Thursday 23 June 2016

Day Thirteen in France

After 13 days and 36 games the group stage of Euro 2016 is over. We have said goodbye to a grand total of 8 countries from the original 24. Now the real football starts.

Most of the attention seemed to be on who was going to be the best third placed sides but there was a lot still to determine in both Groups E and F.

The early games saw Iceland play supposed dark horses Austria while Ronaldo battled to keep Portugal in the competition against surprise group leaders Hungary. The matches ended up being two of the best we have seen so far.


Hungary and Portugal traded goals like two over the hill heavyweight boxers slugging it out in the final round. Zoltan Gera struck first for Hungary before Nani brought Portugal back into the match just before half time.

Dzsudzsak twice put Hungary back in the lead only to be pegged back by Ronaldo who at last found some real form. One of the Portuguese captain's goals was a wonderful flick, the other a commanding glancing header. But the two sides couldn't be separated meaning that Hungary won the group they were expected to prop up. Portugal had to make do with scraping through as one of the best third place sides. And that was down to the amazing story that is Iceland.

Once again Iceland were not fancied to take anything from a match and once again they defied expectations. If Austria thought that their opponents would sit back and try to grind out the draw they needed they were sadly mistaken. It took Jon Dadi Bodvarsson under 20 minutes to open the scoring and Iceland had already hit the woodwork before then.

Dragovic missed a first half penalty for Austria befoe they finally drew level on the hour mark. Alessandro Schopf scored a great goal after a Ricky Villa-esque dribble but as much as they tried they couldn't get the second goal that would have put them through to the next round.

But Iceland were not finished. As the seconds ticked away in injury time they sprinted into one last counter attack culminating in Traustason sliding in at the far post to squeeze it past Almer in the Austrian goal to seal the win. Apart from a moment of intense drama it showed the spirit of the Iceland team that should act as a warning to England that they won't be a push over in the second round.


Group E was a little bit more straight forward but no less dramatic. Belgium finally overcame Sweden in a drab game with Chelsea target Radja Nainggolan benefiting from a wicked deflection to score past the Swedish keeper and cement their second place finish.

Italy had already won the group and knowing that they would be facing Spain in the next round rested a number of players. The Azzurri definitely looked a weakened side but Ireland, although performing much better than in their previous two matches, still didn't seem to have the quality that they needed to get the three points that would put them through.

In a last roll of the dice Martin O'Neill put on Wes Hoolahan with just over ten minutes to go. Ireland's most creative player had been dropped in a bid to muscle the Italians out of the match but almost as soon as he came on he was given the perfect chance to score. The pressure got to the Norwich midfielder who could only shoot straight at Sirigu - Buffon's woeful replacement in the Italy goal.

Everyone thought that the one chance Ireland had needed had been and gone but with just five minutes left Hoolahan crossed perfectly onto the head of the very impressive Robbie Brady who expertly found the net and gave Ireland a dramatic victory.

The result was tough on Turkey who would have squeaked into the second round if Ireland hadn't scored but for sheer guts and determination Ireland deserved their win. They now face France on Sunday where I'm sure the fans will remind Thierry Henry of the last time they played each other in an important match.


Other things I have noticed...

  • I'm very jealous of Icelandic captain Aron Gunnarsson's beard but his long throws are not really that long (although they do seem to be effective)
  • It was only a matter of time before Ronaldo started scoring and the two he got against Hungary were fantastic
  • Some of the Ireland players look like they had stepped off the local park to play - although the extra levels of sweating were probably down to the closed roof in Lille
  • Such a sad way for Zlatan to finish his international career but he was really left to carry the Swedish side - and he didn't really do that well anyway

Obviously no games today - an absolute outrage - and we will have to wait until Saturday to get back into the swing of things with three second round matches. But never fear, I will still serve you my Euro 2016 ramblings tomorrow with a look ahead to the weekend's games.


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