19 June 2016

SWITZERLAND 0
FRANCE 0

Another awful display from the French. The highlight was a tremendous run from Sissoko. He ran 70 yards down the right flank from his own penalty area, through four players, before swinging a cross over to the back post for Payet, who slammed a volley against the underside of the crossbar. It would have been an incredible goal.

Attendance : 45,616
Assists : n/a


ROMANIA 0
ALBANIA 1 (Sadiku 43)

Stancu caught the ball on the drop, smashing a volley at Berisha. Technically he's great but his finishing is terrible. Speaking off which, Lenjani should have scored the goal of the tournament. He laid off a pass with an outrageous back heel volley on the turn, Sadiku played in Lila with a perfectly weighted pass, he rolled a centre to the back past but Lenjani blazed over. Romania's goalkeeper, Tiramisu, charged off his line to punch out Memushaj's cross, got nowhere near, and Sadiku's header landed into an empty net. Substitute Andone should have equalised but hammered a shot against the crossbar.

Albania's first ever goal and win at a major tournament, obviously.

Attendance : 49,752
Assists : Memushaj


18 June 2016

PORTUGAL 0
AUSTRIA 0

Harnik missed from six yards out, embarrassingly heading well wide. Portugal missed chance after chance. Ronaldo was having one of those games. After missing from close range in the first half, Almer denied him twice in the second with two superb saves, including a brilliant save down to his left from a ferocious drive. Hinteregger sacked Ronaldo to concede a 79th minute penalty which he missed, hitting the base of the left post. He would score minutes later, with a header, but he was offside.

Ronaldo tries a bit too hard in a Portugal shirt. He's had more shots on goal than 9 teams in the tournament. If he clicks on Wednesday, Hungary will get caned.

Attendance : 44,291
Assists : n/a


ICELAND 1 (Sigurdsson 39 Pen)
HUNGARY 1 (Saearsson 88 og)

Although Iceland dominated the first half, they needed a dubious penalty to take the lead. Kiraly fumbled a cross and in the ensuing melee Gunnarsson went over under minimal contact from Kadar. Iceland retreated and retreated and ultimately paid the price. A lovely move down the right ended with Saearsson turning Nikolics centre into his own net.

Attendance : 60,842
Assists : Gunnarsson (won pen), n/a


BELGIUM 3 (Lukaku 48, Witsel 61, Lukaku 70)
IRELAND 0

Belgium finally showed up and crushed an extremely limited Irish side, who should have been awarded a penalty seconds before Lukaku's opener. When defending a free kick Alderweireld went in with a high foot, kicking Long in the head, the ref did nothing, play continued, Ward failed to control a poor cross and Belgium countered. Lukaku released De Bruyne down the right, he skipped a tackle then rolled a centre for Lukaku to fire into the corner. Witsel made it 2-0 with a bullet header from Meunier's superb first time cross. Hazard setup the third on the break, once again from an attack down the Irish left and once again a telegraphed tackle left the Irish defence exposed. Clark was the culprit this time and having made his way into the box, Hazard unselfishly centred for Lukaku's second.

Attendance : 39,493
Assists : De Bruyne, Meunier, Hazard


17 June 2016

SPAIN 3 (Morata 34, Nolito 37, Morata 48)
TURKEY 0

Spain played like Aragones' Spain side. No false nine bullshit, two centre forwards took apart the Turks. There were some bad misses early on before the in demand Morata headed in Nolito's cross to show what the fuss over him is about. Three minutes later Topal flicked Fabregas' lofted pass into the path of Nolito and he steered a volley into the left corner. Early in the second half a 22 pass move ended with Iniesta prodding a beautiful pass through to Alba and he centred for Morata's second. Glorious goal. Spain stopped trying and the hapless Turks wasted two chances to score consolation goals.

Attendance : 33,409
Assists : Nolito, n/a, Alba


CZECH REPUBLIC 2 (Skoda 75, Necid 89 Pen)
CROATIA 2 (Perisic 37, Rakitic 59)

Badelj tackled Plasil on the half way line and Perisic gathered the ball and drove forward, everyone backed-off, he threw a couple of stepovers as he ran into the box and slammed the ball into the huge gap Cech left as he tried to cut down the angle. Hubnik played a hospital pass out of defence, Brozovic intercepted and fed Rakitic for the second - a lob over Cech. Croatia were cruising until Modric went off injured just past the hour mark. Veteran cripple Rosicky curled a gorgeous, in-swinging cross with the outside of his right foot towards Skoda and he corked his neck to power a header past Subasic, great goal. The game was briefly held up after Croatia's notorious hooligans threw flares and fireworks onto the pitch, one of the firecrackers exploded next to a security guard. Cech launched a hail Mary ball into the box, Vida handled and the giant Necid converted the penalty.

Surprise, surprise, Rosicky has been ruled out for the rest of the tournament. Feeble bastard.

Attendance : 38,376
Assists : Badelj, Brozovic, Rosicky, n/a


ITALY 1 (Eder 88)
SWEDEN 0

Dreadful game. With a few minutes to go, Italy decided to attack. Parolo slammed a header against the crossbar. Zaza flicked on a Chiellini throw in to Eder, he slalomed his way in between two defenders, evaded Granqvist's tackle then fired into the bottom right corner. Great goal. Sweden had late appeals for a penalty turned away.

Ibrahimovic spent far too much time outside the box. He fancies himself as a #10 and while he can dictate play lethargically in Ligue 1, he's more use to Sweden in the box.

Attendance : 29,600 Assists : Zaza