In the opening match of EURO 2024 in Group A, host Germany easily defeated Scotland 3-0 to have a smooth start in the journey to conquer the championship.
Goal
Virtue: Wirtz (10′), Musiala (19′), Havertz (45’+1 pen), Fullkrug (68′)
Scotland: Rudiger (87′ own goal)
Red card
Scotland: Porteous (44′)
Entering the match with Scotland, the German team took the field with a 4-2-3-1 formation. Kai Havertz is the highest spearhead in the attack, supporting the trio of Florian Wirtz, Ilkay Gundogan, and Jamal Musiala below. The home team’s central midfield pair is Toni Kroos – Robert Andrich, while the back four includes Maximilian Mittelstadt, Jonathan Tah, Antonio Rudiger and Joshua Kimmich.
Germany attacked like a storm, the away team could only stand for exactly 9 minutes. Kroos from midfield sent a great pass out to the right wing for Kimmich. The defender passed inside so Wirtz finished one-touch right on the edge of the penalty area and hit Scotland’s goal to open the score.
Less than 10 minutes later, the gap was doubled for Germany. Gundogan poked the ball for Havertz to escape and enter the penalty area. Havertz then controlled and passed Musiala a hammer-like kick with his right foot, completely defeating goalkeeper Angus Gunn.
Even though they were behind, Scotland was powerless to protest because the ball was completely in Germany’s feet. By the end of the first half, everything completely ended for Scotland when defender Ryan Porteous received a direct red card for fouling Gundogan in the penalty area. Germany was awarded 11 meters and Havertz made no mistake to increase the score to 3-0.
In the second half, Germany, with the advantage in numbers, attacked strongly in search of more goals. After a series of missed opportunities, Die Mannschaft finally got what they needed with a fourth goal thanks to substitute striker Niclas Fullkrug.
In the remaining time, Scotland suddenly had a goal to shorten the gap in the 87th minute when midfielder Rudiger accidentally burned his own net after a rather messy situation. However, in the last minute of extra time, another German substitute, Emre Can, spoke up with a dangerous long-range shot, sealing a jubilant 5-1 victory for the home team on the opening day of EURO 2024. .
Thus, Germany has had an extremely smooth start at EURO 2024, thereby opening up many hopes for this tournament. In the second match of Group A, Germany will meet Hungary at 11:00 p.m. on June 19, while Scotland will face Switzerland.
Squad
Virtue: Neuer, Kimmich, Tah, Rudiger, Mittelstadt, Kroos (Can 80′), Andrich (Gross 46′), Musiala (Muller 64′), Gundogan, Wirtz (Sane 63′), Havertz (Fullkrug 63′).
Scotland: Gunn, Robertson, Tierney (McKenna 77′), Hendry, Ralston, Porteous, McGregor (Gilmour 67′), McGinn (McLean 67′), Christie (Shankland 82′), McTominay, Adams (Hanley 46′).