Choosing to start with the same eleven, Roy Hodgson was made to pay for his conservatism with Harry Kane - and Raheem Sterling in particular - not performing and then Gareth Bale firing in a free kick from 36 yards to put Wales one up just before half time.
Wales had started nervously but had settled in to their game of stifling the English attack without showing too much of their own. Aaron Ramsey really shone in a side that looked like they were a little bit overawed by the occasion early on.
Joe Hart should have kept out Bale's free kick as he got across to the ball in time but only parried it into the inside of the net. Against the run of play maybe, but England had not really looked like capitalising on their dominance and that was mainly due to an insipid front line.
Vardy and Sturridge came on for the second half and instantly changed the look of the game. Wales were looking worried again and as the half went on offered less and less in the way of attack. Speaking as a Wales fan, the sight of Vardy and Sturridge - along with the later introduction of Rashford - was a far more worrying site than the eleven that started the game.
If any team was going to grab a winner it was going to be England and Sturridge broke Welsh hearts right at the death after waiting perfectly for the possibility of a one two on the edge of the box and then poking it past the prone Gunter and Hennessey.
A real kick in the teeth for Wales then, but they know that a result against Russia on Monday will put them through to the knockout stage and that is definitely possible given their displays so far. England looked much better with Roy's second choice strikers so it will be interesting to see what he does from now on. I think Vardy is still better used as an impact sub but Sturridge should start instead of the woeful Sterling.
After all that excitement Northern Ireland needed to change a lot of things from their first match if they wanted to get anything out of their game with Ukraine. I thought Ukraine got their tactics just right against Germany but were still not strong enough so I expected them to be able to power past Northern Ireland.
Michael O'Neill made five changes to the starting line up though and his spirit of adventure certainly paid off. In sometimes torrential rain Northern Ireland looked a million miles better than they had against Poland and deservedly took the lead just after half time. A beautifully weighted free kick from the left was met by West Brom's Gareth McAuley who steered his header past the Ukraine keeper.
Although Ukraine started to attack after going one down they showed that they didn't have much about them except the defensive tactics that almost worked against Germany. Northern Ireland looked very good on the attack and Jamie Ward in particular was really worrying the Ukraine defence down the right hand side.
But it was Ward's replacement, Niall McGinn who put the game beyond doubt in injury time, tapping it in after some good work down the right wing and a shot from captain Steven Davis was saved. Northern Ireland completely deserved the win and Ukraine find themselves with no chance of getting through to the next stage.
Germany v Poland was expected to be a really fiery encounter but both sides offered little and eventually played out a largely boring 0-0 draw. Poland will be the happiest with the result and it seemed like that they went out with the sole intention of grabbing a point.
I expected Germany to push on from their late victory against Ukraine and look to show their championship winning credentials, but they created little insight and Mario Gotze up front again failed to perform. Gomez was given his chance later on but never really looked like troubling the Polish defence.
Poland's Arkadiusz Milik missed the best opportunity of the night by electing to head from two yards out - and sending it past the post - when he could have simply tapped it in. But even with Toni Kroos bossing the midfield, Germany lacked a final ball that could open up the game.
Other things I noticed...
- Ukraine's lanky striker Yevhen Seleznyov looks like he has stepped right off the Amish settlement to play for his team (see below)
- The BBC provided us with Robbie Savage and Martin Keown as co-commentators for the England v Wales game. Thanks BBC, but you really shouldn't have
- Although it would have been unlucky for England, I thought for a second that Gareth Bale had met his last gasp header perfectly. Worrying for England that they gave him a free header much like the one that led to the Russian goal though
- Although he again got into a lot of good positions, Poland's Milik did make you wonder how good strikers in the Dutch Eredivisie really are
- Dan Walker's presentation skills consist of at least 87% statistics
Three good looking games today. Italy can show that they are a possible eventual winner when they take on Zlatan's Sweden in the early game. I don't expect Italy to be quite as dominant as they were against Belgium but still should come away with the victory. I reckon 2-1 (with Zlatan popping up for the Swedes).
Another one of the more impressive sides from the first round of matches, Croatia take on the Czech Republic in Saint-Etienne and should be too strong for them. This group is going more to the script than some of the others and although initially I thought that the Czechs might be able to do something at this tournament I'm not sure now that's the case. I'm going for Croatia 1 Czech Republic 0.
Spain take on Turkey in the evening match and even without looking like world beaters in their first match they should be too strong for a spirited but ultimately limited Turkey side. It will be interesting to see if Morata has a good game and lives up to his transfer rumour talk but overall Spain should come away winners 1-0.
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