by Ben Ayuko
{image by cumhuriyet}
Germany, the host nation, was looking to roundoff a successful kick-off to the Euro 2024 tournament in front of their home fans at the Frankfurt stadium in Frankfurt. It was all goin according to plan for new manager Julien Nagelsmann. However, they failed to account for an inspired performance from a dogged Switzerland side that was determined to, not only spoil the party in the stadium, but also finish top of the group standings in Group A.
This is why there was a well taken finish by Dan Ndoye in the 28th minute game time, giving Switzerland the lead. And why, try as they might, the Germans just couldn’t break down the resolute Swiss defense. And why in the 80th minute, Switzerland mustered a deserved 2nd goal only for it to be ruled out for the tightest of offside calls. The home crowd was stunned. It was silent enough in the home end to hear the sneeze of a hamster. They couldn’t understand how it is they had miscalculated proceedings so terribly.
That is about the time when the German manager made an executive decision and subbed in their wrecking ball of a center forward, Niclas Füllkrug, who- in the last minute of injury time (90min +4)- crashed in a towering header to draw the game level at 1-1 and send the stadium into rapturous delirium.
Germany retained top spot (of the group) while Switzerland came second.
Hungary secured 3rd spot after Kevin Csoboth scored against Scotland in the 10th minute of injury time (90min+10) in what seemed like an attempt at outdoing Germany’s own heroics for a 1-0 win, and in so doing, left themselves with half a chance of progressing to the next stage.
Scotland are the first team to be kicked out of the tournament.