After 13 nights of intense competition, the dust has finally settled in the group stage of the 2024 European Championship. Georgia beat Portugal to perform a miracle of small country. The team entered the knockout stage for the first time in European Cup history, and Türkiye also successfully entered the knockout stage after defeating the Czech Republic; In Group E, the most abstract story continues, with teams with the same points still shaking hands and making peace in the third round, with all four teams accumulating four points and advancing in the cruelest way possible… At this point, all the round of 16 of the European Championship have been announced, and the most exciting moment is about to come!
On the last day of the group stage, the most eye-catching one is undoubtedly Group E. After two rounds of fighting, all four teams had one win and one loss, making the group situation confusing. In other words, the third round is like a game of life and death, where whoever wins will advance, whoever loses will be eliminated. If it is a draw, then speak with goal difference. This situation makes the situation more delicate. Before the survival of the Jedi, the group rankings from top to bottom were Romania, Belgium, Slovakia, and Ukraine.
Due to the second place in the group going to the death zone to play against the favorite France, Belgium theoretically shouldn’t want to put themselves in such a situation, but the European Red Devils really disappointed in the match against Ukraine. Most of the time in the competition, both sides were evenly matched, and Belgium only created one real opportunity. And this team, ranked in the top five in the world, started playing backcourt kicks 80 minutes later, which greatly disappointed the fans who stayed up late.
Although the golden generation has gradually declined, Belgium is still a star studded country, with names such as Lukaku, Duoku, De Bruyne, Trossad, and others being quite prominent in European football. However, such a team with decent paper strength lost their morale in the group stage. They were defeated by Slovakia and lacked the courage to win against Ukraine – even though they knew there was a high probability of playing against France, they still dared not take risks, which was vastly different from when they reached the semi-finals of the World Cup six years ago.
A draw came to an end for Belgium’s group stage, and they were sent to the upper half to play against France because another match also ended in a draw, with Romania scoring more goals. The match between Romania and Slovakia once caused fluctuations in the ranking of Group E. Kuzka assisted Duda to give Slovakia a lead, but Lazvan Marin’s penalty helped pull both sides back to the same starting line, and the qualifying situation took a lap back to the starting point.
A game of 0-0, a game of 1-1, people’s expected life and death struggle did not appear, and everything seemed stable. Group E fully embodies the cruelty of the European Championship, with some people being the top and others finishing at the bottom of the group despite having the same points. Romania, Belgium, and Slovakia teamed up to advance. Who would have thought that Ukraine, who had accumulated 4 points, would be at the bottom of the group – a score that could be placed in any group and steadily advance as third place in the group.
In the subsequent Group F match, Türkiye grasped its own destiny and defeated the Czech Republic in a long time with one more player. Tosson became the hero of the Star Moon Corps. In another game, Kovaratskelia and Mikataze scored successively, helping Georgia beat rotating Portugal 2-0 and miraculously advance to the round of 16. In this way of calculation, Italy really has to be afraid because based on the final points, if it weren’t for Zacani’s absolute draw, the defending champion would have been eliminated.
At this point, all the round of 16 of the European Championship have been announced. Due to Georgia’s “unexpected advance”, the originally likely round of 16 match between England and the Netherlands will not come, and the European powers are evenly distributed in each quarter zone. However, in comparison, the upper half of the region is home to Spain, Germany, Portugal, France, and Belgium, with a stronger sense of death. If there are no unpopular players, the quarterfinals will feature multiple showdowns of Mars colliding with the Earth’s wealthy families.
But the European Championship never lacks stories of underdogs and underdogs. When the favorite champions England and France play drowsy football before the match, and Austria and Georgia create surprises, you know this will be a unique European Championship. The flow of football stars in European football has narrowed the gap between national teams, and even small football countries in the past can have players who can compete against big countries. Industrial football has made the style more unified, but it has also brought about an average of strength and more suspense.
Anyway, the dust has settled in the group stage of the European Cup on this night, and after a two-day hiatus, the horn of the knockout stage will be sounded. Every game is a life and death battle, and the most exciting European Cup is coming!
Attachment: List and dates of the round of 16 European Championship matches (Beijing time)
June 30th 0:00 Switzerland vs Italy
June 30th 3:00 Germany vs Denmark
July 1st 0:00 England vs Slovakia
July 1st 3:00 Spain vs Georgia
July 2nd 0:00 France vs Belgium
July 2nd 3:00 Portugal vs Slovenia
July 3rd 0:00 Romania vs Netherlands
3:00 on July 3 Austria vs Türkiye