On the heels of the news that recent D.C. United signing Bruno Miranda would be joining Bolivia for their upcoming World Cup Qualifiers next week, word now comes that midfielder Zoltan Stieber will be joining Hungary for their qualifiers also.
Stieber is apparently eligible to play in the Black-and-Red’s matches this week, and would presumably leave after Saturday’s game with the New England Revolution, where he would meet up with the Nemzeti Tizenegy in a camp Sunday, ahead of their games on August 31 with Latvia and September 3 with Portugal.
Hungary is in 3rd place in UEFA Group B, eight points behind 2nd place Portugal (Switzerland is first in Group B and has yet to lose a game), and are in need of points so that they can qualify for a possible playoff scenario. Stieber is the only MLS player on Hungary’s World Cup roster this go round after Nemanja Nikolic announced he would decline any national team caps to focus on time with his current club, the Chicago Fire. Stieber has 3 goals in 21 caps with the national team, with the most recent being two June appearances, going 75 minutes in a friendly with Russia, and leaving after 21 minutes due to injury in a 1-0 win over Andorra in a recent World Cup Qualifier.
Similar to Miranda, Stieber would not miss any games with this callup, and hopefully he dazzles before leaving and returns unharmed.