Match report: Germany 2-0 Hungary
Group A: Jamal Musiala and Ilkay Gundogan got the goals as Germany booked their place in the knockout stages in the face of spirited Hungarian resistance. Nick Ames reports from Stuttgart
Scotland v Switzerland: Steve Clarke’s men take on Switzerland in a must-not-lose Group A game that kicks off at 8pm (BST). Scott Murray has the latest …
Full-time: Germany 2-0 Hungary
Gewrmany win, as expected courtesy of goals from Jamal Musiala and Ilkay Gundogan but Hungary can leave the pitch tonight with their heads held reasonably high.
Following their inexplicably meek performance against Switzerland, they showed up tonight and created several chances but ultimately paid for their toothlessness in front of goal.
After back-to-back defeats they will have to beat Scotland in their final group game to have any sort of chance of getting into the knockout stages. Germany are through to the knockout stages and are looking good, even if they do seem a little vulnerable at the back.
90+2 min: Szoboszlai gets penalised for a foul and then picks up a yellow card for booting the ball away in frustration. It’s all over in Stuttgart!
90 min: Neuer drops a cross, the ball is turned goalwards by Gazdag and Kimmich clears off the line for Germany. They break upfield on a counter-attack that breaks down when Sane picks the wrong pass. In all that excitement, Orban went down in the penalty area, appealing for a spot-kick. I’m not sure what, if anything happened to him but he doesn’t get one.
88 min: Hungary double-substitution: Daniel Gazdag and Kevin Csoboth on for Sallai and Varga, the striker who missed Hungary’s best chance of the game when he headed wide on the hour mark.
86 min: Fuhrich wins possession in midfield, charges forward and takes the ball around Roland Salai. There’s no shot on, so he plays the ball inside. Fulkrug tries his luck from distance but fails to hit the target.
85 min: Another Stuttgart player (on loan from Brighton) takes to the pitch as Deniz Undav replaces Ilkay Gundogan.
83 min: A Hungary corner drops deep into the six-yard box. With Martin Adam lurking behind him, Emre Can does well to leap and head the ball over the bar for another one.
82 min: Hungary knock it long from deep trying to pick out Roland Sallai on the right flank. The pass is wayward and Mittlestadt chests down the ball, averting any danger.
80 min: Shortly after coming on, Martin Adam knocks over Mittlestat and concedes a free-kick about 30 yards from his own goal. Leroy Sane takes the free-kick and sends it high and wide.
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77 min: Hungary double-substitution: Martin Adam and Zsolt Nagy on for the wing-backs Bolla and Kerkez. Adam is some unit …
76 min: Gulasci gets down quickly to save a low right-footed drive from Sane.
72 min: Germany double-substitution: Emre Can and Chris Fuhrigh on for Robert Andrich and Jamal Musiala. It’s quite the occasion for Fuhrich, who gets to represnt his country in the stadium his Stuttgart team calls home.
70 min: Joshua Kimmich sends a rocket of a diagonal cross-cum-shot across the face of the Hungary goal. It fizzes wide of the far post at speed and is travelling at too fast a pace for Musiala to divert it home with his head.
GOAL! Germany 2-0 Hungary (Gundogan 67)
Germany double their lead! In acres of space in front of several backpedalling defenders, Ilkay Gundogan runs from deep to sweep a low Max Mittlestadt cross from the left into the corner from 14 yards out.
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64 min: Hungary corner. Nothing comes of it. They’ve just made a substitution, bringing on Lazslo Kleinheisler for Adam Nagy in midfield.
63 min: With the guts of 30 minutes or a little more to go, Hungary are behind but doing OK. At the risk of stating the obvious, one suspects the next goal in this game will be crucial.
60 min: Barnabas Varga gets the jump on Jonathan Tah, who wasn’t tight enough on him, leaping to meet a wonderful Sallai cross from the left but is unable to steer his downward effort on target. It was a glorious opportunity and a bad miss.
58 min: Germany double-substitution: Niclas Fulkrug and Leroy Sane on for Kai Havertz and Florian Wirz.
54 min: Near the byline, Gundogan chops inside and squares the ball across the face of the Hungary goal. Gulasci punches clear and the ball sits up nicely for Kroos, whose shot takes a violent deflection off a defender. Despite looking hopelessly wrongfooted, Gulasci does superbly to keep it out. Excellent goalkeeping.
52 min: Another Hungary counter-attack and Szoboszlai plays the ball to the feet of Schafer again. He turns on the edge of the penalty area but runs into a stout wall of resistance in the form of Germany’s defensive midfielder Robert Andrich.
50 min: Hungary win the ball from a Germany throw-in and the ball is played to the feet of Andras Schafer on the edge of the area. He takes it on the half-turn but is unable to scurry through the defence. He ends up being penalised for a foul and Germany get to clear their lines.
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49 min: Szoboszlai plays the ball wide Andras Schafer, who moves it on to Milos Kerkez out near the touchline. The Bournemouth defender wins a corner but nothing comes of it.
47 min: Hungary win a free-kick in their own penalty area after Kai Havertz is spotted grabbing a handful of somebody-or-other’s shirt.
Second half: Germany 1-0 Hungary
46 min: Play resumes with Hungary on the ball and no changes in personnel on either side. Hungary kick off by booting the ball in the direction of no fewer than five players sprinting down the left flank, as if they’re playing in a rugby match. Mercifully, none of them catch it and Germany clear.
Half-time: Germany 1-0 Hungary
It’s all square at the break and having survived big scares in the opening and closing seconds of the half, Germany lead courtesy of Jamal Musiala’s quite weird and slightly controversial goal. Hungary haven’t been unduly phased by going behind and are providing a far sterner test for Germany in 45 minutes than Scotland managed over 90.
Hungary equaliser ruled out for offside
45+2 min: Hungary free-kick, wide on the left. Szoboszlai swings the ball into the penalty area, it’s flicked on by Orban and Neuer flaps the ball into the path of Sallai, who nods it home. His celebration is curtailed abruptly as Orban was offside as the ball was sent in.
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Key event
43 min: Germany continue to hog possession, while Hungary will be hoping to get to half-time without conceding again. It’s heart-in-mouth time for their players and fans as Musiala takes a shot from distance and hits the side-netting. It had me fooled – I thought he’d scored into the top corner and was wondering why his celebration was so muted.
40 min: Germany win their sixth corner and Kroos jogs towards the flag again. His delivery skids off the head off Hungary striker Varga, who puts it out for corner No7. He was sailing close to the wind there, as the ball sailed this wide of the far post. Mr Own Goal nearly registered his fifth strike of the tournament!
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38 min: Another Germany corner, won once again by Mittlestadt. Willi Orban clears the ball sent into the mixer by Kroos, then Musiala is penalised for a foul on Orban inside the Hungary penalty area. Replays show it was actually the Hungary defender who trod on Musiala’s instep. Had Musiala gone to ground and appealed, he had an exceptionally strong case for being awarded a penalty by the curtain-twitchers in the VAR room.
35 min: Max Mittlestadt sends a cross from the left into the German penalty area and after a short, impromptu game of head tennis its put out for a corner by Milos Kerkez. Toni Kroos’s latest inswinger is half-cleared, the ball is sent back into the mixer by Mittlestadt and Hungary clear again.
34 min: While Jamal Musiala is the only player in this tournament to have got two goals in this tournament, it’sa worth noting that he is currently being outscored by our old friend Own Goal in the race for the golden boot.
31 min: Hungary have responded well to going a goal down and continue to pose problems for Germany. Szoboszlai punches the air in frustration after seeing a volley deflected wide.
28 min: Both Antonio Rudiger and Barnabas Varga were booked in the aftermath of that Hungary free-kick. I think Varga’s yellow card was for dissent and I’m not sure why Rudiger was cautioned. It was either for the same offence, or else a belated yellow for the foul on Milos Kerkez that led to the free-kick in the first place.
27 min: Manuel Neuer is called in to action to keep out a Szoboszlai free-kick with a terrific save. Varga tries to score on the follow-up but the angle is too narrow. Neuer saves again, this time with his foot.
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23 min: The goal stands. Right by the byline, not too far from one of the goalposts, Ilkay Gundogan nipped in to nick the ball after appearing to foul Willi Orban, who was contesting it as it made its way through the area. With Orban on the deck beside him and the goalkeeper dithering, Gundogan nipped in and pulled the ball back to Musiala, who buried it into the roof of the net. Hungary’s players are furious as they are convinced Orban was fouled.
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GOAL! Germany 1-0 Hungary (Musiala 22)
Germany lead! Jamal Musiala roofs the ball to score his second goal of the tournament from eight yards out after a marvellous bit of industriousness from Ilkay Gundogan. There’s a VAR check.
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19 min: A sweeping Germany move ends with Kai Havertz overhitting a return-pass into the path of Gundogan, who had played a give-and-go before darting to the edge of the six-yard box. Attila Fiola was playing him onside and with a better pass from Havertz, Germany would almost certainly have taken the lead thropugh their skipper.
17 min: Germany corner. On this occasion, Toni Kroos’s delivery isn’t the best and Hungary clear his inswinger at the near post. Hungary break upfield but not in sufficient numbers to cause Germany any problems.
15 min: A pull-back from Bolla (or possibly Szoboszlai?) on the right wing finds its way to Roland Sallai a couple of yards outside the Germany penalty area. His shot is weak and blocked by the first defender.
13 min: From the corner, Germany win another one when Andrich’s smart volley from a great delivery is headed out by Bendegez Bolla. Nothing comes of the second set-piece but Germany have taken control of this first half.
12 min: Kai Havertz outmuscles Willi Orban to get to a ball into the Hungary box, only to have his effort saved at point-blank range by Peter Gulasci, who puts it out for a corner.
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11 min: Hungary advance down the right, but Barnabas Varga loses possession to Germany’s midfield enforcer Robert Andrich.
9 min: Toni Kroos tries to pick out Ilkay Gundogan with a diagonal towards the byline, but overhits his delivery and watches it sail out of play. He gets a thumbs-up from his skipper regardless.
8 min: Hungary are giving the Germans plenty to think about in these early stages, in attack and defence. As Germany advance, Willi Orban puts a stop to Jamal Musiala’s gallop with a strong challenge a few yards outside the Hungary penalty area.
6 min: The ball goes out off Robert Andrich and Hungary win a corner. Dominik Szoboszlai swings the ball in towards the near post, where it’s only half-cleared. The ball breaks to Bendeguz Bola, whose shot is deflected wide for another corner. Jonathan Tah clears this inswinger with a meaty header.
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3 min: It was uncharacteristic error from Antonio Rudiger that led to that early chance for Hungary. Normally a rock in defence, he made an absolute dog’s breakfast of trying to clear a long ball aimed towards Barnabas Varga from deep.
1 min: Manuel Neuer needs to have his wits about him as he dashes off his line to get to a long ball down the middle inside the first 30 seconds. Roland Sallai had nipped in behind Kimmich and could have nabbed a very early goal if Neuer hadn’t got out to take the ball off his toe at the edge of the six-yard box.
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Germany v Hungary is go ...
1 min: Germany get the ball rolling, their players wearing – I’m going to say – mauve-veering-into-purple shirts, purple shorts and purple socks. The players of Hungary are in white shirts with green and red trim, white shorts and white socks.
Not long now: Dutch referee Danny Makkelie and his team of his match officials lead both sets of players out on to the pitch, with Ilkay Gundogan and Dominik Szoboszlai wearing the capptains’ armbands. They line up for the national anthems in a packed stadium, with both countries very well represented in the stands.
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Marco Rossi: Defeat tonight will almost certainly result in Hungary’s elimination from these Euros but their Italian manager was far from optimistic about his team’s chances after witnessing their first-half performance against the Swiss.
“We play Germany in four days,” he said in the immediate aftermath of that defeat. “I dare anybody to bet one Hungarian forint on us. As of today that looks impossible. We had a tactical misunderstanding. We didn’t cope and have time to press them. The first half was very bad. We were too passive.”
Julian Nagelsmann: A win today will guarantee Germany a spot in the knockout stages and their manager was effusive in his praise of midfielder Toni Kroos, who will retire from professional football at the end of his tournament, ahead of this evening’s game.
“He’s still one of the top three players in the world who can find players in between the lines of the opponents, and better positions, offensive positions to create chances and I think he will do it tomorrow as well,” he said.
“It’s not it’s not that easy to defend against him. I think Hungary will have a plan to defend against him a little bit more than the Scottish team. But Toni is clever enough and smart enough to find solutions and then he will have a big impact tomorrow as well.”
Those teams: Germany field an unchanged side, while Hungary coach Marco Rossi has made two changes. Midfielder Bendeguez Bolla and centre-back Marlon Dardai come into the side, with Attila Szalai and Adam Lang making way. Callum Styles, who qualifies for Hungary through his mum’s side of the family and spent the second half of the season on loan at Sunderland from Barnsley, has to settle for a place on the bench.
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Germany v Hungary line-ups
Germany: Neuer, Kimmich, Rudiger, Tah, Mittelstadt, Andrich, Kroos, Musiala, Gundogan, Wirtz, Havertz.
Subs: Raum, Gross, Fullkrug, Fuhrich, Baumann, Muller, Beier, Schlotterbeck, Anton, Sane, Henrichs, ter Stegen, Koch, Can, Undav.
Hungary: Gulacsi, Fiola, Orban, Dardai, Bolla, Adam Nagy, Schafer, Kerkez, Sallai, Szoboszlai, Varga.
Subs: Lang, Balogh, Szalai, Nego, Adam, Dibusz, Kleinheisler, Gazdag, Styles, Zsolt Nagy, Botka, Szappanos, Csoboth, Horvath, Kata.
Referee: Danny Makkelie (Holland)
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Germany: The hosts have the oldest average age at the tournament but a mixture of experience and youthful talent could pay off at Euro 2024. Words: Nick Ames.
Early team news
To a man, Germany’s players emerged unscathed from their opener against Scotland, with their skipper Ilkay Gundogan lucky to avoid injury on the back of awful studs-up challenge he suffered at the hands of Ryan Porteous.
Hungary right-back Loic Nego sat out his nation’s opening match against Switzerland and remains sidelined for this evening’s game. The Barnsley midfielder Callum Styles was also absent for his adopted nation’s opening game but is available for selection tonight. Hungary coach Marco Rossi will, however, have to plan for this game without Botond Balogh after the Parma centre-back sustained an ankle injury in training.
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Group A: Germany v Hungary
The Stuttgart Arena is the venue for today’s match between Germany and Hungary. The hosts got off to a winning start in a game Scotland fans will be eager to forget, making short work of Steve Clarke’s side in an extremely one-sided tournament-opener in Munich.
Hungary got off to a far less auspicious start, going down 3-1 to Switzerland in Cologne. More dappled grey of Desert Orchid than dark horses in defeat at the hands of the Swiss, Hungary will need to seriously up their game if they are to take anything from the in-form Germans, having been second best in practically all departments in their opening game. Lose tonight and they’ll almost certainly be playing for nothing more than pride in their final game.
Kick-off in Stuttgart is at 5pm (BST) but we’ll have team news and build-up in the morning.
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