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Callum Styles' unlikely path to Euro 2024 with Hungary… via Barnsley

Published

1 week ago

June 12, 2024

Callum Styles' unlikely path to Euro 2024 with Hungary… via Barnsley

Sitting down for a routine pre-match interview with the in-house media team at Barnsley a few years back, Callum Styles decided there was something he was going to drop into conversation.

It was, in the football reporter’s lexicon, a come-and-get-me plea.

But this one, in October 2020, was different. Rather than fluttering his eyelashes at suitors in the transfer market, Styles, a promising young English midfielder, wanted to make it known that he was eligible to play international football for Hungary or Ukraine — “just putting it out there,” he recalls to The Athletic, “and hoping something comes of it”.

For weeks, nothing did. “And then… you know how everything spreads these days with social media?” he says. “That’s basically how it was. It caught fire.”

The story was picked up by a sports website in Budapest. The Hungarian FA got in touch with Barnsley and was put in contact with Styles’ agent, who verified the story and gave more details of the player’s ancestry. Hungary started to monitor him — remotely at first, due to Covid-19 travel restrictions — and then, suitably impressed, started to explore further.

Styles imagined the first step would be a call-up to Hungary’s under-21s. But once the various administrative hurdles were cleared, he was drafted straight into the senior squad, making his international debut against Serbia in Budapest in March 2022. Three months later, he was part of a Hungary team that thrashed England 4-0 in the Nations League — “a unique moment where you kind of have to pinch yourself afterwards and be like, ‘Wow, did that actually happen?’.”

Callum Styles vies with Conor Gallagher during Hungary’s win at Molineux (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

Now 24, having spent the past season on loan to Sunderland, he has 22 caps for Hungary. Everything, he said, has worked out very nicely. He is firmly in contention to start their opening game against Switzerland in Cologne on Saturday, having overcome an injury scare in their final warm-up against Israel last Saturday (a 3-0 win).

He loves playing for Hungary. He cannot wait for the Euros. But he is not going to pretend he grew up eating goulash and listening to tales of Ferenc Puskas while Franz Liszt’s rhapsodies played in the background.

On the contrary, he grew up without knowing about any links to the country he is now proud to represent.

GO DEEPER

The Radar – The Athletic’s 50 players to watch at Euro 2024

Growing up in Middleton, Greater Manchester, Styles was aware that his mother’s parents, Jan and Magdolna, had originally been from somewhere in Eastern Europe. But he didn’t know where.

“As a kid, I didn’t really look at any of that,” he says. “I was just playing and enjoying life. You’re playing with your toys or you’re out with your friends. None of those conversations really happened until later.

“I always used to go round to my nan’s house because she only lived around the corner from my mum and dad. I would go around twice a week and she would always be cooking a chicken noodle soup. But she passed away when I was just at the end of primary school.”

He was a professional footballer in his late teens, making a strong impression in Barnsley’s first team, by the time he started to find out more about how Jan and Magdolna had moved to the UK from Ukraine and Hungary respectively “in their early twenties”. Details of Jan’s past in Ukraine were sketchy — “we couldn’t find his old passport” — but more was known of Magdolna.

Styles and his girlfriend wanted to visit Hungary during the international break in March 2020. But that plan was scuppered by the pandemic. By the time he finally made it to Budapest two years later, his first time on Hungarian soil, it was to join up with the national team.

It was daunting at first, particularly since he could not speak a word of Hungarian (something he has since begun to rectify on Duolingo). But his new team-mates welcomed him from the start. They didn’t expect him to know the national anthem — he can sing it now — but were impressed when, during an initiation ceremony, he performed Candy Shop by 50 Cent.

He wasn’t the only player in the squad who had qualified via dual nationality; Hertha Berlin winger Palko Dardai was born in Germany, as the son of former Hungary international Pal Dardai, who played for and coached Hertha); RB Leipzig defender Willi Orban was born in Germany but had a Hungarian father; Le Havre full-back Loic Nego played for his native France from under-16 to under-20 level but became a Hungarian citizen after more than five years playing there; and Bournemouth full-back Milos Kerkez was born in Serbia but, like Styles, had a Hungarian grandmother.

“And our manager (Marco Rossi) is Italian,” Styles says. “He explained to me about the welcome he received even though he wasn’t Hungarian or having Hungarian roots. And a lot of the meetings are in English, which helped me a lot. The lads talk to me and they’re really welcoming.

“But just going to the country for the first time was a beautiful experience. Making my debut made it even better. Settling in was a lot easier than I thought it might be. I felt at home straight away.”

GO DEEPER

Hungary Euro 2024 team guide: Solid foundations and Szoboszlai magic cause for hope

For much of the recent past, a player discovering he was eligible to play for Hungary would still have had little or no chance of competing in a major tournament.

One of the giants of world football in the ‘Magical Magyars’ period of the 1950s and 1960s, Hungary’s appearance at the 1986 World Cup was their last in a major tournament for three decades.

But this will be their third consecutive European Championship. Qualification has been made easier by the competition’s expansion to 24 teams, but Hungary’s upturn in performance is undeniable. They won their qualifying group without losing a game. In total, they had gone 14 matches without defeat until they were beaten 2-1 by the Republic of Ireland in their penultimate warm-up game.

When UEFA launched its Nations League competition in 2018, Hungary were in the third tier with, among others, Estonia and Lithuania. In the most recent campaign, they finished second in a first-tier group, winning away to Germany (1-0) and beating England home (1-0) and away (4-0). Qualification for the Euros was secured with a stoppage-time equaliser in Bulgaria. They flew back to Budapest, headed into the city centre and partied all night — players and supporters alike. “Crazy,” Styles recalled.

“We’ve been doing so well as a team, improving game by game, year by year,” he says. “When we beat England, it was a bit like, ‘Wow’. The manager (Rossi) has changed a lot. There’s been a lot of progression since he started. I feel like we’re a good team.”

The team’s star is Liverpool midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai. “He’s a world-class player, a leader,” Styles says. “In the camp, he’s quite chilled. But on the pitch, he brings that extra percentage, that X factor that you sometimes need when it’s a bit stale in the game and you need someone to create some magic and force a 1-0 win or whatever.

“But we’re a team. We’re not going to get carried away, but we should be quietly confident because we’ve shown we can go up against the top teams. Obviously, with the pressure of the Euros, those games can swing either way, but we’ve got a really good team. Hopefully we can progress.”

GO DEEPER

Euro 2024 Group A guide: Germany’s narrow No 10s, resolute Hungary and Scotland’s set pieces

Styles will be in the shop window in Germany, looking to build on a positive loan spell at Sunderland by securing a permanent transfer from Barnsley — who lost to Bolton Wanderers in the League One play-off semi-finals — this summer.

He enjoyed his time at Sunderland but is unsure of their plans as they are yet to appoint a new manager. If not Sunderland, then he hopes to be back in the Championship with another club.

Callum Styles spent last season at Sunderland but his long-term future is uncertain (George Wood/Getty Images)

But club aspirations are on hold. “International football is what I’m focusing on: the Euros and doing my best for Hungary,” he says. “The rest will take care of itself.”

His parents, his girlfriend and several friends will also be travelling out to Germany. Are they all learning the national anthem? “They already know it,” he says. “We’ve been singing it.”

One of his aunts, who lives in Hungary, has been to some of the home matches but he is unsure whether she will be able to get to Germany. He hopes so. Either way, Styles is looking forward to the experience — on a deeper personal level as well as professionally.

A flag of convenience? Initially perhaps, but he has embraced his second nationality. When he pulls on the Hungary shirt, he thinks of his grandmother and wonders what she would have thought of him wearing her country’s colours.

“It’s special for my mum’s side of the family to see me representing our bloodline,” he says. “It’s an honour to play for Hungary. It’s in my DNA.”

Related Topics:Barnsley championship European Championship Featured Hungary International Football League One Millwall premier league Sunderland

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Sports

NBA Player Tiers: Kevin Durant, Steph Curry hang on in Tier 1, but how much longer?

Published

5 hours ago

June 22, 2024

Press Room

NBA Player Tiers: Kevin Durant, Steph Curry hang on in Tier 1, but how much longer?

This is the fifth annual NBA Player Tiers project, in which Seth Partnow names the top 125 players in the league after each season and then separates them into five distinct categories of value, each with their sub-categories to further delineate them. These are not meant to be read as firm 1-125 player rankings. Rather, they’re meant to separate solid starters from the very best superstars, and every level in between. This is how NBA front offices assess player value across the league when building their teams.

NBA Player Tiers: ’20 | ’21 | ’22 | ‘23 | ’24 pre-playoffs | ’24: T5 | T4| T3 | T2

The NBA is undergoing a changing of the guard. While Tier 1 has been relatively stable during the five seasons I’ve done this exercise — only nine players have been in Tier 1 at least once, with the six below plus LeBron James, Kawhi Leonard and James Harden — many of the stalwarts are facing the ticking of the clock, while the next wave, such as Jayson Tatum, Anthony Edwards and, of course, Victor Wembanyama, are knocking on the door.

I could have gone several ways with this group, from having only a super select top three or four making up the entirety of the tier to rewarding some of those up-and-comers at the expense of the old warhorses, and I wouldn’t much argue with those who saw it that way.

But for now, here are the cream of the crop.

Tier 1B (4-6)

Remarkably, a 62.6 true shooting percentage on 29.0 usage represents a down year for Kevin Durant, even compared to just the post-Achilles tear section of his career. The poorly constructed and extremely top-heavy Phoenix Suns roster did him few favors, which raises a question that has only factored tangentially into the tiers over the years: How much should player influence on roster decisions and coaching hires be factored in?

It’s a challenge to do so systematically. At least from the outside, who advocated for what move or how much weight an organization gives to a star’s wishes are difficult to determine. But the balance of reporting indicates that Brooklyn/Phoenix era Durant has demanded many things and received most of them, including the hiring and firing of coaches.

It is often said that coaches shouldn’t be GMs because there isn’t enough time in the day to do both jobs well. This holds even more true for players. But how much is it on the players when it happens? It’s a hard one to judge, but it’s something that likely needs to enter the calculus when considering later career superstars such as Durant, LeBron James or one or two others.

All of this is to note that Durant barely maintained his spot in Tier 1 this year and will need a strong performance — including the playoffs — in 2024-25 to be worthy of staying here.

Another former MVP somewhere on the back nine of his career is Stephen Curry. With the Golden State Warriors missing the playoffs, has Curry’s ability to drag indifferent teammates to success waned, or did Golden State find the bottom edge of overall roster ability at which he could do so? Or was it perhaps some combination of both?

Make no mistake, Curry is still a great, great player. But there are subtle signs of decline. His rim-attempt rate was the lowest of his career by a decent margin. His ability to impact the game as a team defender has dropped off considerably — over the last two seasons, he has averaged 1.2 steals per 100 possessions, precisely half of the 2.4/100 he maintained over the first 13 years of his career.

For the first time other than 2019-20, when he appeared in only five games, 2023-24 was the first time the Warriors were superior in terms of net rating with Curry off the floor than on, with Golden State 0.6 points per 100 possessions better when Curry was on the bench, compared to 14.5 per 100 better with Curry on the floor from his first MVP season in 2014-15 through 2022-23. At 35, there is no shame in acknowledging that Curry is not quite the automatic driver of elite offense that he has been for most of his career, but that dip does move him down from 1A to 1B.

For Joel Embiid, it is seemingly always something: Bad health, be it either his health or his teammates’; a ball bouncing four times on the rim and then dropping to eliminate the Sixers from the playoffs; star players falling out with the organization, requiring trades or other reshuffling of the lineup. All of these and more have conspired to keep Embiid from ever reaching the conference finals, which is unfortunate because by several impact metrics, Embiid has been the second-most-effective regular-season player in the league across the last four seasons, behind only Nikola Jokić’s all-time great run.

This past season, you couldn’t have asked for more from Embiid himself, either in the regular season or in the Sixers’ short playoff run. But he still hasn’t truly stamped his authority on a postseason and has never consistently hit the same level of dominance. His playoff shortcomings have probably been overblown, with a career 58.0 percent true shooting on 31.6 percent usage. But ignoring his abbreviated rookie year, he has 61.6 percent true shooting on 35.5 percent usage. The latter is otherworldly, while the former is merely damn good.

There have been myriad reasons for the lack of extended playoff success, many of them completely outside Embiid’s control. But it has always been something, and that’s enough to keep him in Tier 1B for now.

Tier 1A (1-3)

For all the complexity the NBA game offers, basketball can be pretty simple. Pair an offensive force with the size, vision and ability to draw extra defenders with a dynamic rim threat (or two!) and surround them with shooters, and that’s a hard formula to stop. While Luka Dončić was good all year, the midseason trades that brought in Daniel Gafford and P.J. Washington helped both Dončić and the Mavericks reach exit velocity and launch into orbit.

It wasn’t just a more favorable context. Dončić made some subtle but telling improvements, becoming a more active off-ball participant — a higher percentage of his made 3s were assisted than any season since his rookie year — while also upping his defensive contributions.

The defense was an unsung part of the Mavs’ run to the NBA Finals. While Dončić was rarely if ever tasked with the primary matchup against the opposition’s top weapons, he made more effective use of his size and game-reading ability, particularly against the Oklahoma City Thunder and Minnesota Timberwolves.

While our lasting memory might be the disappointment of Dallas losing the finals, that is as much an illustration of how even top superstars need a bit of good fortune to reach the pinnacle. Not only did the Celtics significantly out-talent Dallas top to bottom, but Boston was as well-equipped to deal with Dončić on its own defensive end while having the range and volume of on-ball creators to attack him in ways other teams couldn’t on defense.

There is still some room for improvement, as Dončić’s conditioning could probably use an upgrade, while his penchant for engaging with officials — occasionally picking up some silly fouls such as in Game 3 of the finals series — could stand to be scaled back significantly. But using those quibbles to keep him out of Tier 1A would be setting a near impossible standard that few players in NBA history, let alone current day, could match.

Giannis Antetokounmpo is the only player who has resided in Tier 1A in every year-end edition of the Tiers. For the first time, I had some slight doubts putting him here. He has missed time in four of the last five postseasons, including the entirety of the Bucks’ stay this year. During that stretch, Milwaukee has lost its first-round series as a higher seed twice, something definitely held against other players, though, of course, his dominance through the 2021 playoffs has and will continue to buy Antetokounmpo good will on that front.

There is also worry about how robust his impact will be as he approaches 30, which he will reach in early December. Some of it was surely because of Milwaukee’s rather disheveled start to the season from a schematic and coaching standpoint, but Antetokounmpo’s struggle to find synergy with Damian Lillard could reflect a degree of inflexibility or stubbornness that could prove challenging as he begins to age and lose some of his athleticism.

There have been suggestions that the Bucks have been somewhat limited in their ability to be tactically versatile; considering how important adjusting and iterating has become in the postseason, limiting those options is a drawback. Antetokounmpo enters next season on the bubble for dropping out of Tier 1A for the first time.

Having gone through 124 players, we are left with the reigning (and should be four-time consecutive, but why relitigate that particularly noxious debate?) MVP Nikola Jokić at the top of the heap. Even though the Nuggets ultimately fell to Minnesota in seven games in what was the best series of this past postseason, Jokić left some indelible memories. His third quarter in Game 5 against the Wolves defies description, for example.

During his three-in-four MVP run, Jokić has averaged a combined 26.1 points, 12.2 rebounds, 8.7 assists, 1.4 steals and 0.8 blocks per game. Even lowering those thresholds to 25/10/7.5/1/0.5, no other player has hit those heights even once.

And he has done it while scoring efficiently enough to lead the league twice and finish second twice in “TS Add” — a metric created by Basketball-Reference indicating the number of points above (or below) a player scores than he would have had he scored at league average on the same number of attempts.

To repeat one last time, these tiers are not rankings.

But if they were, the Joker would be No. 1.

NBA Player Tiers: ’20 | ’21 | ’22 | ‘23 | ’24 pre-playoffs | ’24: T5 | T4| T3 | T2

Try changing or resetting your filters to see more.

Tier 1

Tier 2

Tier 3

Tier 4

Tier 5

(Illustration: Dan Goldfarb / The Athletic: Photos: Sean Gardner, Noah Graham / NBAE, Jesse D. Garrabrant / NBAE via Getty Images)

Sports

Oilers fan who went viral for flashing crowd during game signs with Playboy

Published

5 hours ago

June 22, 2024

Press Room

Oilers fan who went viral for flashing crowd during game signs with Playboy

The Edmonton Oilers may have a fan to thank for coming back from their 3-0 deficit.

The Oilers forced a Game 7 on Friday night, becoming just the 10th team in NHL history to do so after trailing three games to none in a series.

That came mere hours after Playboy made an announcement regarding an Edmonton fan who had gone viral for an X-rated reason.

The Stanley Cup Final signage before Game Four of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final between the Florida Panthers and the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place on June 15, 2024, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. (Andy Devlin/NHLI via Getty Images)

During a playoff game against the Dallas Stars, a fan, who’s only known for now as “Kait,” lifted up her Oilers jersey and flashed her breasts to the raucous crowd.

It has since become a rallying cry for the fans, and she’s pretty unapologetic.

“I got drunk and whipped my t–s out at an Oilers game, and they went viral? F— you if you don’t like it. Woo! Go Oilers!” she told Barstool Sports earlier this week.

Well, she has since parlayed her internet fame to a deal with Playboy.

“Meet Kait, the Oilers good luck charm,” the magazine wrote in a post on Instagram, featuring their new model. “The [Oilers] might not have the Stanley Cup just yet, but with [Kait] cheering them on, they’re unstoppable.”

A general view of fans celebrating a first period goal from Mattias Janmark, #13 of the Edmonton Oilers, against the Florida Panthers in Game Four of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final at Rogers Place on June 15, 2024, in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. (Andy Devlin/NHLI via Getty Images)

OILERS JOIN RARE COMPANY BY FORCING GAME 7 IN STANLEY CUP FINAL AFTER TRAILING 3-0

The post features photos of Kait in ice skates, throwing up a double-bird, and other typical Playboy poses.

Kate said on the Barstool Sports podcast that she had about eight Truly hard seltzers and a handful of Cheezies before deciding to flash the crowd.

“It wasn’t planned or anything … and yeah, it just kind of happened,” she said.

This is just the third time that the Stanley Cup will see a seventh game after a team owned a 3-0 lead, and the first since 1945. The Toronto Maple Leafs won both of those instances, completing the comeback in 1942, and then saving themselves from embarrassment three years later.

It’s the first 3-0 comeback in the league since the Los Angeles Kings did so in the first round of the 2014 playoffs. They won that Game 7, and eventually won the Cup, winning two more Game 7’s in the process.

This series’ Game 7 will be back in Sunrise, Florida, where just about everyone will be in full-blown panic on Monday night.

With a win, it’ll be the Oilers’ first Cup since 1990, and Canada’s first since 1993.

Edmonton Oilers’ Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (93), Zach Hyman (18), Connor McDavid (97) and Evan Bouchard (2) celebrate after a goal against the Dallas Stars during first-period action in Game 6 of the Western Conference finals of the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs in Edmonton, Alberta, Sunday, June 2, 2024. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP)

That would also mark the second year in a row that the Panthers would lose in the Final, having fallen to the Vegas Golden Knights last year.

Fox News’ Ryan Gaydos contributed to this report.

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Sports

Hernández: Shohei Ohtani retired a meme by joining a team where his heroics aren't the only story

Published

6 hours ago

June 22, 2024

Press Room

Hernández: Shohei Ohtani retired a meme by joining a team where his heroics aren't the only story

Shohei Ohtani homered on Friday night.

He reached base four times.

His team lost.

These were like the good old days again, a Herculean effort by Ohtani wasted in loss.

Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani greets the Angels’ Michael Stefanic and Mickey Moniak at Dodger Stadium on Friday.

(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

The phenomenon was so common in the six years Ohtani played for the Angels that the Japanese media coined a term for it: Nao-Eh — Nao meaning something like furthermore, and Eh the first letter of the Japanese word for Angels, Enzerusu.

The Japanese equivalent of the Tungsten Arm O’Doyle meme was inspired by television news reports on Ohtani’s heroics, which often concluded with broadcasters obligated to point out, “Furthermore, the Angels lost.”

Once commonly used in sports newspaper headlines, Nao-Eh is now retired from the lexicon of Ohtani’s home country, and there hasn’t been a reason to update the made-up word to account for the two-way player’s move to the Dodgers.

Even after a 10-inning, 3-2 loss to the Angels in the opening game of the Freeway Series, the Dodgers lead their division by eight games.

Their 47-31 record is the second best in the National League.

“I have the impression that as a team, everyone is mindful of the long term,” Ohtani said in Japanese. “Even while understanding [the long-term goals], the players know they have to win the game in front of them. There’s some difference in that balance.”

When Ohtani played for the Angels, they were just thinking about now, now, now. They were always in survival mode, and that was only if they weren’t already dead. They never came close to reaching the postseason with Ohtani on their team, just as they won’t again this year without him. They’re just 30-45, already 12½ games behind the first-place Seattle Mariners in the American League West.

How fortunate for the sport that Angels owner Arte Moreno refused to match the heavily deferred, 10-year, $700-million deal offered to him by the Dodgers.

Angels second baseman Michael Stefanic forces out Shohei Ohtani while turning a double play.

How fortunate for the Dodgers.

How fortunate for Ohtani.

Who knows what Ohtani would have done if Moreno agreed to the same bargain deal he ultimately signed with the Dodgers, but the choice was made for him and he’s now playing games that matter.

By extension, his NL-leading 22 home runs entering Saturday matter in ways his previous home runs didn’t. His 55 runs batted in matter. His major-league-best .322 average matters.

“I think where there will be big differences is in the second half of the season,” Ohtani said. “If we can play our baseball until then, beyond that is a place I haven’t experienced yet, so I’m looking forward to that.”

Ohtani has embraced the responsibility.

He’s historically the most productive in June, and he’s once again making his trademark midseason surge in the MVP race.

He’s homered seven times in his last 11 games, including five times in his last six ahead of Saturday’s series finale with the Angels. He’s batted .500 since replacing sidelined outfielder Mookie Betts as the team’s leadoff hitter.

“My stance is stabilized and I have a good grasp of the strike zone,” Ohtani said. “I think that leads to me hitting hittable pitches.”

Such as the fifth-inning fastball by Angels reliever Matt Moore that he launched for a 455-foot homer on Friday.

The at-bat against Moore started like every other one over the last week, with Ohtani stepping into the batter’s box and touching the bottom point of the plate with the end of his bat. He laid his bat on the ground in line with the third base line, the knob indicating to him where he should place the front of his left foot.

“Having the same stance and standing in the same position is what’s most important,” he explained after a recent game in Colorado. “Depending on the stadium, the thickness of the lines [of the batter’s box] can change. So I don’t want to be off because of that.”

Everything’s lining up for Ohtani.

Finally, he’s on a team that can turn his homers into wins. Finally, he’s on a team that isn’t entirely dependent on him. Finally, he’s on a team that will take him to baseball’s most important stage.

Nao-Eh is no more.