The final Group A match of Euro 2024 on Sunday between Scotland and Hungary is essentially a knockout tie. Both teams are in desperate need of a victory to have any chance of progressing to the next stage of the tournament. Scotland holds a slight advantage, having already secured a valuable point. They are chasing one of the four best-third place group finishes, or even a second-place finish if Switzerland suffers a heavy defeat against Germany.
Hungary, on the other hand, sits at the bottom of the standings after losing both of their opening matches. However, they still harbor hope. They displayed moments of brilliance in their 2-0 loss to host Germany, who had thrashed Scotland 5-1 in the tournament opener. Marco Rossi’s side emerged from their two matches largely unscathed physically but cannot afford to repeat the mistakes that led to their 3-1 loss to Switzerland and the first goal against Germany.
Even if they manage to beat Scotland, Hungary’s fate depends on other results going in their favor to reach the last 16 for the first time since Euro 2016.
Scotland, meanwhile, is already without suspended defender Ryan Porteous. They suffered another blow in their 1-1 draw with the Swiss when left back Kieran Tierney was carried off on a stretcher early in the match. Manager Steve Clarke has confirmed that Tierney will miss the Hungary game, at least.
Despite these setbacks, Clarke remains optimistic about Sunday’s clash. He highlighted his side’s response to the Germany defeat. “They’re going to feel a lot better going into the next game,” Clarke said. “This is who we are. We were aggressive and showed fight. That’s the dirty side, but we can play and when we get it down we created some chances.”
The atmosphere is sure to be electric as both sets of fans have traveled in droves to Germany. Scotland’s Tartan Army, in particular, has endeared itself to the host nation. Hungary’s fans, although lacking much to celebrate so far, will still put on a grand display as they encourage their team to rediscover the form that saw them qualify for the Euros unbeaten.
So far, only Barnabas Varga has scored for Hungary, and he missed a good chance to equalize against Germany. His link-up play with captain Dominik Szoboszlai will be a key area for Scotland to target. However, this could create space for Roland Sallai to exploit, with the forward having created the best chances against Germany, including a goal ruled out for offside.
