As all of the countries have played their first Euro’s game it is time for a round up of the matches.
Germany got us underway against Scotland on Friday night as they cruised to a 5-1 victory. The Scots were all at sea, and a double jeopardy case of a penalty and a red card to Ryan Porteous sunk them further. They were already 2-0 down before this moment as Wirtz and Musiala clinically scored. Havertz stuttered but made it 3-0 from the penalty spot and Fullkrug got the German’s 4th and Can finished the goalscoring in added time. It was an exciting opener which showed Germany meant business and gave Scotland more questions than answers for sure.
Day 2 of the Euro’s saw Switzerland beat Hungary 3-1 in a game I was unable to watch. Spain played well in their 3-0 win over Croatia and Champions League final goalscorer Carvajal was on the scoresheet again. Italy went behind to Albania after just 27 seconds after a poor Italy throw-in in a defensive position was intercepted and clinically finished at the near post – a typical Fifa finish with the front post glitch. Italy huffed and puffed and blew the house down as quickfire Bastoni and Barella goals saw them 2-1 up after just 16 minutes. This made the game feel like it could be an all-timer, however that was the end of the goalscoring.
Day 3 saw the Netherlands edge past Poland, needing an 83rd minute goal from none other than Wout Weghorst. The Netherlands attack once again flattered to deceive as Depay, Gakpo and Xavi Simons kept missing chances and it nearly cost them from taking all 3 points until Weghorst came on and scored straight away. Micky Van De Ven was only able to get a few minutes in the closing stages unfortunately. Talking of flattered to deceive, Denmark and England’s performances were both poor against Slovenia and Serbia respectively. Denmark dropped points, whereas England did gain all 3 points but undeservedly so. Jude Bellingham had a very solid game though and headed home the only goal of the game.
Day 4 brought my favourite game of the Euro’s so far in Romania vs Ukraine. Romania, the big underdog, ran our 3-0 winners – and it was only their second ever Euro’s win. Radu Dragusin was exceptional at the back, and it led to some Spurs fans wanting to see a back 3 with him, Van De Ven and Romero, which isn’t the best idea given it’ll sway away from Postecoglou’s tactics and we’ll have so many games next season with Europa League football and hopefully 2 positive cup runs. Stanciu scored a stunner to put Romania ahead after the Ukranian goalkeeper Lunin passed the ball out to a Romanian player. It was another error from Lunin as a long shot trickled under him from Marin. Dragus made it 3-0 with a quick instinctive finish from close range. To continue the upsets, Slovakia edged Belgium 1-0, and a poor display of finishing from Romelu Lukaku really cost Belgium. It was a nice goal from Slovakia however. France beat Austria 1-0 through an own goal.
Day 5 saw Turkey beat Georgia 3-1 in what has been considered the game of the tournament so far by many. I decided against watching this one due to the team’s not being great. Grave mistake. I saw the highlights on Twitter and Guler’s goal was very nice. Portugal dramatically came from behind to beat Czech Republic at the death, and the Czech’s will be kicking themselves when watching back the goals they conceded.
Looking back on all of the first group stage fixtures, there’s been some exciting performances and matches. The German’s looked on fire against the Scots and Romania played exceptionally well, however as we all know in tournament football, you do not want to peak too early.