Julius Okorie
Host Germany were ruthless in the Euro 2024 opener, thrashing Scotland 5-1, in what could best be described as baptism of fire Friday night.
Poor defending and poor ball retention saw Steve Clarke’s side 2-0 down inside 20 minutes, with a third netted before the break from a Kai Havertz penalty, once Ryan Porteous had been sent off for a rash challenge on Ilkay Gungodan.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelScotland restored some pride after half-time and would have drawn the second 45 minutes 1-1 before Emre Can netted an injury-time fifth, but the damage was long-since done.
Former Scotland striker, Kris Boyd, labelled his country’s performance “embarrassing”. “They deserve enormous credit for getting there but we can’t keep getting to competitions and freezing. That’s exactly what happened “Boyd told Sky Sports News. It will be the first time Scotland will be conceding five goals in a competitive match in 20 years.
Nigeria born Germany international, Jamal Musiala, was named Player of the match as the midfielder impressed on the international stage again, while Florian Wirtz capped his own tournament debut with a fine opening goal, with Gundogan pulling the strings in midfield.
Steve Clarke, whose side have only beaten Gibraltar in the last nine games, admitted that Scotland let themselves down but urged the Tartan Army to “keep the faith” despite the dispiriting opening defeat, after a number of fans left the Allianz Arena long before the full-time whistle
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“It was a difficult night,” he admitted. “We didn’t play to our standard and I thought the German team were excellent.
“We’re disappointed, we feel as though we’ve let ourselves down. We’re better than that and hopefully we can show that in the next two games.
Captain Andy Robertson said Germany’s first-half performance worked “a million times better” than Scotland’s during their painful drubbing in Munich.
“First half we got it all wrong,” the Liverpool defender told ITV. “We didn’t really show up, weren’t aggressive enough. Let good players on the ball. ” They had a game plan, we did, and theirs worked a million times better than ours.
In matches lined up for Saturday, June 15, Hungary will face Switzerland, Spain battle Croatia and defending champions Italy slug it out with Albania.
Julius Okorie is Chief Sports and Entertainment Correspondent for Prime Business Africa. He began his journalism career with the Champion Newspaper and Sporting Champion and later moved on to Daily Independent and the Nation Newspapers. Okorie joined Prime Business Africa in 2024 bringing on board 20 years of experience in writing investigative news on Sports and Entertainment. His well researched and highly informative articles on Sports Business and general entertainment are followed by a wide range of audience.
