by Frank BeaudryDUESSELDORF, Germany, page Sept 7 (Reuters) – Jamal Musiala scored once and set up three more goals as Germany crushed visitors Hungary 5-0 on Saturday in a winning start to the Nations League competition.
New-look Germany, who have set their sights on the 2026 World Cup after their quarter-final run at the Euro on home soil in July, no longer have any 2014 World Cup winners in the squad following the international retirements of Thomas Mueller, Toni Kroos and Manuel Neuer.
Former captain Ilkay Gundogan also ended his international career.
They took the lead in their Group A3 encounter with Niclas Fuellkrug’s tap-in from midfielder Musiala assist following a good passing combination in the 27th minute.
Germany, who play Netherlands on Tuesday and also face Bosnia in their group, should have added at least one more goal with Kai Havertz hitting the crossbar with a header in the 33rd and then firing narrowly wide in first half stoppage time.
With Hungary pushing for an equaliser, Musiala struck on the break in the 58th, completing a quick counter-attack from a visitors’ corner.
Florian Wirtz then drilled in their third after a one-two with Musiala in the 66th before Havertz hit the woodwork once more.
Man-of-the-match Musiala then sent through Aleksandar Pavlovic in the 77th to slot in.
“It is fun to watch that today,” said scorer Fuellkrug. “Jamal was in really good form. It is great to have him in the squad.
“We made a lot of deep runs and made it really hard for the opponents. Even when we did not have possession we controlled the game,” he said.
Havertz still had time to get onto the scoresheet himself with an 81st minute penalty. (Reporting by Karolos Grohmann, editing by Pritha Sarkar)