Three observations from Germany’s steady 2-0 win over Hungary at EURO 2024

Germany dominated possession and survived a few dangerous situations to defeat Hungary 2-0 in the second group stage match of EURO 2024. Bayern Munich’s Jamal Musiala opened the scoring line in the 22nd minute and FC Barcelona’s İlkay Gündoğan put the game out of reach in the 67th minute.

Germany kept Hungary on their heels, controlling the pace of the match and winning nearly every category on the stat sheet. Germany had nearly twice as many shots, but Hungary actually created one more big chance than Germany.

Germany has officially booked a spot in the Round of 16. Germany will travel to Frankfurt on Sunday, June 23rd for the third and final group stage match against Switzerland.

Bayern Munich players thriving once again under Julian Nagelsmann

Jamal Musiala sliced and diced his way through the opposition for 70 high quality minutes. Manuel Neuer delivered two massive saves on free kicks in the first half that altered the course of the match. Joshua Kimmich was incredible on the right flank and added in a goal line clearance to close out the match. Even Leroy Sane overcame his horrendous performance against Scotland, forcing Hungary goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi to completely lay out to keep him from scoring in the 75th minute.

At the ripe age of 36, Nagelsmann is in his fourth major coaching assignment. More importantly, he’s clearly learning from his experiences and has this German squad playing at an elite level.

Kai Havertz is the new Timo Werner

Werner is an attacking player who possesses a unique ability to frustrate the defense, get behind the back line, and win one-on-one opportunities. After making a name for himself in the Bundesliga by scoring double-digit goals in multiple seasons, Werner moved to Chelsea but failed to take his game to the next level in the Premier League.

Now swap in Havertz for Werner and everything is still true.

On this tournament team, Havertz’s role is to occupy the center backs to create more space for Florian Wirtz and Jamal Musiala. He’s doing an excellent job as a decoy marker, but Germany’s midfield is also creating solid opportunities for Havertz. In the 11th minute, Havertz fought his way through the box only to hit the ball at the keeper.

The real crux of the problem: defenses don’t fear Havertz. By contrast, Niclas Füllkrug dragged the entire Hungarian backline with him to create acres of space for Gündoğan in the middle of the box.

Hungary’s “bend but don’t break” tactics were effective, but not enough

Scotland ran a 5-4-1 against Germany in the opening match of EURO 2024, trying to clog the midfield and play a high line. Scotland went into halftime with a 3-goal deficit and forced to play with ten men.

Hungary sat much deeper and did a decent job closing down space all over the pitch. On both goals, Germany was able to shift the defense out wide and quickly send a dangerous, unexpected ball right back to the center of the field.

Hungary’s strategy was largely effective and would’ve been applauded had they scored on the aforementioned free kick opportunities in the first half.