Clarke Asserts Scotland Was Unjustly Denied Penalty In Euro 2024 Loss To Hungary

Scotland head coach Steve Clarke expressed his frustration after his team was denied a penalty in their 1-0 defeat to Hungary, which ended their Euro 2024 campaign. Kevin Csoboth scored the decisive goal in the 10th minute of injury time, eliminating Scotland from the tournament during the group stages.

The match could have taken a different turn when Stuart Armstrong appeared to be fouled by Hungary's Willi Orban in the 80th minute. Both players tumbled inside the area, but referee Facundo Tello dismissed Scotland's appeals for a penalty. A subsequent VAR check upheld the decision, deeming the challenge not worthy of a spot-kick.

"It was 100% a penalty," Clarke stated. "Somebody, somewhere has to explain to me why that's not a penalty. It's a one-goal game; we get the penalty and it could have been a different night. I don't understand how VAR can look at that and say it's not a penalty."

Clarke also questioned the officiating, suggesting that a European referee might have been more suitable for the competition. "In a European competition, it may have been better to have a European referee, but we had European VAR. Maybe the referee didn't see the challenge clearly on the pitch, so what's the purpose of VAR if they are not going to come in on something like that?"

Scotland National Team (@ScotlandNT) June 23, 2024

Having qualified for successive European Championships, this was Scotland's 12th major tournament group stage. In half of these tournaments, they have failed to win a single match, including the 1954, 1958, 1986, and 1998 World Cups and EURO 2020 and 2024.

"We gave everything; there's nothing you can fault there. It was a very tough game against a good opponent," said Clarke. "A very close game that was always going to be decided by the first goal. You could tell that after half an hour."

Clarke added that his team got caught on the counterattack while pushing for a winner towards the end of the game. "Unfortunately for us when we opened up towards the end of the game to try and chase the winner that we felt we needed to get to the next stage, we got caught on the counter."

OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) June 23, 2024

Scotland managed just 17 shots throughout Euro 2024, tying with Northern Ireland at EURO 2016 for the fewest shots by any nation in a group stage since its introduction in 1980.