EURO 2024 - Matchday 2: The Roundup
- William Russell
- Jun 23, 2024
- 9 min read
The second round of fixtures at the 2024 European Championships has provided us with yet more entertainment, with late drama, brilliant goals and top quality team and individual performances.
I analyse each game and the implications going into the final round of group games.
Group A - Germany too good for Hungary, Scotland and Switzerland cancel each other out in draw.
The tournament hosts became the first team to qualify for the knockout stages, as Ilkay Gundogan and Jamal Musiala once again were the difference makers for Germany.
The two bagged a goal each, with Gundogan also cropping up with an assist for Musiala, to secure their place in the next round and make Hungary's chance of qualification very slim.
Unlike with their game against Scotland, Germany didn't have it all their own way. Hungary created plenty of chances of their own, but were unable to capitalise on any of their promising moves.
As mentioned above, it was ultimately Gundogan and Musiala - arguably the two best players of the tournament so far - to make the difference for Germany. The pair were involved in everything positive Germany did, with their ability to both effectively keep the ball and be a chance creating threat, making them unique in the footballing world.
Gundogan's ability to crash the box and get on the end of crosses and Musiala's ability to keep the ball under control in the tightest of spaces in the penalty area were on full display once again with their respective goals.
The result against Hungary essentially makes Germany's third group game against Switzerland a dead rubber from their perspective. This will benefit the Swiss side, who will be hoping for a result after only managing a draw against a much improved Scotland.
Steve Clarke's side looked much more up for the fight than they did against Germany, with John McGinn in particular leading the Scottish charge, putting in a battling performance like he does week in week out for his club side, Aston Villa.
Scott McTominay gave them an early lead after a counter attack, but Scotland ended up shooting themselves in the foot after a poor backpass was capitalised on by Xherdan Shaqiri, who finished quite magnificently from the edge of the box.
The rest of the game was fairly cagey. Switzerland had a goal ruled out for offside, whilst Scotland created a few chances, only for Switzerland's resolute defence, led by a man of the match performance from Manchester City's Manuel Akanji, to hold firm and keep them out.
This result means the Scotland vs Hungary game on Sunday is, as expected, going to be crucial regarding qualification hopes. Both sides must win to stand any chance of qualification, with Scotland knowing that a win will probably see them qualify as one of the highest third place teams at the very least with four points.
With high stakes and a raucous atmosphere, that game should hopefully make for an entertaining spectacle for the neutral.
Group B - Croatia and Albania play out thrilling draw, Spain beat Italy to secure qualification.
To use a footballing cliché, Croatia vs Albania really was "a game of two halves."
The first period was excellent for Albania, but terrible for Croatia. Like against Spain, they had most of the ball but couldn't really create many chances at all.
Albania took advantaged of this with a slick passing move that tore Croatia apart, with Qazim Laci applying the finishing touch with his head from inside the penalty area.
One change Zltako Dalic changed from the Spain match was to move Josko Gvardiol to centre back and bring in Ivan Perisic to play at left back. However, this left Croatia very open to counter attacks, and they could've found themselves 3-0 down at the break if only Albania hadn't squandered numerous chances.
To be fair to Dalic, he adjusted at half time, and Croatia were much improved in the second half. Mario Pasalic replaced Marcelo Brozovic at the break, and Croatia subsequently took control of the game.
Andrej Kramaric on the left wing drifted central to allow Perisic to provide the width on the left flank, meaning the midfielders could sit a bit deeper and focus on ball retention and defending the counter attacks so as to leave most of the attacking burden to Kramaric.
Gvardiol also stepped up into midfield from centre back to provide extra control when Albania didn't have more than one man up, and ultimately that allowed Croatia to turn the game around, with two quickfire goals at around the 75th minute from Kramaric and a Klaus Gjasula own goal.
But, in a tournament filled with upsets and surprise results, Albania struck late, with Gjasula making amends by slotting in from the edge of the penalty to leave the Croatia players devastated on the floor by the full time whistle.
Croatia now need to beat Italy and hope that Spain do them a favour by beating Albania in order to make qualification likely with in either second or third place.
This comes after Spain beat Italy 1-0 thanks to an own goal, but ultimately that stat fails to underline the dominance of Luis de la Fuente's side.
Rodri and Fabian Ruiz were magnificent in midfield for Spain, who dominated possession and created a signifcantly higher number of chances than Italy.
Their lead would've been much greater had it not been for Gianluigi Donnarumma, who made numerous saves to keep the Azzurri in the game.
Italy's performances in both games have been underwhleming, but they're in a decent position to qualify, so long as they beat Croatia, who have been equally poor so far this tournament.
Albania, meanwhile, will be hoping for a draw between Croatia and Italy and a win for them against Spain will likely see them qualify in second or third place, depending on their goal difference.
Group C - Serbia dramatically keep their qualification hopes alive, England woeful as they stutter to a draw against Denmark.
It was the same old problems for England as once again, they just couldn't get into gear with a woeful performance in a 1-1 draw with Denmark.
Like against Serbia, England started well, took an early lead (this time through Harry Kane rather than Jude Bellingham) but then instantly sat deep with men behind the ball, this time getting punished for their cowardice as Denmark equalised thanks to a thumping effort from Morten Hjulmand.
The rest of the match from both England's and the neutral's perspective was diabolical, as they failed to muster up any sort of control in the game, making it easy for the Danes, who looked the most likely team to win.
Declan Rice was, to put it frankly, terrible in defensive midfield, giving the ball away at will. Bellingham and Bukayo Saka were also poor, whilst Kane appeared to be satisfied with his accomplishment of scoring a goal and subsequently looked unbothered for the rest of the match.
Phil Foden was the one who was trying to make things happen, hitting the post with a trademark low drive with his left foot from outside the penalty area, but he was trying too hard to make an impact, leading him to be wasteful. He was subbed off along with Saka and Kane in the second half for Jarrod Bowen, Ollie Watkins and Eberechi Eze.
As poor as England have been this tournament, the strong defensive performance of their back four, Kyle Walker, John Stones, Marc Guehi and Kieran Trippier, means they are still somehow in a position where they have all but qualified.
Four points will probably qualify them, whether it is in first, second or third place, especially considering the result of the other game.
Serbia's last gasp equaliser from Luka Jovic, denied Slovenia the chance to go level on points with England in a cagey 1-1 draw. With England on four points, Serbia are now on one point with Denmark and Slovenia on two points each.
Both remaining games, therefore are crucial, as every team can still qualify, whilst every team can technically also still be eliminated, meaning we should see two competitive games.
And specifically for England, they may choose to make a personnel or tactical few changes to fix the glaring issues that have existed within their team for the last calendar year at the very least.
Group D - France and Netherlands provide first goalless draw of the competition to date, Austria beat Poland to eliminate their opponents.
I must confess that I didn't watch either of the Group D games, and therefore can't really comment on the performances of any of the four teams.
Once again, France kept a clean sheet, with their strong defence of Jules Kounde, Dayot Upamecano, William Saliba and Theo Hernandez holding strong against a good Netherlands attack.
But the did struggle in attack, as they were weakened further by the absence of their talisman and skipper Kylian Mbappe. They've scored just one goal so far this tournament, and that was a fortunate own goal.
Poland, meanwhile, become the first team to be eliminated from this year's Championships after two defeats. Austria, who were arguably the better team in their defeat to France, won to help their chances of qualification for the next round in either third place or automatically in first or second, depending on their result against the Netherlands.
Group E - Ukraine come from behind to beat Slovakia, superb Belgium performance as they beat Romania
Group E continues to be the most competitive and tightly contested group in the Euros so far, with any team capable of beating any other team.
Having seen the respective performances of Slovakia and Ukraine in their opening matches, one may have expected a similar outlook to their respective first matches; the technically superior team (in this case Ukraine) dominating the ball but ultimately getting beaten by the counter attacking side (Slovakia) with a resolute defensive performance at the heart of it.
And that's the way in which the first half turned out, with Slovakia taking the lead through Ivan Schranz for his second goal of the tournament so far. Ukraine, and particularly Mykhailo Mudryk, had poor end product, meaning Slovakia dealt with them with considerable ease whilst threatening down the other end.
The second half was much better from Ukraine's perspective, however, with Mykola Shaparenko and Roman Yaremchuk scoring to put them in the lead for the first time in the tournament.
They held on for the win, which, along with Belgium's 2-0 victory against Romania, meant all four teams are level on three points heading into the final round.
The trio of Jeremy Doku, Kevin de Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku were scintillating in attack for the Red Devils, as they threatened the Romania defence all evening.
De Bruyne and Youri Tielemans got the goals for Belgium, and they could've had a third through Lukaku after a De Bruyne through ball had the Chelsea striker, who spent last season on loan at Roma, not been offside by the most miniscule of margins.
Belgium got the result they deserved with their performance, which already shows development from their defeat to Slovakia, meaning they will head into their game against Ukraine confident for a win in order to qualify in first place.
Group F - Portugal dominant in win over Turkey, Georgia squander late chance to beat Czech Republic
Portugal built off the back of their victory against Czechia with a 3-0 victory over Turkey to qualify for the Round of 16.
After leaving it late on to beat the Czech Republic with a late goal from Francisco Conceicao, manager Roberto Martinez made a formation change, with defensive midfielder Joao Palhinha replacing wingback to Diogo Dalot in the starting XI, as Portugal lined up in a 4-3-3 formation.
Bernardo Silva moved wide, Vitinha and Bruno Fernandes pushed forward as number eights and Nuno Mended and Joao Cancelo filled in as full backs, as Portugal produced a superb team performance to win.
Admittedly, their second goal was an absolute calamity from Turkey's point of view, with a complete mix up between the goalkeeper and the defender leading to a calamitous own goal.
But their first and third goals, scored by Bernardo and Fernandes respectively, were brilliantly worked and finished by a team who are the level above the other teams in their group.
Both of those players played well, along with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, who led the line well and unselfishly squared it for Fernandes when in front of goal for Portugal's third goal, and Pepe, who, at the age of 41, is still at the very top of his game in central defence.
With qualification secured, it now falls to Georgia, Czechia and Turkey to fight out for the remaining qualification place (or places.)
Georgia seem an outside bet due to them needing to beat Portugal, but had they beaten Czechia, as their performance deserved for them to, they would be in with a real shot with at least a point.
Therefore, it'd seem that whoever triumphs in the Turkey vs Czechia game is likely to qualify, with Turkey still an outside bet for third place qualification if they draw or even lose.
Player of the Round - Matchday 2: Kevin de Bruyne (Belgium)
Team of the Round - Matchday 2: Portugal
Goal of the Round - Matchday 2: Xherdan Shaqiri (Switzerland) vs Scotland
Best Game of the Round - Matchday 2: Croatia 2-2 Albania
Combined XI of the Round - Matchday 2:
GK: Anatoliy Trubin (Ukraine)
RB: Zan Karnicnik (Slovenia)
CB: Pepe (Portugal)
CB: Marc Guehi (England)
LB: Manuel Akanji (Switzerland)
CDM: Fabian (Spain)
CM: Kevin de Bruyne (Belgium)
CM: Ilkay Gundogan (Germany) RW: Bernardo Silva (Portugal)
ST: Romelu Lukaku (Belgium)
LW: Jamal Musiala (Germany)
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