Euro 2024 continues with three more games on Wednesday, including Scotland’s second match of the tournament in Group A against Switzerland, which rounds off another busy day.
Earlier, hosts Germany are back in action when they take on Hungary, while there is also a Group B clash between Croatia and Albania.
- BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE - CROATIA VS ALBANIA
- GERMANY TO WIN AND BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE VS HUNGARY
- SWITZERLAND - OVER 1.5 GOALS VS SCOTLAND
Albania Can Test Croatia
Albania were not expected to trouble Italy too much in their first group game but Sylvinho‘s side stunned the reigning European champions inside the first minute when Nedim Bajrami made history to score the fastest goal in a European Championship match after 23 seconds.
The Azzurri battled back to eventually win 2-1 but Albania proved they are capable of competing well in Germany in what is only their second appearance in the competition.
Albania scored three times in both of their warm-up games when beating Liechtenstein 3-0 and Azerbaijan 3-1 and while the opposition is much tougher now they will at least fancy their chances of getting on the scoresheet once more against a Croatia side who struggled in their opening 3-0 defeat to Spain.
Zlatko Dalic's men will be aiming to bounce back from that chastening loss and a team with the talents of Luka Modric, Mateo Kovacic and Andrej Kramaric - to name just three - will surely be much improved in Hamburg.
More Joy For Hosts
Germany got the tournament off to a flying start by hammering Scotland 5-1 in what was a statement win from the hosts, who look good enough to challenge for the trophy on home soil.
Florian Wirtz, Jamal Musiala and Kai Havertz were among the impressive performers all getting on the scoresheet against the Scots, and Julian Nagelsmann’s side can follow up with another victory over Hungary.
However, they may well concede again as keeping clean sheets has been a problem for Germany, who have managed only two shutouts in their last 15 games.
Hungary were expected to compete at least for second place in the group but slipped to a disappointing 3-1 opening loss to Switzerland and now they must try to respond in Stuttgart.
Scoring is not usually a problem as they have hit the target in each of their last 12 games and they carry enough threat to trouble the Germany defence with Barnabas Varga, Dominik Szoboszlai and Roland Sallai, even if a second defeat and a potential early exit looms.
GERMANY TO WIN AND BOTH TEAMS TO SCORE
Swiss Can Inflict More Pain On Scots
Scotland were dismal when losing the tournament-opener against Germany and could have conceded more than the five goals they shipped in Munich.
Steve Clarke’s side must improve if they are to avoid being dumped out at the group stage but Switzerland will be in no mood to show them any mercy as they look to build on a fine opening victory over Hungary.
Scotland’s defensive options are limited and Ryan Porteous’ suspension following his red card last week only adds to their problems.
The Swiss should be capable of scoring at least two goals as they look to have a good range of attacking options available and there is plenty of depth to their squad.
Kwadwo Duah and Ruben Vargas are dangerous, while Zeki Amdouni and Breel Embolo were both somewhat surprisingly named among the subs against Hungary.
