Forced into a draw by Albania (2-2), Luka Modric’s Croatia finds itself in a very unfavorable waiver for Euro-2024, while Germany on Wednesday became the first team qualified for the round of 16 in dominating Hungary (2-0).
In a totally crazy match, Luka Modric’s teammates went through all the emotional states at the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg on Wednesday afternoon.
Led from 11e minute on a goal from Qazim Laçi, they thought they had overturned the match in 120 seconds a quarter of an hour from the end of the match by Andrej Kramarić (74e) and an own goal from Klaus Gjasula (76e).
But in the fifth of seven minutes of added time, Albania managed to snatch the point from a draw through Gjasula, with a shot beyond the reach of Dominik Livaković. “We allowed the Albanians to return. We always have to complicate our lives,” complained Croatia coach Zlatko Daliić after the match.
With only one point on the clock after two matches (3-0 defeat against Spain), the Croatians, 2018 world vice-champions and third in the 2022 World Cup, will have to win against Italy in five days to hope to see the round of 16. The Albanians will also have to beat Spain to get through the first round.
Germany impresses
700 kilometers south of Hamburg, the Germans conversely rode the momentum of the inaugural success against Scotland (5-1) by dominating Hungary 2-0. They once again impressed and thus confirmed their status serious contenders for the title on July 14 in Berlin in “their” Euro at home.
In a meeting controlled by Julian Nagelsmann’s players, the first spark came from Jamal Musiala. The Bayern nugget found himself ideally placed about ten meters from the goal to recover a cross from his captain İlkay Gündoğan to open the scoring and score his second goal of the Euro.
Facing much stronger opposition than Scotland during the opening match in Munich, the Germans were saved by their goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, from the first minute but especially on a free kick from Dominik Szoboszlai who headed from the skylight.
After a balanced first half hour, the Mannschaft gradually took the best, to take shelter in the 67e minute thanks to İlkay Gündoğan at the conclusion of a movement initiated with Toni Kroos, Musiala and Maximilian Mittelstädt.
With six points, Germany is guaranteed to finish at worst among the four best thirds in the group, which validates its ticket for the eighth.
Mbappé with a bandage
Winners of Hungary for their entry into the competition, the Swiss of Granit Xhaka and Yann Sommer will also want to validate their place for the knockout phase on Wednesday evening, but will have to win to do so.
In Paderborn, in the north-west of Germany, where the France team has set up its base camp, the day was still dominated by the uncertainty surrounding its captain Kylian Mbappé, victim of a broken nose on Monday evening against Austria.
Mbappé “remains uncertain” for Friday’s match against the Netherlands, the French Football Federation (FFF) announced on Tuesday. “When I met him this morning, he was better,” explained French central defender William Saliba on Wednesday at a press conference, while for midfielder Adrien Rabiot, a package from Mbappé in two days “doesn’t matter.” is not recorded.”
“Without risks there are no victories…”, the 2018 world champion posted on Instagram at midday, with a forearm showing the muscles and the emoticon of a smiling face.
At the end of the afternoon, the new Real Madrid player appeared at the Blues training session with a bandage.
Absent at the start of the session, he trained separately with a physical trainer with whom he exchanged passes away from the group. He then tried a few strikes with the rest of his teammates, without appearing unduly embarrassed.