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England vs Germany: Joachim Low expecting ‘open’ Wembley Euros clash after Hungary ‘parked bus’

England vs Germany: Joachim Low expecting ‘open’ Wembley Euros clash after Hungary ‘parked bus’

Germany coach Joachim Low has dismissed concerns about his side’s form at Euro 2020 and says England’s desire to play on the front foot will suit his team in next week’s last-16 clash.

Germany were minutes away from crashing out of the competition on Wednesday night, but Leon Goretzka’s late equaliser earned them a point against Hungary and set up an historic meeting at Wembley on Tuesday.

The three-time European champions won just one of their three group games and were error-prone in the 2-2 draw in Munich, but Low is expecting a more open contest against England.

“I’m not worried, it’s a totally different match,” he said. “Hungary parked the bus, with everyone behind the ball, entered every duel.

“Against England, it will be a totally different match. They are playing at home, they want to attack, it’s going to be an open match, more open than it was tonight.

“We need to improve on things — we are aware of that — and need to take care and be careful, especially at set-pieces.

“We cannot repeat the same mistakes again. We need to do things better here, but ahead of the match against England, we’re looking forward to it. It’s great news to play in London at Wembley against England.

“The group stage is over and now we have to focus. It’s in or out now. Our performance so far hasn’t been too good, but if we show what we can, as we did against Portugal for long spells, we can be a strong opponent, and if we don’t do that, then we can get into difficulties.”

Low’s 15-year tenure as Germany coach will end after the tournament and Hungary looked on the cusp of sending him packing with a famous upset when Andras Schafer restored their lead just 91 seconds after Chelsea’s Kai Havertz had cancelled out Adam Szalai’s early opener.

Joachim Low will be replaced as Germany coach by Hansi Flick after Euro 2020 (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Joachim Low will be replaced as Germany coach by Hansi Flick after Euro 2020 (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

“We committed some mistakes and gave away too many balls,” Low admitted. “This shouldn’t happen again in our next match. You will have resistance in this group, that was clear beforehand. This was the ‘group of death’ — we got second spot and now travel to England.

“We didn’t find enough spaces or open up enough spaces in [Hungary’s] defence. It was a great mentality at the end, good moral spirit.

“We didn’t give up, we didn’t go crazy after falling behind. After scoring the equaliser, the character and personality my team showed was perfect.”

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