Hungary have already done better than expected after taking a point off world champions France but must now beat Germany in Munich if they are to stay at Euro 2020.
Germany can still finish in any of the four positions in Group F and should be full of confidence after getting back on track by putting four goals past defending champions Portugal at the weekend.
Wednesday’s match is live on BBC Two and kicks off at 8pm as we highlight a few potential Germany v Hungary betting tips.
Germany v Hungary match odds
Germany were under pressure after an opening defeat to France but were much improved in the 4-2 win against Portugal and are now 11/10 in the Group F winner odds, with a win enough to leapfrog France if Les Bleus fail to beat Portugal.
They are clear favourites at 2/11 for the win but a draw at 6/1 will also be enough to go through automatically unless Portugal beat France.
Joachim Low’s wing-back system has had plenty of critics but the 3-4-3 formation proved enough to get the better of Portugal despite Cristiano Ronaldo’s superb counter-attacking goal giving the holders the lead after only 15 minutes.
Germany’s wide defenders, particularly the left-sided man-of-the-match Robin Gosens, came to their rescue as they forced two own goals from Ruben Dias and Raphael Guerreiro.
Goals from Kai Havertz and Gosens put Germany in control and even Diogo Jota’s consolation was not enough to deny them an impressive and important victory.
“It gives you some satisfaction but we never had any doubts after losing to the world champions, we knew we could do better,” said Low.
“At a tournament you know how it goes, step by step. The next step will be Hungary, which will be hard as they park the bus in defence.”
Hungary have certainly not been blown away in the ‘group of death’. They held out for 84 minutes against Portugal before going down 3-0 and then took the lead against France thanks to Attila Fiola before Antoine Griezmann’s equaliser meant they had to settle for a 1-1 draw.
They are 14/1 to get the win they need to avoid elimination but are 7/4 to still be on level terms at half-time, while both teams to score is an option at 21/20.
Another Germany win with goals at both ends is 7/4 while Hungary are 19/5 to score the first goal of the game, just as they did against France.
Germany v Hungary head-to-head
Germany have won the two most recent meetings by an aggregate score of 5-0 but prior to Hungary’s 2-0 defeat in 2016 they had been unbeaten in three previous trips to Germany.
A 2-0 win in 2004 was their most recent success but it is worth noting this is the first competitive meeting between the two countries since the World Cup final in 1954, when West Germany came back from 2-0 down to be crowned world champions for the first time.
Previous XI
Hungary: Gulacsi, Attila Szalai, Fiola, Orban, Nego, Botka, Nagy, Schafer, Kleinheisler, Sallai, Adam Szalai.
Team news
Germany manager Low will wait until the last minute before making a decision over the inclusion of Thomas Muller, who sustained a knee injury during the Portugal game.
Mats Hummels and Ilkay Gundogan both recovered from knocks to take part in training on Tuesday but Muller and Lucas Klostermann were both absent.
Key battles
Gosens, winning only his ninth cap, was superb as a left wing-back for Germany against Portugal and capped the performance with his second international goal so will be a handful for Hungary’s Loic Nego.
Havertz should also be full of confidence having followed up his goal in the Champions League final by scoring against Portugal and the Chelsea man is 15/8 to find the net again here or 2/1 to score in a Germany win.
