After Match Day 9, the UEFA Euro 2020 tournament shows the following results.
Saturday 19 June
Group F: Hungary 1-1 France (Budapest)
Group F: Portugal 2-4 Germany (Munich)
Group E: Spain 1-1 Poland (Seville)
The second set of group matches ended with the last match day shrouded in uncertainties as Portugal lost scandalously to Germany 2-4. Cristiano Ronaldo opened scoring in the 15th minute to add to his tournament’s goals’ haul but that was not enough to halt the onslaught of the ‘German machines’. The Germans ran riot forcing the Portuguese to concede to own goals in the 35th and 39th minutes. Chelsea Champions League winner, Kai Havertz, added a third in the 51st minute while Robin Gosens completed the frustration of the Seleção in the 60th minute. Diego Jota pulled one back for the Portuguese but the deed was already done by the Germans.
Hungary continued their fine display of frustrating the big teams as they ‘scared’ France to a 1-1 draw. Attila Fiola scored in the second minute of added time before the break. Antoine Griezmann equalized for the Les Bleus who pundits already awarded a placed in the knockout stages in their match preview. Fiola’s goal ended the Les Bleus’ 527-minutes clean sheet run. With the results from Germany and Portugal, Group F is very open for any team to qualify from.
Spain once again drew with Poland to put some question marks around the effectiveness of the team. It also calls to question the tactical and technical abilities of Luis Enrique as a coach. Much press-maligned Alvaro Morata opened scoring in the 24th minute while Robert Lewandowski pulled it back for Poland on the 54th minute. Group E is also an open group where any of the teams could qualify depending on different mathematical permutations.
The Statistics
At the end of the first set of group matches, the following statistics are available:
- 24 matches have been played out of 51 matches
- 55 goals have been scored in all with an average of 2.30 goals per match and an average scoring time of 39 minutes per goal.
- Italy has scored the highest number of goals with 6 goals
- Spain maintains the highest possession per game with 72%
- Germany has taken over the highest passing accuracy with Belgium at 90%
- Denmark has taken over the highest total attempts at 45
- Hungary maintains the highest tackles at 40
- Czech Republic has taken over the highest ball recovery at 100
- North Macedonia has taken over the highest saves with Turkey at 11
- Italy maintains a 100% clean sheet at 2
Sunday 20 June
Group A: Italy vs Wales (18:00, Rome)
Group A: Switzerland vs Turkey (18:00, Baku)
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 , a Farmer, a Supply Chain Expert and an Entrepreneur
