After Match Day 8, the UEFA Euro 2020 tournament shows the following results.
Friday 18 June
Group E: Sweden 1-0 Slovakia (St Petersburg)
Group D: Croatia 1-1 Czech Republic (Glasgow)
Group D: England 0-0 Scotland (London)
Perennial underachievers, England, showed yet the unpredictability that has always characterized their participation in major tournaments. In a match that pundits did not give Scotland any chance, they showed an uncoordinated character which ridicules the status of the Premier League as one of the topmost leagues in Europe. With an array of individual stars without team work, England needs a creative midfielder who can be able to open up spaces within the area. They also need a central midfielder to ward of offensive onslaughts from marauding strikers. It is this lack of solid midfielders that made Billy Gilmour to single-handedly neutralize the English midfield and totally blunt their attack. Little wonder he won the ‘Heineken Star of the Match’ award.
Permutations for Group D
Czech Republic will go through as group winners if they avoid defeat against England. They will finish second if they lose and Scotland beat Croatia. They will only finish third if they lose and Croatia win by enough goals to overtake them on overall goal difference.
England will go through if they draw or if Scotland does not win, and will finish top if they beat Czech Republic. They will only finish third if they lose and Scotland win by enough goals to overtake them on overall goal difference.
Croatia must win to stay in contention to be at least a best third-placed team, though can still overtake Czech Republic for second place on overall goal difference.
Scotland must win to finish at least third, and can still overtake England for second place on overall goal difference.
In Group E, Sweden did a great deed of good to their hopes of progressing after the group stage by beating Slovakia 1-0 courtesy of a 77th minute penalty by Emil Forsberg. They now sit at the top of the table with 4 points while Slovakia are second with 3 points having played two matches each. Spain and Poland occupy the third and fourth positions respectively having played one game less. Both teams will meet tomorrow and if they avoid a draw, the table standing is wont to change.
As it stands now in Group E, Sweden will go through if they avoid defeat against Poland regardless of other results. Slovakia will go through on Wednesday if they beat Spain regardless of other results.
The Statistics
At the end of match day 7, the following major statistics are available:
- 21 matches have been played out of 51 matches
- 45 goals have been scored in all with an average of 2.15 goals per match and an average scoring time of 42 minutes per goal.
Saturday 19 June
Group F: Hungary vs France (15:00, Budapest)
Group F: Portugal vs Germany (18:00, Munich)
Group E: Spain vs Poland (21:00, Seville)
Stay tuned here to get updates on the results, next match day fixtures and, flashpoints of the tournament as it progresses.
Azuka Edokobi is a Writer and Entrepreneur
