Germany became the first team to confirm their qualification for the second round, beating Hungary 2-0 in Stuttgart.
The composure and intelligence of Kroos and Ilkay Gündoğan is the ideal complement to the energy and inspiration of the young attacking midfielders Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz, and the balance is completed by the tireless support work of Leverkusen’s Robert Andrich.This midfield combination, which has been the most impressive unit in the tournament so far, was not really obvious a year ago.
The Hungarian centre-back stumbled and fell on the ball, giving Gündoğan the chance to pounce and try to spin away from the advancing keeper Peter Gulacsi. Bendeguz Bolla stuck out a desperate leg but only succeeded in knocking the ball against his keeper’s knee, leaving Gundogan with a simple task to tee up Musiala to smash it in from eight yards.
The Austrian national team had been using L’Amour Toujours as their goal celebration music and it was on the playlist they submitted to Uefa in March, but the governing body informed them at the end of May that due to its recent “misuse” it could not be played in stadiums at this tournament. They had arrived in Dublin having not lost in 14 matches, a run stretching back to September 2022. Szoboszlai had never lost a match as captain of the national team. Troy Parrott put a stop to all that, and playing the way they have done here, you wonder how they ever went unbeaten that long.