It had been a crucial night in Stuttgart in which both sides realistically had to win to have a chance of making the last sixteen. But it was yet another tale of disappointment for Scotland, who failed to register a shot on target before Kevin Csoboth finished a Hungarian counter in the 100th minute. Scotland were stunned, players stood dumfounded. 15 seconds after Callum McGregor had seen his shot blocked from a corner, they were now out of Euro 2024.
But for a while, the match paled into insignificance – play stopped for almost seven minutes as Barnabás Varga received treatment for a sickening injury before being stretchered off.
Kieran Tierney was ruled out for the rest of the tournament after picking up an injury against Switzerland on Wednesday night. Therefore, Steve Clarke made one change. Scott McKenna instead started at left centre back in Scotland’s usual back three.
Meanwhile Marco Rossi made two alterations to his Hungary side, who set up in a similar 3-4-2-1 shape, Attila Fiola and Ádám Nagy dropped in favour of Endre Botka and Barnsley’s Bury-born midfielder Callum Styles.
The game was a battle of two sides who are used to seeing little of the ball, and that was the case for Hungary in the opening ten minutes, as Scotland had 80% possession. But for all that possession, Scotland failed to create much. The first chance of the match came to Hungary on the counter in the form of Roland Sallai’s shot from 30 yards, which Angus Gunn parried to his right before the ball was headed into his hands by Andy Robertson.
As the half progressed, John McGinn had won a series of fouls, and Hungary had three players in the book by the half hour mark. Scotland’s possession share was still at 70%. They had put a couple of crosses in, McGinn overhitting one to the back post and Robertson seeing a free kick cleared from the edge of the six-yard box but were yet to have a shot.
Scotland’s lack of attacking guile was perhaps best summed up in the 29th minute, as they countered from a Hungary corner. Ché Adams was found down the left, but the striker slowed the play down and sucked any threat out of the move.
Adams would give away two free kicks in areas which looked promising for Hungary, both of which would be taken by captain Dominik Szoboszlai. The first was in the 31st minute for a push on Callum Styles. From around 30 yards out, it deflected behind for a corner off the Scotland wall. But the second, given in the 40th minute for a high boot, was much closer. From 23 yards out, just right of centre, Szoboszlai dinked the ball to the back post where it was met by the head of Willi Orbán. But the Leipzig defender missed a huge opportunity to give his side the lead, heading the ball over the bar from four yards out. Millions of simultaneous sighs of relief were let out across Scotland, and in Stuttgart.
The first half had been poor, with a lack of chances. It was harsh to call it anti-football, but it was far from the entertainment we have seen in other matches in Germany. Though it was typical of Scotland in 2024.
Scotland would register their first shot in the 53rd minute. Andy Robertson won the ball from Liverpool teammate Szoboszlai and passed the ball down the line to Adams, who had drifted out to the left. With space in the inside-left channel, Adams cut inside before curling the ball over from 25 yards out. A poor effort, but it was something, at last.
In the 67th minute, Hungary won a free kick 30 yards out in a wide position on left after Grant Hanley fouled Roland Sallai. Szoboszlai floated the ball into the centre of the box, and Gunn came for the ball and punched it away, clattering into Anthony Ralston and Barnabás Varga in the process. Whilst Ralston was able to get to his feet quickly, medics rushed onto the pitch to treat Gunn and Varga, though it was soon evident that Gunn was okay too. Meanwhile, it very quickly became clear that Varga was seriously hurt, his teammates using sheets to shield him from the eyes of the crowd whist he received treatment. Play was delayed for almost seven minutes before the striker was stretchered off and taken to a Stuttgart hospital.
The Hungarian FA have since confirmed that Varga is in a stable condition and will spend the night in hospital. He has suffered a concussion and broken several bones in his face for which he will likely undergo surgery.
There were claims of a penalty for Scotland in the 78th minute. Scott McTominay had driven forward and played the ball through to substitute Stuart Armstrong. After getting ahead of Willi Orbán, he appeared to have been taken down by the Hungary defender, who failed to win the ball as he clattered his knee into the back of Armstrong’s thigh.
Referee Facundo Raúl Tello Figueroa rejected the claims, to the anger of Steve Clarke, who was adamant that the referee had made the wrong call when speaking to ITV after the game.
In the final minutes, the action in Stuttgart became increasingly more akin to a basketball game. Frantic, breathless, end-to-end. A stark contrast to the first half. A draw would see both sides eliminated, and they knew it. Steve Clarke went to a back four, before replacing Robertson with forward Lewis Morgan. Once the game entered ten minutes of stoppage time, it was chaos.
First, Szoboszlai saw his effort saved by Gunn at the near post, before Zsolt Nagy went even closer a minute later. Shooting from the right-hand edge of the six-yard box, the substitute’s shot with the inside of his right boot hit the outside of the far post and went out for a throw in.
Stuart Armstrong’s cross from the left flank to the far side of the box saw an interchange of short passes before the ball came to Grant Hanley, now playing up front. 15 yards out, the defender saw his effort pushed away by Péter Gulácsi, who then held Ryan Christie’s follow-up from the right.
And then, the sucker punch. A buzzer beater in this basketball-like end to the game. Scott McTominay swung the corner in from the left to the back post. It was then headed back across goal by a couple of players before falling to Callum McGregor. The Celtic captain chested the ball down, teeing up a strike whilst surely dreaming of being the one to finally break Scotland’s knockout stage hoodoo. But Martin Ádám was in his way, and able to launch a counter charge.
Szoboszlai brought the ball away before passing left to Csoboth. In the half space, the striker got the better of Lewis Morgan and found Sallai on the right, who would sprint to the byline and cut the ball back. Dominik Szoboszlai was in the middle, lunging to reach it, Hungary’s captain, their talisman, their former prodigy looking to seal the win.
But the Liverpool man missed the ball and instead it came to Kevin Csoboth heading for the back post. The striker would side-foot the ball into the bottom left corner first time, to give Hungary a chance of making the last 16. The 24-year-old, who scored just seven goals for an Ujpest side who finished just above the relegation zone in the Hungarian league last season, had scored the most important goal of his career. His first for his country had made him a hero.
The juxtaposition of a team on cloud nine, as Hungary players both on the pitch and the bench rushed to the corner to swarm Csoboth, and a Scotland side looking dejected. This was a huge chance to finally make it through the group stage at a major tournament, and they’d blown it. For fans, a gutting sense of déjà vu. It’s this contrast of emotion that we love sport for. But it also means that sports writers (including me) can be prone to hyperbole. In reality, it’s trivial. The most important thing is that Barnabás Varga is okay.
Analysis: Toothless and too cautious.
In the end, it’s same old, same old for Scotland, I’m afraid. If the European Championships were decided on which country has the best fans at the tournament, or the best national anthem, Scotland would likely be amongst the front runners. But for all the passion and the energy, Scotland didn’t resemble enough of the fighting spirit that they sing about before a game. Their gameplan and mentality should have said “we can still rise now”. It did in qualifying. It did in their gutsy display against Switzerland. But for all their possession, they were fairly toothless, passive and ambling. The side looked risk-averse, worried to pass the ball forward in fear of losing it at times. Whilst keeping the ball prevents the opposition from scoring, Scotland needed a win.
This frustration was evident on a couple of occasions from Robertson, who shouted and threw his arms out upon seeing back passes on a couple of occasions in the second half. Scotland needed to find him running in behind. They needed to be brave, as they were in the closing stages.
After their performance in the 1-1 draw against Switzerland, fans came into this game with hope, but with a lack of chances, the momentum from that game was lost by half time. This was an attacking performance more like the one we saw against Germany, but against a much worse side. Scotland’s shooting stats throughout the tournament are appalling. They had just 17 shots throughout the group stage, equalling Northern Ireland’s record low at Euro 2016, and only three were on target. This is down massively from their 49 shots at Euro 2020.
Whilst the shooting stats are pretty indefensible, context is important when considering Scotland’s overall performance. They have had a number of injuries: Tierney, Dykes, Hickey, Ferguson, Doak, Patterson. Had Scotland been awarded a penalty in the 78th minute, things could have been so different, too. There would be know mention of shooting stats, had Scotland won, just a couple of days of waiting for confirmation of a last sixteen place, with Steve Clarke hailed as one of Scotland’s best.
Clarke has done an incredible job to get Scotland to consecutive European Championships after going more than two decades without qualifying for a major tournament, as well as winning promotion to UEFA Nations League A. As I covered here, it’s quite the turnaround when compared to the situation in which he took over. But it is also true that there has been a definite dip in results over the past few months, and with games against Croatia, Portugal and Poland to come in the autumn, the rest of this year won’t be easy for Scotland.
With an expanded 48 team World Cup in which 16 European teams will qualify in 2026, and then a European Championships which Scotland will co-host in 2028, there are great opportunities coming to build on the major tournament experience of the past few years and, at last make it through a group stage. What will haunt Scotland is that the same could have been said about this summer. But, alas, they will have to wait to send a team homeward tae think again.
Scotland (3-4-2-1): Gunn (GK); Hendry, Hanley, McKenna; Ralston (Christie 83’), Gilmour (McLean 83’), McGregor, Robertson (C) (Morgan 89’); McGinn (Armstrong 76’), McTominay; Adams (Shankland 76’).
Hungary (3-4-2-1): Gulácsi (GK); Botka, Orbán, Dárdai (Szalai 74’); Bolla (Csoboth 86’), Schäfer, Styles (Nagy 61’), Kerkez (Nagy 86’); Szoboszlai (C), Sallai; Varga (Ádám 74’).
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