Scotland and Hungary’s final Group A match on Sunday is effectively a knockout tie, with both teams needing a win to have any chance of reaching the next stage of Euro 2024.
Scotland has a slight advantage in that it has secured a valuable point already as it chases one of the four best-third place group finishes – or even second place if Switzerland loses heavily to Germany.
Hungary is bottom of the standings having lost both its opening games but still has hope, having performed well at times in its 2-0 defeat to host Germany who had thrashed Scotland 5-1 in the tournament opener.
Marco Rossi’s side came through its two matches largely unscathed, physically, but cannot afford to make any of the same mistakes that led to its 3-1 loss to Switzerland and then for the first goal against Germany.
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Even if it beats Scotland, Hungary’s fate depends on results going in its favour to reach the last 16 for the first time since Euro 2016.
Steve Clarke’s side, meanwhile, is already without suspended defender Ryan Porteous and it suffered another blow in its 1-1 draw with the Swiss when left back Kieran Tierney was carried off on a stretcher early on.
Clarke has since confirmed the defender will miss the Hungary game, at least.
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However, the coach was more upbeat about Sunday’s clash in general given his side’s response to its Germany thrashing.
“They’re going to feel a lot better going into the next game,” Clarke said. “This is who we are. We were aggressive and showed fight. That’s the dirty side, but we can play and when we get it down we created some chances.”
The atmosphere is sure to be a special one as both sets of fans have travelled in their thousands to Germany, with Scotland’s Tartan Army in particular endearing itself to the host nation.
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Hungary’s fans have had little to cheer so far but will still put on a big display as they urge their team on to rediscover the sort of form it showed when it went through qualifying for the Euros unbeaten.
So far, only Barnabas Varga has scored for the team and he missed a good chance to equalise against Germany. His link-up play with captain Dominik Szoboszlai will be an area Scotland will look to lock down.
However, that could leave space for Roland Sallai to exploit, with the forward having the best chances against Germany including a goal ruled out for offside.
