The second round of the Euros 2020 kick-started on Saturday between Wales & Denmark. The match saw the Danish team cruising to a comfortable 4-0 victory over the terriblyunderwhelming Welsh national team.
In the second encounter of the night, the in-form Italian team had to wait till the 95th minute of the extra time, before breaking the lines of the resilient Austrian team, as a substitute, Frederico Chiesa smashed home a Spinazzola’s cross. The lead was doubled 10 minutes later by M.Pessina. This meant that the 114th-minute goal scored by Kalajdzic of Austria will be nothing more than a mere consolation.
On the second match day, a 55th-minute sending off of Mattheus de Ligt eventually proved to be a decider, as the Czech republic sunk the Netherlands by a 2-0 goal margin. A match that saw the Netherlands team produce zero shot on target.
In the widely watched Belgium versus Portugal match. A thunderbolt from Thorgan Hazard in the 42nd minute was all that was required to send Ronaldo and his fellow Portuguese players back home. The defending champions had more of possession, passes & shots on target, but all these won’t be enough to replicate their 2016 heroics.
The 3rd night of the second round obviously stood out as the most exciting for football fans around the world.
A 1-0 lead, a 3-1 comeback and an eventual 3-3 draw was the similar full time story of both matches of the night.
But while in the Parken stadium, Spain was able to muster a 5-3 eventual win over Croatia through two extra time goals by Alvaro Morata and M. Oyarzabal, it was different news entirely for the French national team.
The match between the world champion and the under dog Switzerland, who barely qualified as a best loser will be nothing short of drama. After a Karim Benzema’s brace in the space of 3 minutes and a Paul Pogba’s volley cancelled out Seferovic’s headed in goal, the French team were already on the course of proving themselves once again as the tournament’s favorites but Seferovic & Gavranovic’s goals in the last 10 minutes of the encounter eventually meant the match proceeded into extra time, and subsequently into penalties.
Kylian Mbappe of France would eventually be the villain of the night, as his penalty shot was parried away by Sommer of Switzerland. This means the Swiss proceeded to the quarter finals on a 5-4 penalty scoreline.
At Wembley stadium, the English team also made a good account of themselves. Two second half goals from Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane ensured the German national team have also been been sent packing.
This is also the first time England will be defeating the Die Manschafft in a competitive game at Wembley since the 1966 World Cup final, having been winless in their previous three such encounters.
It also means that all teams that qualified from the ‘group of death’ have been eliminated.
The last game of the round saw a 1-1 full time scoreline between Sweden and Ukraine. And despite Danielson’s red card in the 99th minute, the match appeared to be heading to penalties, but Dovbyk popped up an headed goal in the 120th minute, to ensure the Ukraine team, led by Andry Shevchenko progress to the European Championships quarterfinals for the first time in their history.
All the four quarterfinal matches scheduled to start from Friday, July 2nd have also been decided.
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