By Simon Wright – Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88
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| Portugal became the 10th winners of the Henri Delaunay trophy |
A week has now passed since the curtain fell on the biggest
European Championships in history. After 51 games across four weeks, Portugal (pictured) prevailed against tournament hosts France in the showpiece event to become the
10th different winners of the Henri Delaunay trophy.
It was a competition that welcomed the likes of Albania,
Slovakia and Northern Ireland to the international limelight, producing heart-warming
stories from Wales and Iceland and complete humiliation for England that took
the international game for the Three Lions to a new low.
However, the new spectacle didn’t go down well with the
neutral. Too many teams seemed content to draw games to progress rather than
push for the winning goal. This was disappointing to see but not a total
overall surprise. The new format of 24 teams was always going to produce
teething problems.
EURO 2016 won’t be remembered as one of the great spectacles
in terms of football entertainment. Thankfully, there were no scenes of carnage
in a country which thought it had breathed a sigh of relief after the Paris
terrorist attacks last November. Sadly – the appalling events on Bastille Day
in Nice last Thursday put France back at the forefront of our prayers and
thoughts.
French
take their time
The group stages began on Friday, 10 June and the hosts
opened the competition up with a nervy 2-1 win over plucky Romania. They needed
a stunning late winner from Dimitri Payet to get the better of the Romanians.
In fact, the French took their time to get into the groove
in Group A. Albania nearly kept them out for the entire game in Marseille
before stoppage time efforts by Antoine Griezmann and Payet saw them come out
on top and seal their place in the last 16. These two players carried Les Bleus
all the way to the final. Griezmann had been dropped for the Albania match but
responded superbly and walked away with six goals and the Golden Boot.
Didier Deschamps’ side topped Group A by playing out a
sterile goalless game with Switzerland in Lille on a night where Swiss kit
suppliers PUMA could only look on with horror as five of their shirts were
ripped during the match.
This incident was probably the highlight of Switzerland’s
group story. One win and two draws took them through as runners-up. Albania
beat Romania in Lyon to record a famous victory for them but neither side would
progress past the group stage.
France looked to be on a potential collision course with
world champions Germany in the semi-finals and that didn’t look like altering
after the group games.
Like the French, Germany took their time to grow into the
competition in Group C which was definitely a group that defences ruled over
attackers. In the six games, there were just seven goals scored and five of
those were against the hopeless Ukraine – who left goalless and pointless.
Germany and Poland came through with unbeaten records and no
blemishes in their goals conceded column either. Had it not been for a glaring
miss by Arkadiusz Milik when the sides clashed in Stade de France, the Poles
might have won the group.
Michael O’Neill’s Northern Ireland arrived at EURO 2016 as
the in-form team, having gone on a 12-match unbeaten run in competitive
internationals. That ended in their opening fixture, where Milik did find the
target for Poland. However, Northern Ireland had a sting in the tail in Lyon
against Ukraine. Despite a torrential downpour, they claimed a massive win with
goals from Gareth McAuley and Niall McGinn. Michael McGovern’s heroics in the
Parc des Princes ensured Germany only won 1-0 against them in the final match
and that success over the Ukrainians took O’Neill’s side into the knockout
stages in their maiden EUROs adventure.
England wins
the battle, Wales the war
Thursday, 16 June saw England and Wales lock horns in Lens
in a clash that had been eagerly anticipated since the draw had been made seven
months earlier. Wales entered the game top of the group after beating Slovakia
2-1 in their opening match, courtesy of a late winner from Hal Robson-Kanu.
Gareth Bale had scored a free-kick in that match and he
repeated the trick against the Three Lions, although he got a huge helping hand
from Joe Hart’s dodgy goalkeeping. Trailing and looking bereft of ideas, Roy
Hodgson took a desperate gamble. This time it worked.
The tired Harry Kane and out-of-form Raheem Sterling were
hooked off at the interval and on came Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy and Daniel
Sturridge of Liverpool FC. Both had ideas, inspiration and energy as the Welsh
attempted to sit on their lead.
It didn’t work out. Vardy levelled proceedings and Sturridge
scored a dramatic winner in stoppage time. There were huge England celebrations
but this would be the high point of their competition.
Failing to beat a woeful Russia in their tournament opener
in Marseille, where unsavoury crowd trouble dominated the headlines was
brutally exposed. Hodgson made six changes to the team for their final group
game against Slovakia and despite dominating possession, lacked a cutting edge
when required.
The game finished goalless and with Wales thumping Russia
3-0, it meant Chris Coleman’s side won the war. Wales won Group B and sent
England into the harder section of the knockout stage draw. Little did Hodgson
know that he was to be a man on increasingly borrowed time.
In Group D, Croatia showed their class and quality to top
proceedings and leave defending champions Spain in a similar predicament to the
English.
Ivan Perisic’s late winner against the Spanish in the group
decider took Croatia to top spot with seven points from three games. Despite
their brilliance, crowd trouble also marred their campaign. Flares were thrown
onto the pitch during their game with the Czech Republic. A firecracker
exploded infront of a steward and fighting broke out in the stands. It was a
sorry end to one of the best games of the championships as the Czechs recovered
from 2-0 down to grab an unlikely point.
They bowed out, as did Turkey, who disappointed in their
opening two matches and gave themselves too much work to do. Ultimately, their
2-0 win over the Czechs did for both teams and ended the international career
of goalkeeper Petr Cech. He announced his retirement shortly after his country
arrived back home.
Icelandic
and Irish joy
Group E came alive in the final round of games. Italy bossed
proceedings and became the first team to win their group after beating Belgium
and a dispirited Sweden outfit that managed a miserly four shots on target in
their three matches.
After their Italian defeat, the pressure was on Belgium but
they recovered to defeat the Republic of Ireland and Sweden and progressed as
runners-up, despite still looking more of a side of classy individuals that
weren’t gelling as a unit.
It looked like the Republic of Ireland would be bowing out
after that 3-0 loss to the Belgians. Their fortunes changed though
in Lille against a second-string Italy side. Robbie Brady scored a dramatic
header with eight minutes left as the Irish repeated their 1994 World Cup
victory over the Azzuri.
It was pure Irish joy and it even almost brought assistant
manager Roy Keane to tears on the touchline. They advanced with four points
into the last-16 and sent Turkey home in the process.
Eventual winners Portugal were expected to make easy work of
Group F but they were incredibly lucky to survive in the competition. They
started with a lifeless draw against Iceland before Cristiano Ronaldo heavily
criticised the Icelandic approach to the game in his post-match comments.
He claimed Iceland had a “small mentality” and
they “would
do nothing in the tournament.” I wonder how England fans feel about
Ronaldo now! The Real Madrid superstar looked like an angry man in the group stages as
Portugal stumbled into the last-16. It was his double in an entertaining 3-3
draw with Hungary that ensured they stayed to fight another day.
Iceland would surprise many in the competition and they went
through as runners-up, above the Portuguese. This included a last-gasp success
over Austria and led to this amazing piece of commentary;
Austria went home with one point and plenty of
disappointment having been tipped as dark horses in this competition.
English embarrassment
The knockout stages began with a spectacular bicycle kick
from Switzerland’s Xherdan Shaqiri against Poland. It was a contender for Goal
of the Tournament but to no avail. Granit Xhaka missed his spot-kick in the
penalty shootout and it would be Poland who advanced to their maiden European
Championship quarter-final – 5-4 on penalties after a 1-1 draw.
The first-ever Home Nations knockout match in major
tournament football was a cagey affair in Paris. Wales struggled to breakdown a
stubborn Northern Ireland but eventually came out on top. The luckless McAuley
diverted a Bale cross into his own net in the 75th minute. The Welsh
journey marched on.
Croatia vs. Portugal turned out to be one of the most
pathetic, diabolical exhibitions of football the European Championships has ever seen. 117 minutes went past of dreary, sleepy action before the Portuguese
nicked a winner through Ricardo Quaresma. It was the only shot on target in the
entire two hours and it put everyone out of their misery. Croatia, highly
fancied after the group stages were out.
The Republic of Ireland would join them on the flight home
but not before scaring the hosts in Marseille. Paul Pogba’s clumsy tackle on
Shane Long in the opening minute gave Brady the chance to put the Irish
infront from the penalty spot. It was a lead they would hold onto until just before the hour mark.
Griezmann made a telling contribution with two goals in three minutes, then
being brought down when racing in on goal by Shane Duffy, who was promptly sent
off. France won 2-1 but needed to play better in the latter stages.
Both Germany and Belgium did come into form on the same day.
The Germans cruised past Slovakia 3-0 and even missed a penalty through Mesut Özil,
whilst Eden Hazard dazzled in Belgium’s 4-0 thumping of Hungary. Did both sides
just go up the gears at just the right time?
One era came to an end on a wet Monday afternoon in Paris.
Italy outclassed, outfought and outfoxed Spain, emerging 2-0 victors and making
up for their pain in the EURO 2012 final when they were beaten 4-0 by the
Spanish. It has been a glorious generation of Spanish football but now they
must evolve again because their days of dominating the major prizes are over.
England would give anything for domination in the game. They
met Iceland in the final round-of-16 game and ended up exiting Europe for the
second time in four days following the UK‘s decision to leave the European
Union. The words painful, humiliating and embarrassing spring to mind.
Skipper Wayne Rooney put Hodgson’s side into a lead from the
penalty spot inside five minutes. That lead lasted only 60 seconds before
Ragnar Sigurdsson equalised. Then in the 19th minute, Kolbeinn
Sigthorsson’s weak shot evaded Joe Hart’s grasp to put Iceland infront.
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| The scars of England's humiliation to Iceland will last for a long time |
England looked devoid of ideas, inspiration and leadership.
The scars from this defeat are likely to last a lifetime for the players
involved (pictured). Hodgson’s time was up and he knew it. He resigned less than 20
minutes after the final whistle – his creditability ruined and his management
career likely to be over.
Trust has broken down again between the English fans, the
players and the FA and it will take some time to recover from this latest
nightmare on the major international stage.
The Welsh
wonders
From the 24 teams that started, just eight now remained and
there was a real mixture of newcomers and the main elite from Europe.
Poland and Portugal kicked off the quarter-finals with a
game that started with a high-tempo before drifting towards its inevitable
conclusion. Robert Lewandowski scored the quickest goal of EURO 2016 before it
was cancelled out by Renato Sanches’ strike for Portugal.
Jakub Blaszczykowski was the fall guy in the shootout. His penalty was saved and Quaresma beat Lukasz Fabianski to steer
Portugal into the semi-finals despite not winning a single match in 90 minutes.
Wales had most definitely done this and they repeated the
trick again on a wonderful evening in Lille. Belgium led early on through a
Radja Nainggolan blockbuster but great character, resolve and class saw the
Welsh Dragon roar into a historic semi-final.
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| Hal Robson-Kanu had a memorable tournament, as did Wales |
Ashley Williams equalised, before Robson-Kanu (pictured) produced his
own ‘Cruyff turn’ to score one of the best goals of the entire competition.
Substitute Sam Vokes sealed Wales’ place in the final four and consigned Marc
Wilmots to the sack. Wales won 3-1 and would now play Portugal in the semis.
The other semi would be between traditional European
superpowers in France and Germany. The French simply had too much for Iceland
and steamed into a 4-0 lead at the interval with Griezmann, Payet and Pogba all
finding the target. Olivier Giroud got a brace in the game that ultimately
ended 5-2 to the French. Despite the defeat, Iceland returned to Reykjavik as
national heroes and they’ve won many friends on a European scale at EURO 2016.
Germany and Italy played out a pulsating quarter-final that
went all the way in Bordeaux. Goals were exchanged in the second half by the
teams with Leonardo Bonucci’s penalty levelling matters for Italy. What
followed was one of the worst exhibitions in terms of a penalty shootout. Six
of the 10 regulation kicks were either missed or saved. Eventually, it was the
ninth round of penalties that settled matters. Manuel Neuer saved from Matteo
Darmian, allowing Jonas Hector to send Germany through and ended the Antonio Conte
reign as Italian coach.
In the semi-finals, Ronaldo finally came good. He put in a
commanding display when his country needed him the most. A towering header and slightly
fortuitous assist for Nani sealed Portugal’s place in the final. Wales were
beaten 2-0 but left with their heads held high and full of pride for their
heroic efforts. Whilst Ronaldo was the colossus for Portugal, so was Griezmann
for the host country. His double put paid to Germany’s hopes of doing a World
Cup/European Championship double. Surely, it was all set-up for a home victory.
A final
sting
So after 50 games, one of the most uninspiring international
competitions of recent times reached its conclusion as France played Portugal
in the Stade de France. Fittingly for the tournament’s lack of attractive and
entertaining football, the final lived up to the standard provided before it.
It was scrappy, cagey and nervy. Both sides looked more frightened
to lose than take the game by the grasp and it headed towards extra-time
without a goal. By this point, Ronaldo’s final was already over. He was KO’d in
the 30th minute following a clash of knees with Payet which left him
in agony. He tried to continue but eventually had to concede defeat. Meanwhile,
Griezmann had missed a golden chance for the hosts and substitute Andre-Pierre
Gignac hit the woodwork in stoppage time.
On the night where they were expected to raise their game,
the French froze and so did Deschamps, whose tactical switches were slow
compared to the rest of the tournament. He ultimately paid the price and so did
his team in the 108th minute.
Portuguese substitute Eder brushed off Laurent Koscielny,
struck from distance and drilled his shot past the despairing dive of Hugo
Lloris. The man who couldn’t buy a goal in his six-month spell in the Premier
League last season with Swansea City was now a national hero for his country.
Portugal saw the game out to become the real party poopers.
They won 1-0 and on the night itself, deserved to lift the biggest prize in
European international football. For France, it was a night where they choked
when it mattered. It was a huge disappointment for a nation that expected and
needed some success after a traumatic few months on a social scale.
Ronaldo manged to lift the main prize and he finally has an
international honour to go alongside his individual achievements and club
accolades. Portugal prevailed at EURO 2016 which sadly was a competition that
provided great stories but not a lot of great football.
Let’s hope for a better spectacle at EURO 2020.
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