Henry Wingo was a late fortification for Ferencváros to help them come away from Kazakhstan with a scoreless draw, while Kyle McLagan was not called into action in Vikingur’s wild trip to Sweden.
FC Tobol 0 – 0 Ferencváros
Henry Wingo played the final quarter-hour against Kazakhstanis FC Tobol on Wednesday night, helping to lock down the defense to put the team in a strong position for next week’s return leg.
The Hungarian champions dominated the flow of the game against their hosts, holding 64% of possession and having a strong advantage in close calls.
Nevertheless, despite their dominance they were unable to put the game on ice, and will need to finish off their opponents in one week in front of a home crowd.
Tobol did have the first close call after 14 minutes, with Zoran Tosic forcing visiting keeper Dénes Dibusz into a fine save. However the Hungarians were relentless, even if not clinical with their finishing, and kept pressure on around the opposing goal.
Despite having been a regular fixture on the right side of his team’s defense for most of Ferencváros’ European campaign last season, Wingo was left on the bench in favor of veteran Endre Botka, however replaced the Hungarian international in the 77th minute as the team locked down the result.
Ferencváros hosts Tobol in the return leg in Ferencváros Stadion in Budapest on Wednesday evening. A win to break the deadlock will take them through to the next round, whereas a loss will see them drop into Europa Conference League qualification.
Notes
Having starting Vikingur’s first two games in the preliminary round of qualification, Kyle McLagan was left on the bench for their visit to Malmö after suffering a reported shoulder injury in league play the prior weekend. The Swedish champions did come out winners in the 3-2 result, however a late fluke goal by the Icelanders, despite playing a man down, does give them a shot to advance ahead of Tuesday night’s home leg in Reykjavik.