3-0
Headlines
BELGIUM
·
The Player – Romelu Lukaku
With no goals in 11 competitive
games for club and country, Lukaku's place in the Belgium starting XI had come
under scrutiny, especially after a lacklustre display against Italy. In the
first half against the Republic, he struggled to make an impact once again. The
Everton striker did not have a single shot on goal in the opening 45 minutes,
nor did he complete any successful dribbles or create a chance. Coach Marc
Wilmots resisted the temptation to replace him at half-time with Divock Origi,
and it was a decision that paid off. Moments after the second half started,
Belgium hit their opponents on the break as De Bruyne fed Lukaku on the edge of
the area and he placed the ball beautifully into the corner of the goal. He
then showed good composure to pass the ball into the net following excellent
work by Hazard for his second and Belgium's third.
If Belgium are to go far in this tournament, they will need Lukaku to
perform like he did in the second half of this game on a consistent basis.
·
The Moment – The breakthrough
It was a very important goal, in the
perfect time but the man that most needed to score. Belgium was controlling
possession, and limiting Ireland to quick and mostly ineffective counters, but
the chances weren’t happening with the flow Wilmots would want.
Origi was warming up in a move that
pressured Lukaku, as the Everton man was surely to be replaced, and in a quick
counter, him and De Bruyne fabricated the goal that made everything easier for
Belgium.
·
The Team
Belgium coach Marc
Wilmots: "Unity is very important. We win and lose together.
"With Romelu Lukaku, we wanted to give him some confidence. I think
he scored four goals in four matches but when he missed against Italy everyone
was saying it's all different. I just needed to explain things to him and make
sure he knew I trusted him. He did what I expected today."
REP.IRELAND
·
The Player – Shane Long
He was left
alone for the most of the game, with Ireland’s inability to create some flow of
game like they had against Sweden. With that the strategy was playing long to Long, but that strategy needs
someone like Walters, that holds the ball as well as any superstar. Without him
it was just a tactic easily resolved by the Belgium defense.
·
The Moment- Penalty shout!
It was a very poor game for the Irish, especially in the danger chances
creation department. There was, though, a good chance for Ireland to open up
the score, when Shane Long was involved in a scuffle in the Begium penalty
area, but the ref saw nothing, and four minutes after Lukaku opened up the
score and destroyed Ireland’s hearts
·
The Team
Republic of Ireland boss Martin O'Neill: "You have to analyse the
performance and assess where mistakes are made. The first goal was vitally
important and that came from our attack - they broke and got the goal. Then as
we started to chase the game we got caught a few times, Belgium are a good side
and put the game beyond us.
"We're bit disappointed with our
performance considering how well we played against Sweden. We have to win this
game against Italy and we feel that, once we've freshened ourselves up again,
we'll be ready to go."
- FIL’S FINAL THOUGHTS
Belgium boast a
wealth of individual talent and had topped the Fifa rankings within the last
year, making them one of the favourites to go far in France. However, they
looked nothing like a team capable of winning the tournament against Italy,
against whom they lost 2-0 on Monday. The Belgians lacked fluidity and a sense
of unity. As goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois put it: Tactically, technically and
organisationally, they came up short. It was a different story against the
Republic. They dominated possession throughout, with Eden Hazard and Kevin de
Bruyne proving much more effective at stretching their opponent's defence than
they were against the Italians. Both finished with an assist each. The win means
they are in a strong position to finish second in the group and, while they
will face opponents much more attack-minded than the Republic, the victory will
undoubtedly boost a side that had appeared lacking in confidence at the start
of the tournament.
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1-1
Headlines
ICELAND
·
The Player – Gylfi Sigurdsson
The most recognized Iceland player was again essential for his national
team to continue to live a dream history. Sigurdsson was his usual, coming back
and forth in his style of long ball to try and jump over the construction
stage. Never forgetting to defend, he had the penalty to convert and did it
cool as a cucumber.
·
The Moment – The penalty
A mistake by Király, Gunnarson was
fouled in the area – though he went down fairly easily – and Sigurdsson had a
chance to put Iceland, for the first time, ahead of an Euro match. The Swansea
man did not waste the chance, and Iceland would lose out on the win in the
dying minutes of the match.
·
The Team
Iceland will be a
team that will give you the control of the ball, but be ready for them, because
they do that so they can charge with their Viking build and will. Some people
expected them to come a bit more forward that what they did against Portugal,
but it’s not their way. And it almost worked in what they wanted, again.
HUNGARY
·
The Player – Gabor Király
Gabor Király is one of the leaders of this
Hungary team and when he is on form, Hungary knows how difficult it will be for
the opponents to beat them. But in the first half against Iceland it seemed
that Király was a teenager, looked way to nervous, and basically it was him
that created the penalty. In the end, they got the draw, but Király needs to
improve, as next game is decisive and against an angry Ronaldo
·
The Moment- The deserved goal
Hungary was
the better team in the pitch, in the way that it was them that dominated
possession. After the surprising win against Austria, the defeat that was about
to come was a big disappointment. But then, a reward! With the overload finally
working, Nikolic tried to find a colleague, only found a defender, but he did
the job anyway. 1-1 and Hungary still top!
·
The Team
It was an unknown side
of Hungary for us, anyway. They were the dominating team, had more possession,
but they were very nervous in the first half, maybe because they did not expect
that Iceland would have the same strategy they had against Portugal. But that’s
Lagerback for you, and Hungary had to take a different approach. After getting
behind, the Magyars had to react, and so they did, with the draw coming in the
latter stages of the game. Deserved
- FIL’S FINAL THOUGHTS
Birkir Saevarsson's
late own goal denied Iceland a famous victory as Hungary edged towards the last
16 of the European Championship with a draw. Gyfli Sigurdsson gave Iceland the
lead in the first half when he converted a penalty after a foul. Hungary
dominated possession from then on but found themselves repeatedly frustrated by
the Iceland defence. However, Saevarsson turned Nemanja Nikolic's cross into
his own net to hand Hungary a point. The result means the Hungarians are top of
Group F with four points and can clinch first place with victory against
Portugal in their final group game on Wednesday. The point for Iceland means
they are second in the group and remain in the hunt for a place in the last 16,
but it will feel like a defeat after they frustrated Hungary for so long.
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0-0
Headlines
PORTUGAL
·
The Player – William Carvalho
It’s certain that Austria did not try to attack that much, but every
time they did try, Portugal had a weapon that was missed against Iceland, the
quality of William Carvalho. He impressed BBC commentators, as he always does
when they see him, with not only his defensive skills but, especially, when he
gets the ball he automatically turns to the goal and tries to find the best
option. A great game from Sporting’s player, that surely guaranteed his place
for the rest of the competition.
·
The Moment – The penalty
After trying again, and again, Ronaldo was
pushed in the penalty box, just as he was about to score. But he had the
penalty to mark his 128th cap – Portugal record – with a goal and a
win that would, almost, guarantee qualification. Ronaldo did a great job in
waiting for Almer to fall down, but still tried to place the ball and ended up
missing. And his face after said it all.
·
The Team
Portugal boss
Fernando Santos: "Fair or unfair is a moot point, the only difference in
the two matches we've played is that against Iceland we scored one and conceded
one, here we didn't score but we didn't concede either.
"We had plenty of chances, but we didn't score. Now we have to
think about the next match.
"Iceland wasn't great, if we had won it that would have been a
major step forward. Today we had another very positive match but what we need
now is to play the next one and to win it; that will make the team grow.
"Hungary will be happy to draw against us, they are primed to go
through. They will be highly motivated but we will have to break that wall
down."
AUSTRIA
·
The Player – Robert Almer
What a game for
the Austria keeper! He was everywhere, and when he was beaten there was
something else the Portuguese players did wrong – hit the post, offside
position. After a poor display against Hungary, where he did not transmit any
confidence to his team, Almer was huge in goal, and only was to fault for his
foot game, that created some quick transitions to Portugal.
·
The Moment- Go rest Alaba!
In a game where Austria tried to defend the draw, in a game where there
was no Junuzovic, in a game that William Carvalho was a giant, Alaba was
destined to have a game in suffering. It was just that, with Bayern’s
all-around being confined to run after the ball. After 70 minutes Koller sent
the definite sign of “Let’s defend, boys” when he took out Alaba off the game,
cutting the creative link for good.
·
The Team
Austria coach Marcel Koller: "It was important not to lose this
game. Portugal had more chances but we have won a point with a good defensive
effort.
"Normally that's not our type of game but you have to be flexible
in a tournament and adapt to the teams you are playing.
"We are still in the race. We're in very different place mentally
now compared to the last game; now the players are happy and that makes it
easier for us. We have a final in the last game, and I hope we can win
it."
- FIL’S FINAL THOUGHTS
Cristiano Ronaldo
missed a second-half penalty on the night he became his country's record
appearance holder as a hugely frustrating match for Portugal and their captain
in Paris ended goalless to leave Group F wide open. Ronaldo struck the base of
the post with his spot kick after Austria defender Martin Hinteregger had
wrestled him to the ground and later headed home only to be denied by the
offside flag. But huge credit for Austria's point must go to keeper Robert
Almer, who made a string of sensational saves. He stopped a crisp low strike
and a header from Ronaldo as well as blocking from Nani, who struck the post
with a first-half header as Portugal looked to pick up their first win of the
competition. Portugal dominated large swathes of the first competitive meeting
between the sides since 1995 but were almost caught out several times, in
particular when Stefan Ilsanker forced a good save with a crisp low strike
shortly after the restart. The result means that Hungary top Group F with four
points, Portugal and Iceland both have two and Austria one - a situation which
leaves all four in with a shout of reaching the last 16.
1st Hungary (>FIL’s Prediction)
2nd Iceland (>FIL’s prediction)
3rd Portugal (<FIL’s Prediction)
4th Austria (<FIL’s Prediction)
