Despite their Promise: Patience is Key for Hungarian Duo

Does anyone know who Adailton is? Or Pablo Counago? And what have they got in common?

Give up? Ok, no need to rush to google: the answer is that they both finished the FIFA U20 World Cup as top scorers (1997 and 1999 respectively) and were considered among the best talents of their generation.

Going by that information, both should now be major players in their prime yet neither one is: the first is a squad player at Bologna whilst Counago struggles to get a game for Ipswich Town. The sad truth is that for both, those U20 championships were the peak of their careers.

It is a thought worth holding to as this year’s edition of the U20 World Cup enters its final stages. With the spotlight on them, there will be those who are showing the kind of skill that will see them being labeled as certain stars when, in reality, they are just kids who perhaps are having the tournament of their lives.

Another truth is that, whereas it used to be that international youth tournaments was were clubs got to know about the most promising players from around the globe, now the bulk are already familiar names. This World Cup used to provide European clubs, especially those with an eye for a gamble, with the opportunity of spotting an unpolished diamond.

Now the best players are already tied up, the result of the ever widening net that the richest clubs – who, ironically, are least likely to give them an opportunity – are casting in order to find players.

Not everyone appreciated this when Liverpool struck a deal with MTK Hungaria back in 2007. The criticism was as easy as it was predictable: what could Liverpool possibly find in a country whose glory days had come 50 years earlier and without a player of note for the previous two decades?

Over time those questions faded away, especially now that Hungary are on the brink of making it to the U20 World Cup final with two players who made that early trip to England back in 2007.

Kristian Nemeth, scorer of two goals against Italy in the quarter final, is already being earmarked as one of the best talents around. Same too Peter Gulacsi, whose penalty saves in the second round were vital for Hungary to progress.

For both, however, the difficult part starts now. And that’s without considering the semi-final: both now have to start proving to Rafael Benitez that they are good enough to play for Liverpool on a semi-regular basis. For Nemeth, this means excelling in Greece whilst Gulacsi has to do his best in the reserves and on loan, should that opportunity come up. It is if they do that, rather than how much the feature in the World Cup in Egypt, which will determine what their future will be like.

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