Germany Sees Off Spirited Hungary, Qualifies for Round of 16 at Euro 2024
Germany beat Hungary 2-0 to secure their place in the knockout round of Euro 24, but Croatia still fought with their hands and Scotland and Switzerland played out a draw.
✅ 𝗧𝗢𝗗𝗔𝗬’𝗦 𝗘𝗨𝗥𝗢 𝗥𝗘𝗦𝗨𝗟𝗧𝗦:
🇭🇷 Croatia 2-2 Albania 🇦🇱
🇩🇪 Germany 2-0 Hungary 🇭🇺
🏴 Scotland 1-1 Switzerland 🇨🇭#EURO2024 pic.twitter.com/fmtuUyIQde— Match Spoots (@matchspoots) June 19, 2024
Jamal Musiala scored his second goal of the tournament to help Germany beat Hungary 2-0 and secure their place in the knockout stages of the European Championship.
Musiala opened the scoring in the 22nd minute on Wednesday with a goal that drew furious protests from Hungary. İlkay Gundogan had set up the goal, and the German captain scored himself in the second half.
The 21-year-old Musiala already had scored Germany’s second goal in their 5-1 victory over Scotland and was awe-inspiring during the Wednesday match.
But Hungary, who lost 3-1 to Switzerland on Saturday, face a tough task to progress.
They face Scotland in the final Group A game on Sunday, while Julian Nagelsmann’s German side face Switzerland.
Hungary are unbeaten in their last three games against Germany and won the last time the two met.
The noise level rose as soon as Musiala had the ball, and the Stuttgart-born striker opened the scoring in chaotic fashion.
He tried to set up Gundogan, but Hungarian defender Willi Orban got to the ball first. But he stumbled – after a shove from Gundogan, which Turkey protested against – and when goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi tried to help him, Gundogan poked the ball onto Musiala, who fired it into the net.
Germany doubled their lead in the 68th minute when Maximilian Mittelstadt brought the ball in from the left, and Gundogan fired it into the bottom right-hand corner.
Earlier, Croatia and Albania fought out an intense 2-2 draw, a result that could make it difficult for either team to progress from the group stage.
Croatia tried to dictate the tempo from the start, but it was Albania’s Qazim Laci who headed a cross from the right into the net in the 11th minute.
Andrej Kramaric equalised half an hour into the second half, and an own goal from Klaus Gjasula made it 2-1 in Croatia’s favour just two minutes later.
Gjasula then redeemed himself by scoring the equaliser for Albania in stoppage time.
The result leaves both teams in a precarious position in Group B after Croatia lost to Spain and Albania lost to Italy in their opening games.
In the replay, Xherdan Shaqiri’s first-half goal secured a 1-1 draw for Switzerland against Scotland.
The 32-year-old Chicago Fire striker scored from 20 metres out at the Cologne Stadium.
Scotland had taken the lead in the 13th minute when a Scott McTominay shot deflected off Fabian Schar and past Swiss goalkeeper Yann Sommer.
But Shaqiri capitalised on a misplaced pass from Anthony Ralston in the 26th minute to level the game. It was the sixth major international tournament in a row in which Shaqiri has scored for his country.
The draw leaves Switzerland second in Group B with four points and likely to progress to the last 16, while Scotland’s hopes of reaching the knockout stages depend on their final game against Hungary on Sunday and results in their other matches.
Scotland has never progressed beyond the group stage of a World Cup or European Championship in 11 previous attempts.
