Germany’s victory over Hungary on Wednesday night would guarantee them a spot in the round of 16 at Euro 2024. Last Friday, Julian Nagelsmann’s team defeated Scotland 5-1 to get off to the ideal start.
But Hungary will present Germany with a different challenge. The last European Championship match between the two teams resulted in an exciting 2-2 tie.
Germany as a Team
Germany, who will be looking to finish the job on Wednesday with a game against Switzerland remaining, has no new injury concerns. During their first game, Julian Nagelsmann’s team exuded confidence and made good use of the home crowd.
The goalkeeping dilemma is the only one that might still be there after seeing the German camp.
Will Shopland of GGFN revealed over the week that Manuel Neuer’s position has been questioned lately. Many feel that Neuer’s age is finally catching up to him, as he was at fault for one of Germany’s goals in their final pre-Euro 2024 warm-up matches.
Prior to Germany’s match against Hungary on Wednesday, Neuer offered his thoughts on the circumstances.
The person officiating the game ahead of Germany’s second encounter is another outside aspect.
Danny Makkelie, a Dutch referee, was nominated by UEFA on Monday. This will be his third encounter officiating a German national team game. Prior to this, Makkelie oversaw Germany’s 2-2 tie against Spain at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and their 2-0 loss to England in Euro 2020.
Even with Makkelie’s experience—he has been a registered FIFA referee since 2011—controversies and charges of conceit have followed him everywhere. The Dutchman’s performance against Chelsea in the 2023 Champions League round of 16 did not exactly delight those associated with Die Schwarzgelben.
Matthias Sammer, Dortmund’s advisor, called Makkelie a “very, very arrogant person.” In addition, the 41-year-old “wanted to be the most important man on the pitch,” according to CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke.
Germany must act professionally and tune out the outside noise in order to win this match. They will go into this encounter as favourites and anticipate qualifying with one game remaining. Anticipate the same team as last Friday as Germany looks to win two straight matches.
Hungary Team
For Hungary, who are going through their first real football golden period in many years, it was a bad start. They were the superior team after the first match, but they lost 2-1 because it was too late to rally from a 2-0 deficit against Switzerland.
Neither Loic Nego nor Callum Styles was available to start for Hungary in the first game, and it seems unlikely that either will be ready on Wednesday. Since head coach Rossi doesn’t really have many offensive alternatives from the bench, a lineup akin to their defeat to Switzerland is anticipated.
Hungary can pull off a shock, but they’ll need something extra to defeat Germany on Wednesday and maintain their chances of qualifying for Euro 2024.
