The group stage of the tournament is now over and its time for the real business to begin – the knockout stages. The mini-league format in the first round is entertaining to be sure, but now the mantra is “win or go home.” We start with the Round of 16. The top 2 teams from each group progress, plus the 4 best 3rd place teams to round out the field.
Group A:
Winners – Italy
Runners up – Wales
Third place – Switzerland
Eliminated – Turkey
Group B:
Winners – Belgium
Runners up – Denmark
Eliminated – Finland and Russia
Group C:
Winners – Netherlands
Runners Up – Austria
Third place – Ukraine
Eliminated – North Macedonia
Group D:
Winners – England
Runners up – Croatia
Third place – Czech Republic
Eliminated – Scotland
Group E:
Winners – Sweden
Runners up – Spain
Eliminated – Slovakia and Poland
Group F:
Winners – France
Runners up – Germany
Third place – Portugal
Eliminated – Hungary
Round of 16 Matchups:
Wales vs. Denmark (Sat June 26)
Italy vs. Austria (Sat June. 26)
Netherlands vs. Czech Republic (Sun June 27)
Belgium vs. Portugal (Sun June 27)
France vs. Switzerland (Mon June 28)
Spain vs. Croatia (Mon June 28)
England vs. Germany (Tues June 29)
Sweden vs. Ukraine (Tues June 29)
The final group matches just ended and it was an exhilarating final day. Portugal and Germany almost went out at different stages, and Hungary almost pulled off the shock of the tournament. They were ten minutes away from winning before the Germans equalized and sent them home.
Commiserations to all teams eliminated, and congrats to all teams that have advanced so far. I won’t do a full breakdown of each match right now, but I may do once the round starts. There are some positively mouth-watering fixtures to look forward to, and I hope one of the smaller teams (Wales, Austria, Ukraine) go on a deep run. Makes the tournament more fascinating and entertaining. Somewhat sadly, there haven’t been many major upsets or surprising teams thus far. Maybe Sweden winning their group over Spain constitutes somewhat of a surprise, but that was certainly not unimaginable going in to this tournament.
There has been some great football so far but also some crap football. Let’s hope for more attacking intent and goals going forward!
4-4-2 