The most exciting game week of Euro 2020 took place this week, with nations battling it out to try and get through to the Round of 16.
We have now finished the group stages of Euro 2020, with 16 teams progressing from six groups to the knockout stages. The top two from each group would progress to the next round, with then the four best third-place finished sides also going through. Due to how the first two groups finished up, any third-placed side with four points would progress.
This round of fixtures didn’t disappoint with a total of 35 goals which included a 5-0 victory and thankfully no 0-0’s! There was one red card in this round, which VAR surprisingly didn’t get involved with.
Euro 2020 Matchday 3 Round-Up
Group A
Italy hosted Wales in Rome for the final group game. As long as Wales only lost by less than three goals they would go through, and they did just that. Italy won the game 1-0 which made it three out of three and saw them finish top and Wales second. Switzerland picked up their first win of the group stages, beating Turkey 3-1, with some fantastic goals in the game. This result meant that many people’s dark horses, Turkey, went the whole competition without a point. Switzerland had drawn with Wales earlier on so had gotten four points and would be going through.
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Group B
In Group B, Belgium made it three out of three, when they beat Finland 2-0. Lukaku scored one of the goals, taking his tally to three in the tournament. In the other game, Denmark beat Russia 4-1 which was a huge result after losing their opening two games. The result saw them finish second in their group on goal difference with Finland and Russia both exiting the competition, despite having the amount of points as Denmark.
Group C
Like Belgium and Italy, The Netherlands also won all three of their games. Gini Wijnaldum was the unlikely hero scoring twice in a 3-0 win over North Macedonia. Wijnaldum now has three for the tournament and could be an outsider for Golden Boot. Austria beat Ukraine 1-0 in their final game, with the winner of that game getting second in the group. North Macedonia would go on to finish bottom, being one of only two sides to not get a point at Euro 2020.
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Group D
England managed to finish top of their group, with another 1-0 win, this time over the Czech Republic. The win saw them get a total of seven points from the group, scoring just twice but keeping three clean sheets. At Hampden Park, Scotland needed to beat Croatia to get four points and despite getting it back to 1-1, the quality of Croatia came through as they won the game 3-1. The Czech Republic were one of the four third-placed teams to get four points, meaning three sides progressed from Group D.
Group E
In Group E, Spain has finally shown their class with a 5-0 win over Slovakia. This was despite missing yet another penalty to make it 1-0, but the win was only enough to secure them second in the group. Sweden kept up their impressive form, but it required a 94th-minute winner to keep them top of the group. They were 2-0 up but two goals from Lewandowski brought it level. Only Spain and Slovakia progressed out of Group E, due to Slovakia’s poor goal difference.
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Group F
The group of death nearly became the group of dreams for Hungary. Twice in their game with Germany, they took the lead which would have seen them finish on four points and progress from the group. It ended up 2-2 and as a result, Hungary’s Euro 2020 was over. The other game in Group F, saw France and Portugal go head to head with the winner finishing top. The match finished 2-2 with three penalties being awarded, two of which were scored by Euro all-time record goalscorer Cristiano Ronaldo. At the end of this group stage, Germany, France, and Portugal all progressed.
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