeland after his first senior international call-up was about playing for Rooney, the Manchester United and England legend, at Argyle.
Szűcs said: "It's a big pleasure, he's a really good coach and as a person I like him as well. I really enjoy to be his player. He was a professional footballer not a long time ago so he knows the modern game very well and he can give us really good advice.
"Now that he's my coach when I go home and talk with my friends everybody asks about him and how he is. He was a great player, an icon we can say that, so everybody knows him in Hungary."
As for the start to his time at Argyle, Szűcs added: "I'm really enjoying it here in Plymouth - the club, my team-mates, the staff, the fans. Everything is really nice. I hope we can achieve really good things in this season."
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