Fantastic Monday with 14 goals and surprise after surprise at the EURO
The round of 16 of the EURO of Nations Cup is over. In addition to those mentioned above, Austria, Croatia, Sweden and Wales were eliminated in the round of 16. Already in the group stage, the elimination of Turkey, Russia and Poland caught the eye.
The eight teams that qualified for the quarter-finals are: Belgium, who qualified with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Portugal. Once Hazard, not his brother Eden, scored the goal on a clear mistake by the Portuguese goalkeeper, they were defending and disappointed. On the other hand, Portugal, despite their elimination, made a great impression. But this time Cristiano could not qualify his team.
Denmark ran roughshod over Wales. This time Gareth Bale was unable to make his team competitive and the Danes totally dominated the match to win 4-0.
Italy also struggled to overcome Austria. They went into extra time and the introduction of Chiesa and Pessina gave the Italians a new lease of life. Austria held on well, led by Alaba, but Italy won 2-1 in the end.
The first big surprise came from the Czech Republic, who eliminated the Netherlands, the Netherlands of all time. With De Jong, Depay, Wijnaldun and De Ligt, who was sent off in the 55th minute. Holes was decisive with a goal and an assist, making himself and his team one of the revelations of the tournament.
Spain knocked out Croatia 5-3 in extra time on Monday. Spain squandered a 3-1 lead after overcoming a big mistake by Unai Simon. After a phase of relaxation that took the match into extra time.
Here Spain were far superior to a Croatia side who only played football when they were out of the EURO, but ran out of gas in extra time.
The other fantastic game on Monday was France's penalty shoot-out defeat to Switzerland after a 3-1 loss. The Swiss made it to extra time after drawing 3-3. The French players reproached each other on the pitch for defensive lapses. Pavard was a bargain for the Swiss team, who never stopped believing in qualification. Kylian Mbappé missed the last penalty to give the Swiss qualification.
Sweden and Ukraine played an attractive back-and-forth game, but with no luck in front of goal. They also went to extra time after a 1-1 draw and it looked like it would go to penalties, but City's superb left-back Zinchenko sent in a superb cross which his team-mate Dovbyk capitalised on masterfully in the 120th minute to send Ukraine through.
The highlight of the play-offs was England v Germany. It was very evenly matched until Sterling combined with Shaw to create a move that the Manchester City player himself turned into the first goal in the 75th minute.
The Germans poured forward in search of an equaliser and Müller had a great chance, but he shot wide. In the 86th minute, with the Germans on the attack, Harry Kane scored the second. England into the quarterfinals.
Friday's clashes start with Spain v Switzerland at the Gazprom Arena in St Petersburg at 18:00.
Spain is the favourite in principle, but Switzerland, after their victory over France, are in the running for the semi-finals.
The Belgium-Italy match in Munich takes place at 21:00. At first, it will be an evenly matched game, but given what has happened so far, Italy have shown themselves to be a very solid team and are our favourites.
On Saturday at 18:00, in Baku, Czech Republic-Denmark. They are the two revelations of the tournament. The Czechs eliminated the Netherlands in a solvent way and Denmark also did the same with Wales. However, one team is not the same as the other. We will have to see if Denmark can reach the semi-finals. For our part, we give more value to the game of the Czech Republic and their victory over the Netherlands. They are our favourites.
At 21:00 at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Ukraine-England. Clear favourites are the British. Ukraine have already done very well at this European Championship and this could give them peace of mind. But the potential of the English is very great and they are favourites to reach the final. England, barring an accident, will go through to the semi-finals.
In principle, it seems that in the semi-finals the clashes will be:
Spain-Italy and England-Czech Republic. But, given what we have seen, you can't bet on that.
The same goes for Belgium-Switzerland and Denmark-Ukraine. At this point, no one can be confident.
Hopefully the games will continue to be as attractive as they have been so far, with a few exceptions. It will be difficult to score 6 or 7 goals per game. It would be a great spectacle. Last Monday was.
