Aside from Netherlands against Austria, there were much fewer goals in the third group stage games. Switzerland played well against Germany and led through Dan Ndoye, but Niclas Fullkrug headed in a 92nd minute equaliser to top Group A. Hungary scored a 100th minute winner against Scotland as Scotland pushed forward with their best efforts to win, but both teams find themselves knocked out of Euro 2024. A Spain B team edged past Albania, who also exit the tournament. Italy broke Croatian hearts with a 98th minute equaliser from Mattia Zaccagni to prevent Croatia from going into the Round of 16 after Luka Modric had put them 1-0 up.
In Group C, Mbappe and Lewandowski both scored penalties in a 1-1 draw between France and Poland, whereas a rare poor defensive display from the Netherlands saw them lose 3-2 to Austria – Ralf Ragnick’s side impressing at the Euros so far. Then came the borefest of Group D, the lowest scoring group, as both games ended 0-0 between England and Slovenia and Serbia and Denmark. Southgate’s men flattered to deceive again and provided another borefest which did not fulfil the nation with any hope about football coming home.
There were more draws in Group E and Slovakia and Romania played out an entertaining 1-1 draw. Slovakia went ahead through Ondrej Duda and that goal sent Romania to the bottom of the group. An equaliser from Marin put them back to the top though, showing how close the group was as all teams finished on 4 points. Very unfortunate for Ukraine to be knocked out on 4 points, after drawing 0-0 to Belgium but that 3-0 loss to Romania in the opener proved to be the difference.
Georgia then provided the upset of the tournament, beating Portugal 2-0. It was not a full strength Portugal side as they were already assured a place in the Round of 16, but it still had Cristiano Ronaldo, Joao Felix, Pedro Neto, Joao Palhinha and Diogo Dalot in the side so it was big for Georgia to send them into the Round of 16. Cenk Tosun won it late for Turkey against the Czech Republic.
Round of 16 Fixtures:
Switzerland v Italy (Saturday 29th June, 17:00)
Germany v Denmark (Saturday 29th June, 20:00)
England v Slovenia (Sunday 30th June, 17:00)
Spain v Georgia (Sunday 30th June, 20:00)
France v Belgium (Monday 1st July, 17:00)
Portugal v Slovenia (Monday 1st July, 20:00)
Romania v Netherlands (Tuesday 2nd July, 17:00)
Austria v Turkey (Tuesday 2nd July, 20:00)