Hosts Germany have qualified to the knock out stages of UEFA Euro 2024 after they defeated Hungary 2-0 to earn their second successive victory in the tournament. Goals from Jamal Musiala and Ilkay Gundogan in either side of the interval sealed all three points for the three time European champions.
Julian Nagelsmann started the game with the same set of players that he deployed against Scotland in the 5-1 opening day victory. Though the overall data and statistics are inclined towards a German domination, the ground reality was not really the same as it was against the clueless Scots.
The Hungarians scored almost in the first minute of the game when a sloppy defending invited a shot on target from Roland Sallai but German goalie Manuel Neuer was equally up to the mark and any early danger was averted.
First clear opportunity for Germany came in the 11th minute when Kai Havertz received a long ball from Antonio Rudiger but his left footed strike was too weak and close to goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi.
Persisting German attack finally got the better of Hungarian defence in the 22nd minute when tenacious Ilkay Gundogan somehow recycled the ball from Willi Orban who seemed to slip over, providing a shooting opportunity to youngster Musiala who made no mistake to score his second goal in consecutive matches.
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Hungary came close to the equaliser when skipper Dominik Szoboslai’s free kick was brilliantly saved by Neuer and the subsequent follow up was also somehow cleared by the German defenders. Then on the brink of half time, another Szoboslai free kick created chaos in the German defence and Neuer’s initial save rebounded to Sallai who nodded home only to be cancelled due to offside against Orban.
After the restart, the Germans continued to play their usual high tempo football maintaining a high line of defence which almost proved fatal when counterattacking Sallai from the left wing provided a perfect cross to totally unmarked Barnabas Varga but he headed high over the crossbar and that miss was certified decisive moments later when in the 67th minute German skipper Gundogan made the score line 2-0 with a smooth finish after a brilliant move from left back Maximilian Mittelstadt.
Afterwards the Germans created more opportunities but failed to convert any of them. Substitutes Leroy Sane and Chris Fuhrich got decent chances but their efforts were nowhere near the goal. In the dying moments, a judgemental error from Neuer almost gifted a consolation goal for Hungary but defender Joshua Kimmich cleared the ball from goal line to keep their clean sheet intact.
In the other two matches of the UEFA Euro 2024 last night, Croatia drew 2-2 with Albania and Switzerland shared points with Scotland after ending the game 1 goal each.
