Euro 2020: Day 5
The final day of the opening round of fixtures began in Budapest with Hungary v Portugal, where we were treated to the welcome sight of an entirely full stadium, as the Hungarians filled the 67,000 capacity Puskás Arena in Budapest to cheer on their team against the current reigning champions. It was always going to be a big ask to get anything from the game, or indeed the group, for Hungary, a task that was made even harder with the absence of Dominik Szoboszlai, without doubt their most talented player. Portugal, who lifted the trophy 5 years ago, had their own ambitions to get off to a flyer to enable them the best opportunity to get out of a group also containing Germany and France, while superstar Cristiano Ronaldo also had his own ambitions of becoming the top goalscorer ever in the European Championships.
Unsurprisingly, Portugal began brightly, Diogo Jota testing the keeper when perhaps a pass to team-mate Ronaldo may have been better advised, Péter Gulácsi pushing the effort away. Gulácsi also made another smart stop as Ronaldo looked to fire home on the volley, although it wouldn’t have counted as the Juventus striker was offside. Hungary looked to counter when they could, leading to the Portuguese defence looking shaky at times, the normally dependable Rúben Dias of Manchester City picking up a booking in one such tussle. The defending champions should have gone in at the break with the lead, however, Ronaldo firing over from close range as the ball fell to him unmarked in the middle, a rare miss from the usually reliable superstar.
After the break, the game continued in much the same vein, Portugal looking the more likely, Hungary reduced to long range efforts and counter attacks. The full capacity crowd did enjoy a brief moment of joy, however, when Szabolcs Schon fired home at the near post, the substitute finishing from a tight angle, but the celebration was short lived when the linesman put up his flag, VAR confirming it was the correct decision. The deadlock was eventually broken 6 minutes from time, large spells of Portuguese pressure eventually paying off, although there was some fortune to the goal as Willi Orban could do nothing to get out of the way of an effort from Raphaël Guerreiro, the cruel deflection taking the ball beyond Gulácsi, although Guerreiro was credited with the goal.
The crowd deflated, this seemed to break the Hungarian spirit, and minutes later Ronaldo was gifted with a chance to break the record when the unfortunate Orban was again at fault, this time bringing down lively winger Rafa Silva who had made an immediate impact for Portugal since coming off the bench. Ronaldo didn’t disappoint, a superbly executed penalty taking him to 10 tournament goals, surpassing the record set by Michel Platini, the man whose decision to take the 2020 edition of the tournament around Europe had given Hungary the chance to host this encounter in the first place.
The result was put to bed, a cruel and perhaps unfair reflection of the true game, when Portugal then added a third, although there was no doubting there was a difference in class around this goal. Some fine interplay and quick one-twos left Ronaldo with just Gulácsi to beat, the 36 year old striker rounding the RB Leipzig keeper to grab his second of the game, with the next goalscoring record already in his sights, that of Iranian striker Ali Daei who scored 109 international goals in 148 games.
The second game, the curtain closer on the first round of fixtures, was without doubt the most anticipated clash of the round and perhaps all the group stages, as World Champions France took on former champions Germany in Munich. Widely tipped to add the European Championship to their World Cup win of 3 years ago, the only real question mark was whether facing Germany in their own back yard would provide the former World and European Champions with a lift after a difficult few years, coming into this tournament with the news that Joachim Low will step down after the Euro’s.
Perhaps the biggest surprise was the decision by Low to play Joshua Kimmich, arguably one of the best defensive midfielders in the world, at wing back. This seemed to play right into the hands of France, with a midfield combination of Pogba, Rabiot and the ever impressive N’Golo Kanté allowed almost free reign to dictate play from the middle of the park. Low also took the decision to recall Thomas Müller and Mats Hummels to the Germany squad, and it was the latter who was to gift France the lead after he could only divert a cross from Lucas Hernandez into his own goal, Neuer left stranded as the Hummels struggled to adjust his feet with Mbappé waiting to pounce.
It was the third own goal of the tournament, the joint highest number of any tournament to date, a record which is now sure to be broken, and gave France the lead many will feel they deserved, although to the casual observer at least they seemed to be playing well within themselves, while Germany seemed to go about their task with an efficiency but lack of creativity that never really troubled the visitors. The end of the first half saw Rudiger appear to try and bite Pogba, although little seemed to be made of the incident at the time, and to be fair replays still seem inconclusive.
After the break, Germany came out looking more lively and had a few chances themselves as they looked to lift the home crowd and find a way back into the game. Müller, İlkay Gündoğan and Gnabry all had chances for the Germans, but France once again looked capable of shifting through the gears at will should it be needed. The French thought they had a second after a superb piece of individual skill from 22 year old Kylian Mbappé, the PSG striker taking on several players before cutting inside and producing a wonderful curled finish. Replays show that the decision was correct, albeit no real advantage was gained from the offside in the build-up as Mbappé still had it all to do. The flag then denied them once more as Mbappe this time turned provider for the recalled Karim Benzema, who made no mistake in firing home, only to see a triumphant return over-ruled with another correct offside call. Despite needing an own-goal to claim the victory, there was little to suggest France won’t go all the way in this tournament, while Germany will need to be more clinical and creative when they face Portugal and Hungary if they hope to progress from the group stages.
Over in Brazil, the final fixture of the opening round of the Copa America was also taking place in the early hours, and Paraguay came back from a goal down thanks to a double from Ángel Romero, who plays his club football in Argentina, sealing a 3-1 victory over Bolivia in the Estádio Olímpico Pedro Ludovico in Goiânia.
Today sees the second round of fixtures taking place, with Finland, boosted by their opening round win, kicking things off with a game in Saint Petersburg against Russia, a clash which brings together 2 countries with a rich history. Baku then places host as Turkey, who were disappointing in their opening day defeat against Italy, take on Wales, the Azerbaijan atmosphere highly likely to make it feel like a home game as Şenol Güneş looks for his first 3 points. The final game of the day sees the impressive Italians once again in action, as they host Switzerland in Rome.
With everyone having games under their belt now, there is a clearer picture of what teams now need to do to progress into the knockout stages, with just 8 teams being cut after the group stages thanks to the 4 best third-place qualifiers also progressing. Prediction wise, I’m favoring Russia to benefit from home advantage to get the win, Italy to continue their impressive start in Rome with another victory, and I’m also edging towards Turkey to pick up their first points although from a betting perspective I’ll just be on over 1.5 goals in that one.
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