A fortnight, 36 games and 3,240 minutes until Euro 2020, and we have seen nothing short of breathtaking and entertaining football from all the countries involved. Twenty-four teams have played 51 games in 12 cities in the tournament since last Friday. We saw stunning goals in the middle of the pitch – a cross from Patrick Schick, a lovely side-foot flick from Luka Modric and a lovely flick from outside the penalty area from Andriy Yarmolenko.
Both teams are confident they can reach the final at Wembley Stadium on July 11. The favourites are alive and well, joined by Wales and the Czech Republic, who have exceeded expectations in their respective groups. Finland qualified second in Group B.
The round of last 16 began on Saturday, June 26, when the teams began to secure their places in the quarter-finals. Twenty-four teams competed in the tournament from 11 June with Belgium, Italy, England, Germany and Spain atop the tournament list. In the round of last 16, 24 teams played in six groups of six to advance to the knockout stage.
The round was played in Amsterdam, London, Budapest, Seville, Copenhagen, Bucharest and Glasgow. Winners and runners-up of each group as well as the four best placed teams advanced to the knockout round. St. Petersburg hosted the first quarter-final, while Munich and Baku hosted the second and third quarter-finals.
UEFA Euro 2020 reached the last eight at the start of its knockout stages on Saturday 26 June [6] and 26 June 2021. Eight matches were played between Saturday 26 June and Tuesday 29 June, one of which was an unmissable affair between England, Germany, France and Switzerland. As with every tournament since Euro 1984, there is a play-off for third place.
All matches will be broadcast live on ESPN and ABC as well as fuboTV, ESPN + and other live TV streaming services. The eight UEFA Euro 2020 quarter-finals from 26-29 June (Sat.-TUE) on ABC and ESPN had an average of 1,816,000 viewers watched, a 38 percent increase from 1,317,000 viewers in 2016 for the same game. Of the 44 UEFA EURO 2020 matches from the group stage to the 16th round, an average of 1,063,000 viewers tuned into ABC, ESPN and ESPN2, an increase of 29 percent over the 8,224,400 viewers for the 2016 match.
UEFA Euro 2020 distributed 331 million euros to the participating national teams. This is less than 40 million euros ($48.5 million), which was the lowest budget for the tournament before the outbreak of the pandemic, but still the highest amount for a UEFA European Championship. Italy were one of the first teams in the tournament to qualify for the round of 16.
The Azzurri lead the group by three points and need just one win against Switzerland on Wednesday to secure a place in Europe’s top 16. Spain are assured of their place in the next round of Euro 2020 when they face Slovakia in Seville. 0 victory over Slovakia, Spain, the team with the most European Championship titles, advanced to second in Group E. Poland has a good chance against Slovakia and Sweden, the other two group runners-up.
Germany finished second in Group F with a record of 1-1-1 behind France, who scored six goals in three games. Leon Goretzka scored in the 84th minute after Timo Werner’s shot was blocked after a run by defender Jamal Musiala. Cristiano Ronaldo scored the goal of the day as Portugal qualified for the quarter-finals with a 2-2 draw against France.
The Swiss were reduced to 10 men after the red card for Remo Freuler, but held firm and forced extra-time and penalties. The Germans were held to a 2-2 draw by Hungary on Wednesday to finish second in their group.
I predicted that Denmark and Italy would advance on the first day of the second round, here are my predictions. Not much was to be expected from the Oranje team, which failed to impress in the games before the tournament and in qualification.
But the Oranje team turned those views on their head and stormed through Group C. Even more surprising was how the Swedes topped a group that included Poland, Slovakia and Spain.
Wales face Denmark in a game that will give us 90 minutes of breathtaking, all-out football. Euro 2020 is a competition the Dons have already entered in the knock-out stages and this time they will reach the final at Wembley Stadium.
The semi-finals of Euro 2020 mark the start of the knockout stage, which will see many of the biggest names eliminated from the tournament. The schedule and kick-off times for each game in the round of last 16 are below.
In the knockout stage, when a game is tied after 90 minutes, there is no extra time (two periods of 15 minutes each) and neither side is allowed to make a sixth substitute. In the knock-out phase, when the game is evened at the end of the regular time, extra time will be played in two periods of fifteen minutes and neither team will be permitted to make a sixth substitution.
If it remains a draw after the extra period (two periods of 15 minutes each) the match will be decided by penalty shootout. The top two teams from each of the six groups plus the four best placed teams advance to the knock-out stage of Euro 2020. Jules picked Gab as their best striker of the group stage.
Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates as Portugal striker Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates his second goal during the group game between Portugal and France on Wednesday, June 23rd, 2021 at the Puskas Arena in Budapest. The line-up for the round of 16 of the European Championship is complete with outstanding games. England face Germany at Wembley Stadium in London on Tuesday, while defending champions Portugal face leaders Belgium in Seville on Sunday.
Wales 0 – 4 Denmark
Italy 2 – 1 Austria
Netherlands 0 – 2 Czechia
Belgium 1 – 0 Portugal
Croatia 3 – 5 Spain
France 3 – 3 Switzerland
England 2 – 0 Germany 
Sweden 1 – 2 Ukraine
