Sadly, the European Championships are not just about football any longer, if they ever are. Because of events off the field at Euro 2016, Russia and England are both labouring under the threat of expulsion from the tournament, “supporters” of both sides having behaved horrendously over recent days.
Expulsion Threat detracts from on-field action
The Russians are in particular trouble for the appalling behaviour of their fans in the stadium itself in the aftermath of the game against England as they chased across the stands to attack supporters in a mixed zone, a chilling echo of the way in which hooligans used to charge opposition fans 20 or 30 years ago. The Russian hooligans were clearly well prepared and looking for a fight and there was no question about what they were there to do.
For Russia there is also a wider questioned to be answered here than just their participation in the next few weeks of this competition. While UEFA might take action, FIFA must surely be thinking of taking a stand too over the next World Cup.
Are they really the right country to host it given the nature of this support, never mind their domestic political stance on all kinds of issues such as racism and gay rights? Further misbehaviour from their fans over the next seven days – and they are in close proximity to the England fans again this week – and not just their place in the Euros but their hosting of the World Cup must be in jeopardy.
England are in similar trouble, for all that this is a different kind of England support to the past. In the rampaging days of the 1980s, their hooligan element was every bit as well organised and spoiling for a fight as the current Russian lot are.
There is far less of that now, but that has been replaced by an obnoxious laddishness, oafishness if you prefer, featuring fans who are only too quick to get too tanked up with booze, rip their shirts off, swear, sing offensive songs, leer at the local women and generally irritate people with their boorishness. They may not always actively seek trouble, but there is a large element there which attracts it and is then happy to join in.
Of course, in both cases it is important to stress that we are talking about minorities rather than the vast bulk of the support, but sadly, those minorities are in danger of becoming too much for football to tolerate.
At a tournament where we hoped to see Europe come together and to face down the threat of terrorism which has so disfigured it of late, and particularly France last November, such belligerence is not only unacceptable, it’s obscene.
Austria 0 Hungary 2 (Group F)
Why have Austria been so well fancied by so many to do so well in this tournament? In a fairly dreadful game, Austria were comfortably the poorer side, not helped by going down to ten men. Dragovic was not only sent off but, in doing so, denied his side an equaliser with a pointless foul in the build up to their “goal”.
Austria reached their peak 28 seconds in when Alaba hit the post but, from there, they were comfortably stifled by the Hungarians who gradually grew in confidence and attacking intent, Szalai completing a neat move in the 62nd minute. The three points were secured late on by Steiber with a crisp lobbed finish on the counterattack.
In its way, it was a game not dissimilar to the Italy – Belgium fixture of the night before where a focused, disciplined, intelligent team beat a collection of more gifted individuals who simply failed to operate as a unit and paid the price for that failing,
Portugal 1 Iceland 1 (Group F)
It would be a little harsh to level the same critique at the Portugal – Iceland game for at times, especially in the first half, Portugal offered a real threat without managing to turn that threat into the goals they needed to put the game to bed. Even so, once Nani had given them that first half lead, they should have gone on to win convincingly, but they opened the second half by conceding a dreadfully defended equaliser to Bjarnason and could not find a way through thereafter, becoming increasingly ponderous as the game wore on.
In the end, as always, and as he wants, everything became focused on Ronaldo and this time, he could not deliver against an Icelandic side that worked themselves into the ground and ultimately deserved their point from a far better second half display where they might have even snatched a win.
Russia 1 Slovakia 2 (Group B)
On the day France advanced to the round of 16, there is a three way battle going on to see just who can get Russia out of Euro 2016 quickest – their fans, UEFA or their players. England swept them to one side for great swathes of the first game. Today, Slovakia far too good for the Russians, constructing a two goal lead, inspired by some terrific play from Hamsik.
It was Hamsik’s clever pass that set Weiss away to open the scoring after 32 minutes, but he didn’t need anybody else just before the break when he stepped inside to smash in a shot across the face of goal and into the top corner that was every bit as good as the one scored by Payet against Romania.
Slovakia looked comfortable through much of the second period until Russia found a goal with ten minutes to go. The nerves appeared and it was a real struggle. They desperately needed a win after losing to Wales. In the finish, scoring that second goal when they were so convincingly on top proved crucial. England need to take note of that ahead of the game with Wales tomorrow. That’s one game they simply can’t afford to lose.
Romania 1 Switzerland 1 (Group A)
Romania were in that position against Switzerland after losing the opener to the French. They were sprightly enough in the first half and got off to the perfect start. Stancu knocked in his second penalty of the competition just 18 minutes in.
The game had a pleasing ebb and flow to it as the Swiss looked to get back into things. A resolute Romania held them off until we saw another fine finish, this time from Mehmedi. He drove in a bouncing ball from 12 yards to level just before the hour.
Both sides went looking for the win, though the Swiss were more convincing about it. Romania were wilting like a boxer on the ropes in the latter stages. They were totally out of gas, hanging on grimly, yet still capable of slinging the odd punch from memory. Subsequently, the draw was fair reward for both, enough to all but book the Swiss passage. Romania are surely going to have to beat Albania to get through.
France 2 Albania 0 (Group A)
Sometimes we wonder if home advantage is all that it’s cracked up to be, but thus far, the French have underlined the fact that in the right circumstances, it can be priceless, for that was surely the ultimate difference between them and an Albanian side which, if a little limited in quality, was limitless in heart throughout until in the last seconds, they cracked as the French crowd, inside and outside the stadium, willed the ball into their net.
France had changed to a 4-2-3-1 system at the start. In a misfiring first half, it rendered them largely impotent. In such cases, so I’m told, you reach for the little blue tablet. At the break, Deschamps went for the blue clad Pogba and the invigorating effects were immediate. France become both more energetic and, if you’ll pardon the phrase, penetrative.
Even then, it took them to the final seconds before the orgasmic moment – I’m going to labour this analogy to death, don’t worry – arrived, Griezmann, also back on the field after being benched at the start, producing a cute little header to find the far corner and put his side in front, just as Payet had done in the previous fixture.
The West Ham man wasn’t to be denied either though and with Albania on the attack in injury time, Pogba found an extraordinary 80 yard crossfield ball to turn defence into attack in a second, Payet able to drift in from the left and shape a shot across goal and inside the far post.
So appropriately enough, France have become the first side to qualify for the knock-out stages. In doing so, they have suddenly grown in stature. Whether it was a psychological master stroke from Deschamps or not is up to your personal choice. The Pogba that took to the field after the break was the Pogba that has dominated Serie A for the last six months. He was back to his very best. In that mood, he can go on to dominate the tournament.
England 2 Wales 1 (Group B)
One of the more pleasing aspects of the first week of Euro 2016 has been that, by and large, positive football has tended to come out on top. It was a trend that continued with England’s victory over Wales when bold half-time changes produced a comeback that did not owe a huge amount to finesse but plenty to a willingness to get forward in numbers and simply force something to happen.
England found themselves in another fine mess as they got booed off at the break, trailing the Welsh by a single goal. Bale knocked in his second free-kick of the competition, this one from about 35 yards after receiving even more help from the goalkeeper than he did in scoring against Slovakia. Hart made a complete shambles of his attempted save and can think himself lucky that Butland is missing the Euros through injury.
With Sterling and Kane disappointing again, Vardy and Sturridge were summoned from the bench and, within minutes, their renewed sense of adventure paid dividends with a slice of luck, Williams getting the last touch to therefore play Vardy onside and, from a couple of yards out, he simply couldn’t miss.
To their credit, England carried on going from there and in the end, their momentum found another of the late goals that Euro 2016 is specialising in, Sturridge stabbing past Hennessey at the near post, another moment when a goalkeeper didn’t cover himself in glory.
Wales’ problem, as it was always going to be, is that while they can defend decently enough, even at this exalted level, going the other way is all about Bale. There’s not a lot else that really gets the pulses racing in a red shirt and that is an issue for them but at least they will be grateful that a final game against the woeful Russians still gives them a good chance of achieving automatic qualification.
Germany 0 Poland 0 (Group C)
Whether their qualification hopes were helped by Gemany drawing with Poland is a moot point. Had Germany won that game, they might have rested players for the last match but now, they probably need to win that final fixture to win the group. On the other hand, a point shy of Germany and Poland, the Northern Irish could yet finish top themselves.
It’s not as fanciful as it sounds for in a drab 0-0 with the Poles, Germany were every bit as poor as they were impressive in the first game. It was a strangely lacklustre affair, very much against the grain of the competition so far, neither side really wanting to risk much, a side effect of the small group format, both nations well aware that having won their first game, avoiding defeat in the second would all but guarantee a place in the knock-outs. Effective it may have been, but you wouldn’t want to watch that very often…
Ukraine 0 N Ireland 2 (Group C)
Northern Ireland have also given themselves a chance of making it into the knock-out stages following a fine win over Ukraine, one which was due reward for a much more ambitious display than they put in against Poland in their first fixture. This time they went on the hunt right from the kick-off and put their opponents on the back foot. Ukraine never really looked comfortable in the game, that German defeat seemingly knocking the stuffing out of them.
It took until early in the second half for Northern Ireland to break the deadlock, McAuley taking full advantage of some confused defending to get himself free at the back post and power in a fine header and, from there, though Ukraine improved a little, there never seemed any real danger of them getting back on terms. Not even a temporary halt in proceedings for a violent hailstorm could throw Northern Ireland off their stride and, six minutes into added time, they deservedly made the game safe with McGinn picking up the scraps in the penalty area and drilling into the net.
