Power Cube

Scotland 1 - 1 Switzerland 

Oh , it isn't a European Championship without our diminutive square man Shaqiri. He brought life to an otherwise tense and low quality encounter. Scotland's passing is not on a par with any of the other teams in this tournament. I was asked before the game who I wanted to win. My reflex was "Scotland of course", but after a few moments of reflection, I confessed that the joy I get from watching is usually gained from the football I see on display, and for that reason, the Swiss are a far better investment for the next round. I mean Breel Embolo or Che Adams ffs?!?

Scotland's opener was well worked, but basically from their only incisive passage of play. The equaliser came about from some of their woeful passing, Shaqiri curling an absolute beauty into the top corner. I'm waiting with baited breath to see the newfangled revolution stats on that hit - a Golden Boomerang ™️  award surely awaits.

The game looked like it was going to peeter (is that how you spell it, I think the first time in my life I've written it) out, but Scotland found great energy in the final 30, and pressed well. Switzerland looked to have done some maths and worked out that a draw would see them through, and largely stopped trying. It sets up a big final match for the Scots in a few days.

Ding ding round two

Germany 2 - 0 Hungary

I'm posting out of sequence today. A combination of an all day training course, coupled with my new "all streaming" content set-up meant I had no access to the live game at 2pm, nor could access a recorded version. As is tradition, I will watch it, just as soon as I am done with the other two games.

The final whistle has just blown on what will look like a routine victory for Germany Vs Hungary. The game itself told a different story with a raft of nearly moments for Hungary. They didn't get the roll of the ball, but I think exposed weaknesses in the German line up that others will surely exploit later.

Musiala scored again, following a bit of luck and sharp reactions from Güngogan, before Gundy sealed it with a goal of his own. We were graced again by the mighty presence of Martin Ádám, hopefully he will get a longer appearance in match 3 Vs the Scots.

I'm looking forward to Scotland's big game now. On this afternoon's showing, I think match 3 Vs Hungary is going to be tough for them, so a result Vs Switzerland is going to be absolutely critical. Sad to say though, I don't think we will see it, the Swiss were good in match one. 

Stanëk the place out

Portugal 2 - 1 Czech Republic

Not a classic tonight. Portugal controlled the game for the majority of the match, but without looking too dangerous. Silva has a bout of the Fodens, Ronaldo was starting to look his age and the Czechs were fairly disciplined if unadventurous. 

But as the game developed and the rain fell, things got more interesting. The Czechs took the lead with another cracker of a goal, before letting the lead slip when keeper Stanëk did a shit parry, where a catch would have been fine, onto his own defender and into the net.

Portugal grabbed a late winner thanks to sub Netos pace and pass, exactly what they'd been missing all night.

Special mention for Fernandes, who played well all night, pulling the strings. It was approaching being a likeable performance until he did that irritating disbelief / pleading thing after the ref gave a free kick against him for kicking an opponent in the face. Ruined it, son.

That's round one of games all done. Portugal don't join my group of favourites which stands at Germany, Italy, Spain and France.

Some cracking goals and really good games in this first set of fixtures. Also a massive shout out to the refs who have been excellent and VAR which has proved that it can be instantaneous and correct. Hopefully the EPL will take note, surely they can afford a few microchips.

The truth is out there

Turkey 3 - 1 Georgia 

This match, and equivalent ones from years gone by, are the reason that I love watching tournament football. On paper, it looks for all the world like one to miss. But these ones rarely are.

As the anthems blared out, the Turkish fans drowned the stadium with a noise you could only imagine for a Galatasaray 'Welcome to Hell' style clash with Manchester United. Such passion. It left me wondering what beef the Turks have with Georgia. One Google maps visit later and I'm reminded that they border each other, so it's a local derby. Further searches reveal that the Ottomans and Georgia had a bit of rough and tumble in their time, most recently in the Battle of Batumi (1921) where Georgia tried to remove the Turkish Army from their land.

And so to proceedings tonight. A rampant Turkish start, culminating in a Müldür howitzer. They thumped one against the inside of the post and were a boot offside denying them a second. For all the world it looked like they'd romp it. And then came Georgia. They slowed the pace a bit, built their own rhythm and got back into the game. I love that I'd heard of literally NONE of their players. Yet they played as if they belonged. 

The second half was equally as wild. Arda Guler scored a brilliant winner, but Georgia hit bar and then post in the dying seconds before conceding a third on the break whilst their keeper had advanced for a last ditch corner.

The last two days have really shown the beauty of this competition, and without it's expanded format we may not have seen tonight's match. Something about teams playing with hope rather than expectation frees them from pressure and shackles and makes the football intense and entertaining.

Now onto the Ronaldo show...

Clatch of Mbappe

Austria 0 - 1 France

I spy, with my little eye, a guy who is going to have a nose the size of Dusseldorf tomorrow. Ow ow ow.

Superb game. Austria were superb. High intensity, slick passing, total aggression. They will be devastated not to get a result from that game and I just hope they can retain that energy as they are a team I want to see more of.

France look tasty too. Direct, fast and clearly have a heap of goal in them. I definitely wouldn't fancy being Poland right now, that's for sure.

Despite Austria's great efforts, they could still have lost by more, their backline taking yellow cards on rotation, such was the danger presented by Mbappe, Dembele and Thuram. What a front three that is - although don't be surprised to see more of Giroud whilst Kylian's face heals. 

Speaking of Giroud, if you put Griesman's hair atop Giroud's face, then you have a perfect David Hasselhoff replica, a thought that distracted me greatly during that frantic last ten minutes.

Tomorrow, to finish round one of games we get to see Turkey v Georgia, and Portugal v Czech Republic. By all accounts Portugal are very good right now, so will be interesting to see whether they join my list of likelies which so far includes Germany, Italy, Spain and France.

Romelu YouCantDo

Belgium 0 - 1 Slovakia

What a belter if a match that one was. Belgium are like England's twin team, littered with class players and yet somehow always able to seek out disappointment from promise.

They do it in a very different way to England though, there's lots of flair and chance creation, but at the other end, by selecting Faes, they bring their own brand of chaos to the defensive third. 

It was an early goal and snickometer that did for them tonight though, in a really pulsating game. Slovakia were great fun, slick passing and direct in their approach, and beautifully unafraid to shithouse the life out of the game once the 60 minute mark came around.

In fairness, Lukaku was super unlucky, being fractionally offside for one goal and then having his (theoretical) second ruled out for a brush of handball by Openda in the buildup.

So there we have it, a shock. Belgium could still conceivably top their group and it will be a lot of fun seeing them go even more attacking in their attempts to do so.

Thank you Stanciu

Romania 3 - 0 Ukraine

A game that many, I expect, are likely to have missed. But thanks to a dose of sinusitis, I got to enjoy it all.

The game has been fun, scrappy and hectic to begin with, but Romania made it good fun, with a gung-ho attitude and real energy. 

For a short while I wondered if Mudrik would turn on the style, perhaps less erratic in his national colours, but more and more his transfer value is looking hyper-inflated.

Romania's Stancu scored a contender for goal of the tournament, nothing like an absolute thunder bastard to liven up proceedings. Two further goals followed and Romania absolutely deserved the win and the three points. If England could have mustered even half of the intensity and urgency they showed, then last night's snorefest would have been different.

Group D remains open though.

What's up next. Ooh. Belgium v Slovakia.

Kane unable

Serbia 0 - 1 England

So England delivered (the tedium and fan violence that the competition had been so sorely missing until this point)

After a promising start and clattering header from Bellingham, England slowly but surely retreated into their Southgate-clad shell, eventually scraping the win. Pundits busily drawing comparisons with the great teams that build their way into tournaments. This could theoretically happen of course, we have the players to make it so, but the power of one man to make substitutions could severely affect that likelihood.

In a game where both Kane and Foden needed urgently hooking, and where pace and directness up front were yielding results, our great zippered leader chose instead to hook Saka and Bellingham (our only two threats) and augment midfield-dwelling Kane with multiple other midfielders.

A tough watch. I could do another paragraph about playing a fading right back as a left back (a fortnight after having 26 choices available) but I just can't.