Scotland manager Steve Clarke said he won’t need to make a rousing pre-game speech when his team clashes with Hungary on Sunday (live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player from 7.30pm) in a do-or-die Group A finale at Euro 2024. Everyone knows the stakes are sky-high.
“I’ll try and give them something (of a speech),” Clarke told reporters on Saturday. “But everybody knows how big a game it is, you can talk and talk and talk about it.
“We probably did a little bit too much the first game (a 5-1 defeat to Germany), so we’re trying to underplay this one, if you can ever underplay a game of this magnitude… and make sure that we’re well prepared and ready to go come kick-off.”
Scotland – and their legion of Tartan Army fans – are hoping to get out of the group stage at a major tournament for the first time.
The game is essentially a knockout tie, with both teams needing a win to have any chance of reaching the next stage. Scotland have a slight advantage in that they have one point as they chase one of the four best-third place group finishes while Hungary are bottom of the standings having lost their first two matches.
“Listen, the whole tournament’s a sense of occasion to come here, and for Scotland the first major overseas tournament since 1998,” the 60-year-old Clarke said. “I was still playing. That’s a long time ago.”
The atmosphere is sure to be raucous with Scotland roared on by their thousands-strong, kilt-wearing, bagpipe-playing Tartan Army.
“And the other five million that didn’t manage to travel, I’m sure that they also are engrossed in the tournament as well” Clarke said. “So, that’s what it means to everybody. It’s not just about this game.”
Scotland midfielder John McGinn said it would mean everything to win one for the supporters.
“The way they’ve conducted themselves…and I don’t know how they’ve managed to do it by all the drink they’ve been consuming,” McGinn said with a laugh. “(The supporters) have done their part of their journey and their job and it’s up to us to send them home with more unforgettable memories.”
Clarke is expecting a tough challenge from Hungary, who were solid in a 2-0 loss to group leaders Germany.
“We look at the record over the last few years, they’ve been building towards this, good team, well organised, good coach, good discipline without the ball, and a good threat with the ball,” he said.
Clarke will be without suspended defender Ryan Porteous and left back Kieran Tierney, who has left camp after injuring his hamstring in their 1-1 draw with Switzerland.
Hungary will be happy to beat Scotland even if a win does not result in them sealing a place in the last 16, coach Marco Rossi said.
Rossi’s side sit bottom of Group A on zero points after defeats by Switzerland and hosts Germany and must beat Scotland to have a chance of being one of the four best third place finishers to move into the knockout stage.
The Hungarians have disappointed so far, having come into the tournament tipped as dark horses after going unbeaten last year. Rossi said it was a matter of pride, then, to make sure they can go home, whenever they do, with three points from the match on Sunday against a Scotland side also needing a win.
“We’re in same boat as Scotland, we want to get three points as well,” Rossi told a press conference.
“Obviously coming away with maximum points might see us through to the knockout stage and were that not to come to pass, at least we can come away from Euro 2024 with three points.”
Such a result would be an improvement on their previous tally from Euro 2020, when they came away with two points from three group games.
There was concern on Saturday in training when young captain and talisman Dominik Szoboszlai was seen doing work away from the main group. However, Rossi was confident the midfielder, who had an injury-interrupted debut season with club side Liverpool, would be fit enough to face the Scots.
“We will wait until 11th hour and see how everyone is. There is no concern for Szoboszlai at this stage. It was a very long season for him in particular… What matters now is recovery,” the Italian coach said.
“There are not really any worrying situations,” he added. “We’ve assessed things from a physical perspective. There will be a couple of changes but that doesn’t come down to bad performances. It’s simply because we think we can have a bit more freshness in the side.”
Another player who will be available is English-born midfielder Callum Styles. The 24-year-old, who has Hungarian heritage through his grandparents, was injured in a friendly against Israel earlier this month but has now recovered.
Asked on how he would motivate his players for the crucial showdown, Rossi said he didn’t need to do much at all.
“I think at this stage of the competition in a tournament such as this, you don’t really need to motivate your players. If you as footballers can’t find that motivation from within, you need to find another job, get out.”
Germany‘s goal-scorers may be grabbing the headlines at Euro 2024 but defender Jonathan Tah said their defence has been the key to their two wins so far as they head into their final Group A game against Switzerland (live on RTÉ News channel and RTÉ Player from 7.55pm).
Julian Nagelsmann said he would field a strong team as the Germans aim to make it a perfect three wins from three matches against the Swiss to top the group and head into the knockout stage, and Tah agreed with his coach’s reasoning.
“We want to win every single match and we want to come top of our group. We want to be the first, we want to see Germany at the top of the list, at the top of the rankings,” Tah told reporters.
The 28-year-old said that Nagelsmann’s criticism of Germany’s defence following a string of poor results in 2023 had stung the players and that they were now much more cohesive as a team.
“It’s not just a matter of the defenders defending, it’s a matter of the whole team defending – we must be united, we must be able to suffer all together and mentally speaking, we must accept there are some phases of the match where we have to defend all together,” Tah explained.
The central defender said he is looking forward to playing against his Bayer Leverkusen team-mate Granit Xhaka on Sunday as the two teams battle it out to see who will win the group.
“We know each other very well … he’s a real leader, he always wants to win,” Tah said. “Tomorrow will be a very, very interesting and entertaining game.”
Switzerland are second in the group on four points, two behind Germany, with third-placed Scotland (one point) facing bottom side Hungary, who have no points, in the group’s other game.
Meanwhile, Switzerland coach Murat Yakin has a clean bill of health in his squad going into the Germany fixture and is looking forward to pitting his wits against counterpart Nagelsmann.
Yakin feels no pressure to win, saying that taking on Germany is a tantalising prospect to be enjoyed.
“All my players are available,” he told reporters on Saturday. “We won’t suffer huge pressure as we don’t necessarily have to win tomorrow. We will try to bother our opponent, cause them problems and play a good match.
“It will be interesting game that we are looking forward to, a clash between me and Julian and our tactics. We want to give it our best shot.
“More than two-thirds of our squad have played (club football) in Germany and we want to perform well and make the Swiss fans proud.”
Yakin praised the work of Nagelsmann and is relishing the opportunity to take him on, suggesting Switzerland will not sit back and try to contain their hosts.
“They are a very strong side and Nagelsmann’s playing style is planned in very minor detail. He looks at every square centimetre of the pitch.
“We don’t want to be defensive, we want to showcase the skill of our players and take the game to them.”
Sunday’s clash will decide who finishes first or second in the pool, which would in turn impact the path through the knockout rounds, but Yakin said he was not dwelling on such outcomes.
“We have analysts looking at potential opponents and I can say there are no weak teams,” he said. “The games at these Euros have all been top level and all very interesting. We will be focused on our way of playing and our tactics.
“We cannot focus on the opponents only but must also look at the way we want to play.”
The slippery surface at the Frankfurt Arena has come in for criticism from several quarters with Nagelsmann suggesting it could lead to injuries but Yakin was non-committal when asked.
“We have trained for a week on a terrible pitch so it could be beneficial for us,” he joked.
Watch every game from Euro 2024 on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player as well as highlights and goals as they happen on RTÉ Sport digital platforms
