The continuation of German dominance and the rise of Switzerland/Hungary remain promising

Last night (Sunday) at 22:30 Tehran time, the first night of the last round of the 2024 European Cup group stage, two matches were held simultaneously in Group A. The most important of these was a thrilling match between the German national team and the Swiss team. The team, which had been behind the opponent until the last few minutes, finally escaped and ended the game with a 1-1 draw.

Germany started the match better, scoring earlier than their opponents, but the goal, scored by Robert Andric in the 17th minute, was disallowed by VAR due to a foul on a Swiss defender. Then, contrary to the tempo of the match, Switzerland caught them off guard on a counterattack in the 28th minute, allowing Dan Endoye to score from a pass by Remo Froehler. The Swiss’ slight advantage lasted until the second minute of injury time in the second half, when Nicolas Volkrog, one of the players who came on in the second half (replacing Jamal Musiala), scored the equalizer. Germany equalized with a header.

With this result, Germany, which secured its qualification in the last round, retains its top spot in the standings and will face the second team of Group C (England, Denmark, Slovenia and Serbia) in the round of 16. However, Switzerland has a more difficult task and will next face the second team of Group B, which is the group of death of this tournament, most likely Italy or Croatia.

In the simultaneous match between Scotland and Hungary at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in Stuttgart, neither team scored until the last few minutes (Hungary was eliminated in the end), but Kevin Szobers scored in the 10th minute of stoppage time, giving Hungary all three points and third place in the standings. With this result, Hungary still has a chance to advance as one of the top three teams in the group stage. (The extended time of the loss was due to a serious injury to a Hungarian player).

After the end of Group A, Germany ranked first with 7 points and Switzerland ranked second with 5 points. Hungary ranked third with 3 points, while Scotland ranked last with 1 point and was eliminated.