Euro 2016: Luck of the Irish, Northern Irish and Icelandic (Oh, and the Croatians too)
That’s enough of that then, eight teams are gone and now we begin the tournament proper. All that dragged out group stuff for 16 qualifiers, that’s pretty much another round of pre-tournament stuff. Now we’re into the real stuff… but, mate, what a couple of days it’s been for the underdogs!
Just magnificent. From Ivan Perisic’s late winner for Croatia… to Traustason's for Iceland… to Robbie Brady’s for Ireland. This is what tournament footy is all about.
But let’s start with those plucky Icelanders. You know, the ones that Cristiano Ronaldo said would be going nowhere with their small mentality. Well, they finished above Portugal in finishing second in group F – which to be honest isn’t the worst thing for Portugal who now find themselves on the good side of the draw. Not that Iceland care. For that supposed small mentality, they grew with every game they played at this tournament and now advance out of their group unbeaten – yup, the small Scandinavian nation with a population of 330,000 people – 3% of which were at the ground to see them play Austria, has still never lost at a major tournament.
It has to be said that Austria have been such a disappointment at Euro 2016. They were talked up as possible dark horses but even David Alaba struggled to put his mark on games and the rest of them looked like they were there to fill out the squad list. Almost immediately Iceland came out firing, with Johann Gudmundsson ripping one off the post almost from the kick-off. With their survival on the line, the Austrians mustered more on attack than they had in each of their last couple games but it was the Icers that took the lead, Jon Dadi Bodvarsson turning one in from a long-throw flick-on. Boom, the underdogs with the lead.
Austria had their chances to level, most notably Alex Dragovic taking too many pointers from Ronaldo the previous game by smacking a penalty off the post. Eventually Alessandro Schöpf drew them level with a lovely bit of skill and finishing after the hour, Austria were fair dominating but just as they keep doing, the Icelanders held firm at the back. Then they did their best to hit them on the counter. For Iceland, a 1-1 result was enough to have them through in third place (to play Croatia), while Austria pushed forward knowing that only a win could save them. Which is when that moment above happened. Arnor Ingvi Traustason slipped in the winner in the 94th minute and scenes erupted. Bloody stunning… they now play England in the knockouts. Superb.
Croatian Formation
Oh, but that wasn’t the bombshell result of the last couple days. Nope, that’d be the Croatians beating Spain… which is worth a double take if you didn’t see it. The immaculate Spanish falling to Croatia, who were playing with a few significant changes to their squad – most notably the injured Luka Modric being out.
I talked up the Spanish every time I saw them and I’m not ready to give up on them here. However losing to Croatia, as good as the Croats were, is not something they’d have suffered in the last couple tournaments. For whatever reason, the Spanish are just a little more vulnerable – probably to be expected as they’ve begun moving away from their suffocating possession footy. They still thoroughly dominate the ball, just not like they once did. Add in that teams are coming around to solutions to that style of play now (man, how much fun is Leicester City going to be in the Champions League!) and one of the great continental runs in international football history has come to and end.
But, look, Spain can still do this. And on another day they’d have gotten the points here too. Alvaro Morata scored bright and early to give them the lead (though Cesc Fabregas’ run and David Silva’s through ball deserve all the adoration). They had several chances to add to that and both of Croatia’s goals were avoidable. Worst of all was Sergio Ramos’ missed penalty. Apparently Spain are terrible at spotties – only scoring 57% of them under Vicente Del Bosque, with six different dudes having missed. Which makes it extra weird that a centre back was allowed to take this one with Morata, Fabregas, Iniesta and others all on the park. Modric called it too, giving Darijo Srna the massage. The keeper Subasic even thanked him afterwards.
The real sign of weakness was that they conceded though. One goal can come from nowhere, you can’t account for that. But to concede twice, you probably buggered something up. The blame towards De Gea was harsh given that Perisic shot took a sharp deflection, even if he wasn’t at peak-DDG that game. More worrying was how Kalinic and Perisic were able to completely bypass the Spanish midfield for the winner. They were on attack, Spain, only to get slayed on the counter – for a team with as strong a middle as them, that’s unforgivable. A few guys had overcommitted going forward, which is natural when going for the win (although a draw was enough to top the group), but you’d normally expect the Spanish middle to have compressed the field behind them and instead Srna’s block fell to Pjaca, who pushed it all the way to Kalinic at the half. Zero pressure on him, he turns and runs, feeding in Perisic who was quick enough to get his shot off ahead of Pique’s challenge. Slight deflection off the toe, into the bottom corner. As usual, Spain had over 60% off the ball and passed at 92%. Yet in that decisive moment they looked absolutely gassed while Croatia’s fitness was arguably the difference.
Chuck Croatia up there among the challengers for the trophy, especially now that they avoid the ‘dark side’ of the draw – and at worst will only meet England, Germany, Spain, Italy or France in the final. That is hardly a worst case worst scenario. Spain will be rightly furious that they blew their chance to sit on that much more comfortable side of things but at the same time, they’re still a more complete team than any of those other big five. It’s now a matter of how well they get back up after being knocked down – this is new territory.
Some statties:
This was the first time Spain had ever lost at the Euros having been ahead in the game. Ever.
Spain had gone 735 minutes without conceding a goal at the Euros – dating back to the opening game of Euro 2012 (Antonio Di Natale in a 1-1 vs Italy).
It was the first loss that Spain had suffered since losing 1-0 to Portugal in 2004 - 4,385 days previous.
Robbie Fecking Brady!!!
Sometimes all you need is an understrength and considerably under motivated Italian side to create history. Forget that Italy were already guaranteed first place though. Forget that for 85 minutes it looked like the Irish were going to be heading home with their heads held high but ultimately frustrated. Forget that the ref somehow overlooked a penalty for a challenge on James McClean or that Jeff Hendrick’s rocket shot travelled achingly beyond the goal frame. Even overlook, if you will, the fingertip save of Salvatore Sirigu from David Murphy’s header. Probably best to ignore Lorenzo Insigne’s shot off the post as well while you’re at it.
Because this thriller of a game, in which Ireland threw everything they could at a resolute Italian side, contained one moment that’ll live on beyond everything else that happened. The Irish were scrappy in the middle (that lad McClean again) and they ran hard the entire night. They ran even harder after Aiden McGeady and Wes Hoolahan came on off the bench. And then right as it felt like the reward was never going to come, in swept a gorgeous curling cross from Hoolahan and Robbie Brady was first to meet it, heading the lil bastard into the net for a famous, famous victory. A goal made in Norwich, too. Sort of.
Honestly, if the lack of goals this tournament has been a turn-off, you cannot complain about the timing of them. So many late goals, so much incredible drama.
For a brief moment, Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane embraced on the sideline to celebrate the win, only for Stephan El Shaarawy to remind them that the whistle had gone for a free kick not for full time. But they were only a few more seconds in waiting. The two coaches sharing a moment that can only be described as… tender. The Irish fans have been the life of the tournament and to see both nations (as well as the other two home nations) find their way into the knockouts is beautiful. Guts to Scotland watching at home, though.
Gigi Buffon’s congrats were a thing of pure class as well. Love that man.
Of course, they now meet France and the last time they played that side was in a World Cup qualifier in which a Thierry Henry handball had a significant effect on the outcome. Should be a belter.
The McGoverner
Rarely has a 1-0 defeat tasted so good. The Northern Irish knew that if they could avoid losing by more than three goals (and thus bettering Albania’s record), they would have a good chance of progressing. Obviously they still needed to wait on other results for another third place finisher to fall below them but they’d have given themselves every chance.
Against Germans, ‘every chance’ went the way of Joachim Low’s boys. Something close to that anyway. 28 shots to 2, with 75% of possession to boot. It was thoroughly dominant. And yet amongst the constant dust strewn in the wake of shot after shot after shot, an unlikely hero emerged. A hero by the name of Michael McGovern.
The 31 year old Northern Irish keeper is out of contract after playing for Hamilton Academic in Scotland last season. Word is that Hamilton were keen to regain his services, though they faced tough competition from Rangers and maybe even Celtic. After this game, there could well be many more suitors. McGovern got lucky with a couple Thomas Muller efforts off the frame and he was beaten in the first half by Mario Gomez. However the siege never let up and neither did the Northern Irish defence. Knowing that every goal conceded could be devastating, they held out for that 1-0 loss largely thanks to the eight saves that McG made, taking his tournament total to 15 – which only Hannes Thor Halldorsson of Iceland (with 17) can beat.
What a legend. According to manager Michael O’Neill, the players gave him a standing ovation in the dressing room afterwards, O’Neill also offering an explanation as to how he was able to muster such a performance:
Michael O’Neill: “He’s playing for a team that this season fought for their lives in the Scottish Premiership so he’s used to playing and having a lot of saves.”
If only that logic had applied to Brad Guzan of Aston Villa and USA in the Copa America, aye?
Rory Repping Bestie
No Comment
Lots of Comment
Hey but lighten up on Ronaldo guys. He was pretty great against Hungary in what was one of the games of the Euros so far. 3-3 it ended up, with Portugal having to come from behind three different times. You can’t script this stuff, unfortunately it got a little boring at the end with Hungary passing it around at the back for the draw but all goods, what preceded that was pure spectacle. Ronaldo’s first goal was this lovely flick of the heel – and his pass for Nani’s was genius.
One Time For Zlatan
Hehe…
Top Goalscorers
- Alvaro Morata (Spain) – 3
- Gareth Bale (Wales) – 3
- Balazs Dzsudzsak (Hungary) – 2
- Ivan Perisic (Croatia) – 2
- Romelu Lukaku (Belgium) – 2
- Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal) – 2
- Nani (Portugal) – 2
- Dimitri Payet (France) – 2
- Bogdan Stancu (Romania) – 2
Wildcard’s Team of the Group Stages
BENCH:
- GK – Hannes Thor Halldorsson (Iceland)
- DEF – Fabian Schar (Switzerland)
- D/M – Eric Dier (England)
- MID – Luka Modric (Croatia)
- MID – N’Golo Kante (France)
- ATT – Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium)
- ATT – Wes Hoolahan (Ireland)
Round of 16 Draw
So we’ve got:
- Switzerland vs Poland
- Croatia vs Portugal
- Wales vs Northern Ireland
- Hungary vs Belgium
- Germany vs Slovakia
- Italy vs Spain
- France vs Republic of Ireland
- England vs Iceland
A few drooling ties and a few undercover ones there. That dark side of the draw is clear for all to see, should England get by Iceland then they could meet France and then Spain/Germany/Italy after that, while the first four games feature not a single nation that has ever won a major tournament before. But one of them will get the opportunity with a finalist coming from each side.
- Dark Side – 8 Euro Titles & 6 runners-up / 11 World Cups & 7 runners-up
- Bright Side – 0 Euro titles & 2 runners-up / 0 World Cups & 2 runners-up
Going deeper on that bright side, Portugal has had a couple of good tournament runs in the past with Luis Figo and Cristiano Ronaldo ensuring they’ve been pretty competitive for the last couple decades. Three trips to the semis in the last four tournaments, including second place in 2004 (they really should’ve beaten Greece, ya know). Croatia made it to the semis of the 1998 World Cup but has never won a knockout game in the Euros while Northern Ireland and Wales had never even qualified for a European Championship before. This is Poland’s third Euros, all in the last three, but their first trip beyond the groups and it’s Switzerland’s fourth Euros and first trip beyond. Belgium had a couple semi finals in the 1970s but since 1984 they hadn’t even qualified for one apart from the 2000 event that they co-hosted and went out in the groups (bear in mind that the finals of the Euros only included four teams until 1980 - straight semis if you qualified). And Hungary? Well, they were the toast of world footy in the 1950s but the Euros only began in 1960. Third in 1964, fourth in 1972 and this is their first Euros since – though they did make the group stages in the 1978, 1982 and 1986 World Cups. Here’s to Ferenc Puskas, who ain’t walking through that door to play Belgium (cos he’s dead) but is still one of the all-timers.
Look, matey, don’t ignore the fact that Poland, along with Germany, are the only teams yet to concede a goal at Euro 2016.