As the first round of fixtures come to an end at the Euro 2016, we look at the pretenders and contenders in France.
Although the competition features 24 teams for the first time ever, any doubts over the quality of football have been laid to rest after the end of first round, with the gritty performances of the lower ranked teams, who have not allowed themselves to be overawed by the occasion.
Here are the highlights, after the first match-day of Euro 2016 came to a conclusion.
1. Belgium, France, England, Spain all looking less than convincing
France were expected to run all over Romania in the opening fixture of Euro 2016, given the gulf of talented footballers between the two teams. However, they failed to finish up their chances, as Antoine Griezmann and Olivier Giroud missed a number of goal scoring opportunities. Romania even equalized and it took a moment of brilliance from Dimitri Payet to give France the win.
It was a similar story for a number of other highly seeded teams. England failed to convince against Russia, with a late equalizer denying them what would have been a less than spectacular win.
Belgium, the highest ranking team in the competition, who were being touted as favourites, were given a lesson in class by underrated Italy. Defending champions Spain laboured to a 1-0 victory against Czech Republic who had the leakiest defence in the qualifiers.
2. There’s no such thing as big tournament inexperience
Two teams making their first ever appearance at the UEFA European Championship got off to a brilliant start. While Wales notched up a victory against Slovakia in Group B after a brilliant Gareth Bale free-kick, Iceland showed incredible grit and resilience to hold Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal, to a 1-1 draw in their first ever Euro match.
In the same group as Iceland, Hungary pulled off an early upset by defeating dark horses Austria 2-0 in their first European championship since 1972. All of these results show that big tournament experience only counts for so much, and the new boys in town can well take the fight to the old guard.
3. The English aren’t the only hooligans
The first week of Euro 2016 was marred by major clashes between English and Russian fans after their 1-1 draw. While English fans are usually the ones associated with disruptive and violent tendencies during football matches, this time reports seem to indicate that Russian fans took a more proactive role in inciting the chaos that took place at the Stade Velodrome, that left a number of fans grievously injured.
Both nations have been issued a disqualification warning by UEFA and one hopes that the beautiful game will not incite such ugly violence again.
4. Group F shaping up to be another group of death
The opening results in Group F means that it will be a difficult exercise predicting who finishes on top in Group F. Every football tournament has that one group where things seem more unpredictable than the others. Group E was touted as such when the groups were announced with Belgium, Italy, Sweden and Republic of Ireland vying for qualification.
However the opening results in Group F have left it wide open. Favourites Portugal were held by debutantes Iceland, while Hungary triumphed over Austria. If Iceland and Hungary do not lose in the next round of matches, then it could create a very interesting situation in the group.
5. Never underestimate Italy and Germany
Ahead of the tournament pundits had already written off Antonio Conte’s Italian side, suggesting that they lacked the big names and were no longer the giants they used to be. The Azzuri’s defensive masterclass against Belgium laid all that talk to rest. Italy beat the fancied Belgium side 2-0 and highlighted their status as one of the tough teams to face in this competition.
Although there wasn’t such vehement brushing off, Germany were also criticized for their lack of strikers and inclusion of Manchester United man Bastian Schweinsteiger. The doubters were once again silenced as the midfielder came off the bench to score a decisive goal for Die Mannschaft, and they joined Italy and Hungary as the only three teams to win a game by more than one goal.
