Hungary Triumphs 1-0 Over Scotland: Csoboth’s Decisive Goal Crushes Clarke’s Euro 2024 Dreams Amid Vargas’s Injury Woes
Hungary’s aspirations for advancing in Euro 2024 remain intact, courtesy of a show-stopping, buzzer-beating goal from Kevin Csoboth in Stuttgart.
On a rather dramatic Sunday, Kevin Csoboth’s last-gasp net shaker booted Scotland out of Euro 2024, securing Hungary a narrow 1-0 triumph.
After clanging a potential winner off the post, Csoboth came back to notch the ultimate decider at the death of the game — precisely at 99 minutes and 32 seconds, setting a record for the latest goal scored in a European Championship match outside of extra time.
The win catapulted Hungary to a tally of three points in Group A. Despite this rise, tension clung to their celebrations as Barnabas Vargas was stretchered off following a midair clash with Scotland’s keeper, Angus Gunn.
That collision necessitated a significant halt for a head injury assessment. During this period, Hungarian players shielded their injured colleague from further harm. These added minutes later set the stage for Csoboth’s defining moment as he connected with Roland Sallai, finishing smoothly into the bottom-left corner.
With this defeat, Steve Clarke’s squad hit rock bottom in their group, still struggling to surpass the group stage in a dozen bids at major tournaments.
Scotland’s showing lackluster performance poorly aligned with their hopes of advancing, highlighted when Stuart Armstrong’s penalty call was ignored despite a clear foul by Willi Orban.
The VAR upheld the decision on the field, fueling further dismay for Clarke, especially after the prelude of Csoboth hitting the post was disregarded, a forewarning that went unheeded before the fatal blow.
Data Debrief: Familiar struggles for Scotland
This marks Scotland’s 12th appearance in a major tournament’s group stage, with none yielding a victory in half of them — the World Cups of 1954, 1958, 1986, and 1998, along with Euros 2020, and now 2024.
No grounds for dispute by Clarke as Scotland mustered just 17 attempts on goal this tournament. Since the inception of the group stage in 1980, this paltry sum ties for the lowest by any country, matched only by Northern Ireland in Euro 2016.
Weighing against a streak of eight winless games at the Euros, Hungary has finally broken their jinx, grasping their first win since toppling Austria 2-0 at Euro 2016—thus keeping Marco Rossi’s squad in the fray for the knockout stages.
