Unlike Lineker, Shearer and Henry I thought the France v Switzerland match was pretty good. Maybe they were disappointed with the lack of French flare on display but that was mainly down to the Swiss performance (their best so far) as well as Deschamps resting some key players, notably Dimitri Payet.
Switzerland also made a few changes and although there was a worry that both sides would grind out the draw that would take them both through this wasn't your typical no score bore draw. Xherdan Shaqiri was more involved than he had been in the previous two matches and the Swiss team as a whole looked much more up for it than they had against either Albania or Romania.
Payet did come on in the second half and almost scored what would have been the goal of the tournament. Moussa Sissoko took off deep in his own half and left the Swiss defence in his wake as he sprinted off down the right before floating in an inch perfect cross for Payet. The darling of the French fans met the ball on the volley but the crossbar denied him the perfect finish to the move.
The other game in the group saw Albania not only score their first ever goal at a major international tournament, but pick up their first points and win as well as they beat Romania 1-0. To the delight of their fans Armando Sadiku expertly headed past the Romanian keeper to make history just before half time.
Although Romania started quite positively and had a few chances, including one that cannoned off the crossbar, they could not make their possession tell and Albania deservedly took the three points.
The goal was met with jubilant scenes in the stadium, none more so than by the Albania team and officials themselves. The outpouring of emotion was a joy to see and showed exactly what it meant to everyone involved.
Albania will now have to wait to see how the other groups finish before they find out if their victory is enough to squeeze them into the second round as one of the best third place sides. Maybe my pre-tournament prediction of Albania qualifying will come true after all!
Other things I noticed yesterday...
- As poor as the pitch in Lille was for France and Switzerland, it is hard to be too sympathetic about the players not being able to perform on anything less than a carpet. Maybe they should look into wearing the right kind of boots?
- Switzerland need to have a word with Puma about their kit. If their shirts can't take a little bit of holding then they are not fit for purpose in today's football world
- I'm still not a fan of 24 teams but it does mean that we don't have many meaningless matches at the end of the group stage
And so to today's games. Wales take on Russia knowing that a point should be enough to put them through to the next round. The Russians have been their usual enigmatic selves, popping up to score right at the death against England while looking completely outclassed by Slovakia days later. I can see Russia frustrating Wales tonight but Bale only needs a free kick relatively near the box to carry on his run of goals - I'm going for a 1-1 draw.
After the 'crisis' of drawing against Russia in their first game England looked fairly comfortable against Wales - especially when they brought on Vardy, Sturridge and Rashford. It will be interesting to see which of those start against Slovakia tonight but whatever team Hodgson puts out should have too much for their opponents. England to win 2-0.
No comments:
Post a Comment