The last two matches of the group stage of the European Football Championship, France-Portugal and Germany-Hungary, ended with the same score 2: 2. Thus, the French qualified for the playoffs from the first place, the Germans from the second, and the Portuguese from the third. Moreover, the German national team is now facing a fundamental match. On June 29 in London in the 1/8 finals, she will play with the England national team.
The final hour and a half of the group stage turned out to be the brightest, extremely emotional and completely unpredictable. Suffice it to say that just six minutes before it ended, Germany was outside the playoffs – unlike Hungary, which looked like a hopeless outsider in Group F.
The France-Portugal match was considered one of the central ones in the entire European Championship. The reigning world champion against the reigning European champion – there simply could not be a more status poster. Moreover, this confrontation was of great importance in the tournament. After all, the team that took the first place in group F avoided meeting with one of the European giants in the 1/8 finals.
The density of the game in the first half was quite consistent with the status of the opponents. It was not the most open, but very high quality football, in which a cool attack from both sides was opposed by a cool defense. The first real scoring chance was created by the French. Paul Pogba cut the Portuguese defense with an amazing pass of about 30 meters, Kilian Mbappé struck a mighty blow, but Rui Patricio deflected the threat. However, they didn’t have to wait too long for the first goal. Trying to deflect the canopy from the free kick, the goalkeeper of the French national team Hugo Lloris hit Danilo with his fist on the head. And although the goalkeeper’s fist made contact with the ball a moment before this strike, the Spanish referee Antonio Mateu Laos awarded a penalty kick, converted to Cristiano Ronaldo.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ni4pseuoeEM
France bounced back in 15 minutes. The combination of Pogba and Mbappe, which fell after a collision with Nelson Semedu, worked again. Mateu Laos again pointed to the penalty spot and did not change his decision based on the results of conversations with the Portuguese. Karim Benzema approached the ball and equalized the score. And right after the break, he also brought the French ahead, as he reacted in time to the third magnificent pass of Pogba – perhaps the best player of this match. It was impossible to reflect Benzema’s kick into the far corner: the ball bounced into the goal from the bar.
But that was not all. A quarter of an hour later, the sly Cristiano Ronaldo in the corner of the penalty hit the ball too far out of the hand of defender Jules Kunde, and Mateu Laos was forced to re-punish the French with a 100% penalty. So the score was leveled, and the Portuguese striker scored his 109th goal for the national team, repeating the world record set by the Iranian Ali Daei, who retired in 2007. By the way, Cristiano Ronaldo now holds another record – 21 goals in the final stages of the World and European Championships. The French could win back, as Paul Pogba succeeded in an excellent shot, but Rui Patriciu hit the ball into the crossbar. And in stoppage time, Mateu Laos did not dare to appoint another penalty after the fall of Kingsley Coman.
Meanwhile, in Munich, where Germany and Hungary fought, the main sensation of the entire championship almost took place. In this match, which was serviced by a Russian brigade under the leadership of Sergei Karasev, events developed contrary to all forecasts.
The first half took place in the rain, which turned into a downpour before the break. The Germans had a huge territorial advantage, but the Hungarians opened the score already in the 11th minute. Distinguished by Adam Salai, who used a diagonal pass into the penalty area and headed the ball into the goal of Manuel Neuer. The home team created a lot of dangerous moments, the Hungarians responded with long-range strikes, but before the break the score did not change. And in the middle of the second half, the Hungarian goalkeeper Peter Gulachi made a mistake at the exit, which, as it seemed, would be fatal for his team, and Kai Havertz equalized the score. Imagine the general surprise when, after a couple of minutes, the Germans again found themselves in the role of catch-ups. Starting from the center of the field, their rivals in the very first attack brought András Schaefer into the breakthrough, who successfully shot past Neuer, who ran out to meet.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ni4pseuoeEM
About seven minutes before the end of the game, a chain of German police lined up in front of the Hungarian fans’ sector, just in case. And then the replacement midfielder of the German national team Leon Goretzka caught a comfortable rebound. The ball touched two boots – the Hungarian defender and the goalkeeper – and ended up in goal. And the ending of the game, which the head coach of the German national team Joachim Loew called a match not for the faint of heart, the pragmatic Germans, in order to avoid trouble, reasonably dried up.
Thus, Group F delegated three teams to play-offs. France finished in first place with 5 points, while the second, with 4 points, were the Germans, who overtook the Portuguese by winning in a personal meeting. At the same time, one of the most important pairs of the entire tournament was formed in the 1/8 finals: on June 29, England will play with Germany at Wembley.
Round of 16 matches
June 26… Amsterdam. Wales-Denmark.
London. Italy — Austria.
27th of June… Budapest. Netherlands-Czech Republic.
Seville. Belgium-Portugal.
June 28… Copenhagen. Croatia — Spain.
Bucharest. France-Switzerland.
June 29. London. England — Germany.
Glasgow. Sweden — Ukraine.
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