France Beats Germany 1-0 With Hummels' Own Goal

France Vs Germany (Twitter @euro20202)

JAKARTA - France beat Germany 1-0 in the Group F match at the Allianz Arena, Munich, Germany, early Wednesday, thanks to an own goal by German centre-back Mat Hummels.

France, who played very efficiently, picked up the three points after Hummels, who intended to throw the ball away, instead put the ball into his own net in the 20th minute.

The goal started with Pogba's beautiful pass which curled past the German defense to be met by Lucas Hernandez on the left side of the German goal and Hummels, who intended to throw it away, instead put the ball into his own net. Hernandez was later named the 'fast riser' of the match by UEFA.

Germany suffer defeat in their opening game at the EURO finals for the first time... #EURO2020 pic.twitter.com/xJ6WKeDsGv

— UEFA EURO 2020 (@EURO2020) June 15, 2021

France also scored two goals but both were ruled out for offside in a more exciting second half compared to the first half which saw both teams playing efficiently and France even had two attempted goals, one of which ended in goal.

Germany took the initiative to attack with the first chance from Hummels who met Ilkay Gundogan's free kick in the 4th minute, while France created their first chance in the 16th minute through Paul Pogba who tried to meet the ball from a corner that he couldn't touch.

Four minutes after that, France, who was playing very efficiently, took a 1-0 lead by luck after Hummels, who had intended to throw the ball away, put the ball into his own net in the 20th minute.

Germany tried to retaliate, but France played smart to keep German players from penetrating into their defense, although in the 27th minute Toni Kroos curled a free-kick high above Hugo Lloris' goal.

Another of Germany's best chances came in the 48th minute when Ilkay Gundogan raced to meet Robin Gosens' cross, but Gundogan's shot also went wide of the French goal.

France came close to doubling the score in the 52nd minute when Adrien Rabiot's shot through Kylian Mbappe hit the post, while two minutes later Serge Gnabry came close to putting Germany level when after coming out of goal sent a narrow shot over Hugo Lloris' goal.

France seemed to double the position in the 66th minute after Mbappe slotted the ball into the top corner of Manuel Neuer's goal. He celebrated but it was short because before the goal the French players were already in an offside position.

In a match in which the French, who was called by German reporter Philip Rober, chose to defend and rely purely on the counter-attack to the point where striker Karim Benzema was more often involved in defense, the visitors played tactical and clever.

In the 86th minute, they scored again but again declared offside. This time it happened when Pogba's low pass made Mbappe take the ball from the right and run along with Benzema on his left.

Mbappe had already outwitted Neuer who thought the ball would be executed by Mbappe himself but the Paris Saint Germain striker instead crossed the ball to Benzema who with one touch directed the ball into the German goal when Neuer was dead. The French players celebrated the goal, but VAR annulled it as both Mbappe and Benzema were declared offside before the goal.

Germany who had more possession on the ball didn't really threaten France despite having more goal chances, 10 to 4, but neither of those German chances were on target.

️ 🗒️ France up and running in Group F after narrow win in Munich 🇫🇷#EURO2020

— UEFA EURO 2020 (@EURO2020) June 15, 2021

The result made Germany's task difficult as they next had to face Portugal who beat Hungary 3-0, while France was more comfortable thanks to a narrow victory from an own goal when they faced Hungary in the second match later.