Is anybody doing this at the moment, looking at the tournament fixtures for the possible 2nd Round matches onwards. For example we/England will have to play Germany, if they win their group and if we finish 2nd in ours. And we don't want that do we, no sir!. And if we win our group, we'll play one of the other groups 3rd placed teams. That could even be Austria, who we've just watched and been impressed with. There's still a lot of footy to be played in the meantime though.
Spain looked good against a very tired Croatia. Switzerland were also impressive, but there are question marks over the opposition. Italy looked very mediocre against Albania, and when we played them in the final qualifier it was very one-sided. We were absolutely excellent, mind. I'd back us to beat any of those sides.
It's been a great week of Euros matches so far hasn't it, and there haven't been any 0-0 draws so far!. And I am really enjoying it to be honest. But I'm not a fan of them extending these tournaments though, it's clearly a case now of 'quantity over quality' And I don't think 3rd placed teams in a group of four, deserve to go through actually!.
I was thinking about this yesterday as I hated the idea at first but does the third spot make the smaller teams ‘go for it’ rather than trying to play for a draw? Perhaps a reason why the games have been so good ?
Yeah Chef I agree, there's always some defensive games when teams know they are going through, etc. And I suppose these 3rd place teams do have everything to play for still, and they do make it interesting.
Ok it's the 2nd ROUND now, the knockout rounds, the last 16... And the next round is the QTR FINALS, which means 1 v 2, & 3 v 4, & 5 v 6, & 7 v 8!. 1. SPAIN v GEORGIA 2. GERMANY v DENMARK ~ 3. PORTUGAL v SLOVENIA 4. FRANCE v BELGIUM ~ 5. ROMANIA v HOLLAND 6. AUSTRIA v TURKEY ~ 7. ENGLAND v SLOVAKIA 8. ITALY v SWITZERLAND https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/european-championship/schedule#
Take nothing away from them, but I think Spain will be a bridge too far. One thing beating Portugal in what was effectively a training match for them, quite another taking on Spain in knockout football. Hopefully I'm wrong!
So it would appear that whoever gets through from the 'good' side of the draw will have an easier game in the final than the semi or quarters (barring any upsets)
