Germany off to flying start as they sink Scotland in Euro 2024 opener
FLYING START: Germany's Florian Wirtz celebrates scoring his sides first goal at UEFA EURO 2024. Pic: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images
Rock? They sure did. Julian Nagelsmann and Germany are rolling, which means that Euro 2024 is not just up and running but really humming along from the off. A Scottish side which rolled over in near-historic fashion of course helped but as soon as a celtic chorus had died down, the hosts were pitch perfect here.
On the eve of the opener Nagelsmann had revealed that Toni Kroos’s message upon coming out of retirement for a tilt at turning Germany back into something that could contend for the piece of silver at stake here was two words: “Let’s rock.” As Kroos came ashore with ten minutes remaining at Allianz Arena, the rafters of the place shook just a little with the raucous salute coming the midfielder’s way.
But Kroos was just one of the German ensemble who hit all of the right notes. A wide-open tournament means, more than ever, momentum can be crucial. Ninety minutes into a month, Germany are already raising the volume.
Their attack was nimble and crafty, finding all of the softness in the Scots backline — and there was plenty — Florian Wirtz becoming Germany’s youngest Euros scorer within 10 minutes and Jamal Musiala second-youngest soon after. They were fed by Kroos but also by skipper Ilkay Gundogan whose performance might bode the brightest, quite brilliant in the No.10 role. Kai Havertz got off the mark too, Niclas Fullkrug lumbered in after the break to rocket in a fourth and Emre Can had the final say.
A Toni Rudiger own goal minutes earlier ensured the night was bookended by Scottish lungs and air, even if they’d be silenced for so much of it.
By the tens of thousands they’d descended, the thirstiest invading horde Bavaria had seen. Milky of thigh below their kilts, bare of arse under them. But what was most naked was the hope and the fear. The fear of missing out on something historic, something to talk about from tomorrow until there are no more tomorrows. The hope that this time, mercifully, might be different.
Eleven major tournaments have come and gone without Scotland getting out of a group. Andy Robertson’s side arrived in Germany believing they could progress. It might already be time to think again.
An essential ingredient in progress is goals. Yet here on Euro 2024’s opening night both teams started with an unknown which may be a familiar theme in the early days: where will goals come from? Che Adams led one line, Havertz the other. Lone frontmen but carrying plenty of questions with them.
It would quickly be apparent that the Friday night answers would come auf Deutsch and would need little in the way of translation. The naked eye could read what was happening out there, Nagelsmann’s side meeting the moment and sending a message to the rest. Yet Scottish eyes should surely have spotted the danger. It came from the most likely source and even then was politely pre-warned too.
With ten minutes on the clock Kroos had already probed the left side of Scotland’s defence with one of those Kroosian cross-field pearlers that we’ll so miss a few weeks from now. Yet he was allowed to repeat the trick and this time it worked a charm, finding Joshua Kimmich in stride and space, allowed to him by a hospitable Robertson. The ball found Wirtz in an open green space, devoid of navy presence, and his shot was too much for Angus Gunn when it probably shouldn’t have been.
Conceding a soft early goal probably seemed the worst case scenario in Scottish minds. If only they knew. Soon enough they did.
Nine minutes later it was Gundogan who threaded the key pass, a gorgeous reverse finding Havertz sneaking in behind. He fed Musiala, who rifled home. At the edge of his area, Steve Clarke called for calm but Scottish heads had dropped irreversibly. A let-off, when a Clement Turpin penalty decision was reversed to a free-kick, wasn’t enough to raise them.
Just before the break Ryan Porteous lost his entirely, Gundogan blessed to come out of a shocking lunge with his right ankle somehow intact. Porteous departed, Havertz stutter-stepped, slotted home the penalty and it was hard to think how it could have gone better for Germany and worse for Scotland. If "homeward, to think again” had been a half-time option, you reckon Clarke would have taken it.
There are deeper, heavier questions facing this host nation. While Nagelsmann has already and may continue to make progress on the field, off it Germany has social, economic and political dilemmas requiring urgent attention.
The huge pre-match ovation for Jurgen Klinsmann, who heralded in the country’s first summer fairytale 18 years ago, spoke of lasting reverence. Yet Sommermärchen’s positive effects have worn off. Perhaps the sight of this multiracial Mannschaft purring as it pulls defences, and midfields, this way and that can win some hearts, change some minds. June and early July now stretch tantilisingly out before Nagelsmann’s side — and for the wider tournament too.
Fullkrug’s exocet on 68 minutes may have been the game’s best finish and he had a second chalked off by VAR before Rudiger gave Scotland their minor moment. In its own way, it may have been no bad thing for Germany, halting the hype just a little. It would dip for less than six minutes, Can curling home a sumptuous fifth. We’re rolling alright.
: Neuer 6; Kimmich 7, Rüdiger 7, Tah 6, Mittelstadt 7; Andrich 6 (Gross 46, 7), Kroos 9 (Can 80); Musiala 8, Gundogan 9, Wirtz 8 (Sané 63, 7); Havertz 8 (Fullkrug 63, 7).
Andrich (30), Tah (62)
Gunn 3; Porteous 2, Hendry 4, Tierney 3 (McKenna 77); Ralston 3, McGregor 3 (Gilmour 67), McTominay 4, Robertson 3; Christie 4 (Shankland 82), McGinn 4 (McLean 68); Adams 3 (Hanley 46, 5).
: Ralston (48)
Porteous (44)
: Clement Turpin (FRA) 8
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