Dominik Szoboszlai scored a late equaliser for Hungary in a 2-2 draw with Portugal, while Giorgi Mamardashvili suffered a heavy defeat for Georgia.
Szoboszlai and Kerkez both started their second game of the international break on Tuesday night, as Hungary took another small step towards World Cup qualification.
The night in Lisbon started perfectly for the visitors, with Szoboszlai delivering a deadly corner for Attila Szalai to head in at the back post.
Portugal came from behind, though, thanks to two more goals from Cristiano Ronaldo who took his international tally to an astonishing 143 goals in 225 appearances.
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The hosts could have then gone further in front when they hit the post twice, first through a long-range Ruben Dias effort then a Bruno Fernandes shot.
Hungary still managed to push for an equaliser, however, and hit the woodwork themselves following a fantastic cross from Kerkez.
After the left-back had been withdrawn with 12 minutes to play, it was his Liverpool teammate who eventually got the injury-time equaliser, as Szoboszlai slid in at the back post to delay Portugal booking their place at the World Cup.
After the match, Szoboszlai admitted he only actually scored due to his tiredness!
“My goal depended on the fact that I was so tired that I couldn’t go for the short one anymore,” the Hungary captain said (via Nemzeti Sport).
“I hoped it would come for the long one. I was confident until the end that we would manage to equalise.”
Elsewhere in the same group, the Republic of Ireland’s 1-0 win over Armenia left Hungary one point above them with two games left.
Ireland still have to play Portugal before a potential decider against Hungary in the nations’ final match.
Giorgi Mamardashvili concedes four in defeat to Turkiye
Giorgi Mamardashvili‘s Georgia suffered a big hit to their World Cup qualification hopes as they lost 4-1 away to Turkiye.
Having already been beaten 2-0 by Spain at the weekend, they realistically needed a draw to remain in contention of reaching the finals next summer.
However, they now lie six points behind second-place Turkiye with two games remaining.
On the night, Mamardashvili wasn’t at fault for the defeat per se, but he was arguably to blame for Turkiye’s first goal.
The Liverpool goalkeeper was caught in no-man’s land and was subsequently lobbed by Kenan Yildiz as his teammates claimed for an offside that was overruled by VAR.
Mamardashvili will be in goal for Liverpool until the November international break due to Alisson‘s latest hamstring injury.
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