Jamal Musiala scored his second goal of the tournament to help Germany beat Hungary 2-0 and book their spot in the European Championship knockout stage.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Musiala opened the scoring in the 22nd minute on Wednesday with a goal that was furiously protested by Hungary. Ilkay Gundogan had set that up, and the Germany captain got on the scoresheet himself in the second half.
The 21-year-old Musiala had netted Germany's second goal in the 5-1 opening victory over Scotland, and again impressed on Wednesday (local time).
But Hungary, who lost 3-1 to Switzerland on Saturday, face an uphill challenge to advance.
They play Scotland in the final Group A match on Sunday, when Julian Nagelsmann's German side take on Switzerland.
Hungary were unbeaten in their previous three matches against Germany, winning the last time the two met, and they put up a good fight against the hosts in Stuttgart.
The noise level ramped up whenever Musiala had the ball, and the Stuttgart-born forward opened the scoring in chaotic fashion.
He tried to set up Gundogan, but Hungary defender Willi Orban got to the ball first. But he stumbled - following what Turkey protested was a shove by Gundogan - and as goalie Peter Gulacsi tried to help him, Gundogan poked it on to Musiala, who smashed it into the net.
Germany doubled their lead in the 68th minute when Maximilian Mittelstadt rolled the ball across from the left and Gundogan drove it into the bottom right corner.
Earlier, Croatia and Albania drew 2-2 in an intense battle, a result that could make it difficult for both teams to survive the group stages.
Croatia tried to set the pace from the start, but it was Albania's Qazim Laci who scored first, heading in a cross from the right in the 11th minute.
Andrej Kramaric equalised about half an hour into the second half, and an own goal by Klaus Gjasula made it 2-1 for Croatia just two minutes later.
Gjasula then redeemed himself by scoring Albania's equaliser in injury time.
The result leaves both sides in a precarious situation in group B after Croatia lost to Spain and Albania to Italy in their first matches.
In the late game, Xherdan Shaqiri's stunning first-half strike secured a 1-1 draw for Switzerland against Scotland.
The 32-year-old Chicago Fire forward rolled back the years with a first-time curling effort from 20m out at Cologne Stadium.
Scotland had led from the 13th minute when Scott McTominay's shot took a wicked deflection off Fabian Schar to beat Switzerland goalkeeper Yann Sommer.
But Shaqiri pounced on Anthony Ralston's loose pass in the 26th minute to even the match. It was the sixth straight major international tournament in which Shaqiri has scored for his country.
The draw leaves Switzerland second in Group B on four points and likely to advance to the round of 16, while Scotland's hopes of making the knockout round depend on their final game against Hungary on Sunday and results elsewhere.
Scotland have never advanced beyond the group stage of a World Cup or Euros on 11 previous attempts.
Australian Associated Press
