Hungary’s Dominik Szoboszlai converted a penalty with the last shot of the match to equalise Felix Nmecha’s goal in the 76th minute.

After securing top spot in Group C with a 7-0 win over Bosnia-Herzegovina on Saturday, Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann made nine changes to his squad.

“I don’t want to talk too much about today’s game,” Nagelsmann said. “We did some things right and some things wrong. After the 7-0 win (against Bosnia ) and with nine changes to the lineup, we needed some time to get into the right organisation.”

“You have to look at the bigger picture. If you see how Hungary celebrated the draw with us, it’s a compliment to us,” he added.

Germany, who topped the group with 14 points and advanced to the quarter-finals along with the Netherlands, who drew 1-1 away to Bosnia-Herzegovina, lacked the overwhelming power of their previous match and were unable to find space easily against Hungary

But it was the home side, without assistant coach Adam Szalai recovering from a fall during Saturday’s match against the Netherlands , who set the tone and tested Alexander Nubel with shots from Andras Schaefer and Zsolt Nagy.

The four-time world champions, already eyeing a place at the 2026 World Cup to be co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico, improved after the break with Kai Havertz hitting the post in the 63rd minute but visiting goalkeeper Nubel saved again when he denied Barnabas Varga from point-blank range before Nmecha, making his first start for Germany, snatched a goal amid chaos in front of the Hungarian goal.

Szoboszlai then scored a last-gasp penalty for the home side in the ninth minute of stoppage time to give his team a draw.

Germany, who last won the World Cup in 2014, will start qualifying in March after the draw is made in December.

After more than a decade without any notable success in the World Cup, the Germans are desperate to restore their international reputation.

Germany exited the last two World Cups in the first round, while it exited in the round of 16 at Euro 2020 and the quarter-finals at Euro 2024, which it hosted on home soil.