Euro 2016 Group E Wrapup

Matchday 1

Ireland – oh, sorry – REPUBLIC OF Ireland[1] 1, Sweden 1
Goal: Wes Hoolahan (IRL) 48’, Ciaran Clark (IRL) 71’ (Own goal)

General thoughts:

• Any time there is an international soccer tournament, these two fan bases are among the best.  Their passion…their friendliness…their cleanliness…they’re just fun.
• Both countries had so many fans in attendance that I wondered if the last person to leave Ireland and the last person to leave Sweden made sure to lock up and checked that their respective country’s lights were all off.
• The national anthems were a blast to listen to.  Both of their anthems are fantastic pieces to begin with, but to hear their fans belt them out – on pitch – at the tops of their lungs…yeah.
  • Ireland’s is interesting to hear sung by a crowd because some people sing the Irish Gaelic version and some sing the English version, so if you’re trying to listen to the lyrics it sounds like a jumbled mess.
  • Sweden’s crowd was so large that when their anthem – Du Gamla, Du Fria (Thou Ancient, Thou Free) was sung, it was bell-clear on television.  I loved it.  Ja, jag vill leva, jag vill döööööööööööö i Nooooooooooooooordeeeeeeeeeeeeeen!!!!
• Now to the actual soccer.  Sweden sometimes looks like a solid team, and sometimes it looks like Zlatan och de Tio Dvärgar – Zlatan (Ibrahimović) and the Ten Dwarfs.  Today it was the latter.
• Ireland was certainly the more aggressive of the two.
• Zlatan Ibrahimović tried to play hero-ball, and it didn’t pay off.  Yes, he’s a super-duper-mega star – one of the best forwards of this generation – but teams win soccer games, not individuals.[2]
• The own-goal by Clark was one of the most unfair own-goals I’ve ever seen.  Zlatan’s kick from the left wing was hit so hard that it didn’t matter what Clark did – it was going to deflect off of him and go into the goal.  If Zlatan’s shot were in a basketball game, Clark would have been the backboard.
• This group is certainly the Group of Death for this tournament.  Either team would come in second – or maybe even first, with some luck – in just about any other group in this tournament, but since the other two teams in this group are Belgium and Italy, these teams will probably end up finishing third and fourth, in some order.  Fortunately for these teams, only four third-place teams will fail to make the knockout stage, since this is a 24-team tournament.  They both knew that the winner of this game would probably finish third, making this game extremely important.  And since they tied, well, this should be fun…

June 13, 2016, 11:10 am MST

Italy 2, Belgium 0
Goals: Emanuele Giaccherini (ITA) 32’, Graziano Pellè (ITA) 90+3’

General thoughts:

• Why isn’t there a camera fixed on Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon during the entire Italian anthem?  He sings that song as passionately as I’ve seen anyone sing ANY song.
• Going into this game, it looked like it would be the best game of the first round of the Group Stage.  These are two absolute powerhouses.
• Lots of pundits were saying that Belgium would definitely win this group because they are in the midst of the primes of a Golden Generation of players, and Italy was looking like they were in a rebuilding phase.[3]
• I loved this matchup – especially the goalkeeper matchup.  Italy’s 38-year-old Gianluigi Buffon – considered by some to be the best goalkeeper ever – made his international debut in 1997[4], while Belgium’s 24-year-old Thibault Courtois is on the short list of the best young goaltenders in the entire world.
• The score of this game was just as deceptive as the Germany-Ukraine game.  These two teams were VERY evenly matched.  The second Italian goal was another one that was like an empty-net goal in hockey.  Belgium had thrown almost everyone forward in an attempt to score the game-tying goal, and when Italy cleared the ball, they had an odd-man rush that ended in a fairly easy goal.
• Even though Belgium lost, they still will most likely make a very deep run in this tournament.[5]  They would win some of the other groups.
• After seeing Sweden and Ireland play earlier, it appears to me that both Italy and Belgium will thump both of those teams.

June 13, 2016, 2:10 pm MST

Matchday 2

Italy 1, Sweden 0
Goals: Éder (ITA) 88’

General thoughts:

• Sweden played well.  Their defense was stingy – Italy’s only goal came in the 88th minute, after all – and created many great scoring chances, but they just couldn’t finish the job.  In fact, they failed to register a shot on target.
• Swedish forward Zlatan Ibrahimović tried to do too much.  He’s 6’5” and built like a tank, yet several times he tried to lob passes into the box from distance.  What in the world is he doing out there?  He needed to go set up camp in the Italian box on a consistent basis and trust his teammates to lob the ball to him.  Italy had few guys who could even hope to guard him simply due to his height.[6]
• Italy did just enough to win.  I thought that the game was going to end in a scoreless tie, but Éder had other ideas after Zaza set him up beautifully with a headed pass on a long-throw from veteran defender Giorgio Chiellini.
• Soccer is a cruel game.  Quite often, the team that dominates the game doesn’t win.  That happened today – Sweden outdid Italy in every way except for scoring goals.

June 17, 2016, 8:07 am MST

Belgium 3, Republic of Ireland 0
Goals: Romelu Lukaku (BEL) 48’, Axel Witsel (BEL) 61’, Lukaku 70’

General thoughts:

• I hardly remember anything about this game.  About all that I can remember is that Belgium dominated this game.  When they play up to their potential, they are terrifying.
• However, it is still concerning that they did not score until the 48th minute.
• If Belgium loses to Sweden, they will be out of the tournament.
• Despite getting thumped today, if Ireland beats Italy, they will have a chance of advancing to the Round of 16 as one of the four best third-place sides.
• Sorry that I don’t have more thoughts on this match, but other than the onslaught of goals in the middle of the second half, there really was little about this game that was remarkable.

June 18, 2016, 8:02 am MST

Matchday 3

Belgium 1, Sweden 0
Goals: Radja Nainggolan (BEL) 84’

General thoughts:

• Before the match, it was announced that Swedish forward Zlatan Ibrahimović and Swedish goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson were retiring from international play after the tournament, so this possibly was their last international match.
• Belgium was heavily favored going into this game, which wasn’t surprising at all.
• Sweden did some things right in this game on offense, but, once again, they couldn’t score.
• Belgian goalkeeper Thibault Courtois – one of the best in the world – made a spectacular save in the 4th minute when Marcus Berg unleashed a howitzer toward goal.[7]
• This was Sweden’s 20th game during all Euro tournaments combined.  In those 20 games, they have only led at halftime twice.
• Sweden unfairly had a goal taken off the board in the 63rd minute.
• When Belgian midfielder Radja Nainggolan scored in the 84th minute, Derek Rae – announcing the game for ESPN – said he “put Sweden out of their misery.”  I agree.
• Sweden was really disappointing in this game.  If they are this inept offensively with Ibrahimović, how will they be without him?

June 28, 2016, 11:10 am MST

Republic of Ireland 1, Italy 0
Goals: Robbie Brady (IRL) 85’

General thoughts:

• Going into the game, Italy already had clinched first place in the group, and they knew they were going to play Spain in the Round of 16.  The only team with anything to play for was Ireland.  They had to win to make the Round of 16, period.
• Whoa!  Before the game, even the Ireland fans were singing the Italian anthem.  I can’t blame them.  Italy has one of the most fun anthems in the world.
• Italy rested several starters, including four who were carrying yellow cards.
• In the 39th minute, Irish forward Shane Long got in the face of Italian goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu and started taunting him.  Sirigu pushed him, and the referee cautioned both Long and Sirigu.  Long then acted incredulous that he was cautioned.  I hated this.  Long fully deserved that card, and I refuse to believe that he honestly thought otherwise….
• This was an exciting yet defensive battle.  I thought that maybe it would end as a scoreless draw…and then Irish midfielder Wes Hoolahan[8] looped a beautiful cross into the box that left midfielder Robbie Brady blasted home with his head in the 85th minute.
• Great win for Ireland, even if several key Italian players didn’t play.

June 28, 2016, 2:10 am MST

[1] During international soccer matches, the country of Ireland’s team is always referred to as Republic of Ireland and has been since 1953.

[2] For those who don’t know much about him, he’s 6’5”, runs like a deer, is as strong as an ox, and is built like a tank.  He would probably do well in the NBA or NFL.  (Did you like how many clichés I used there?)

[3] When I heard someone on ESPN predict this before the game, I laughed.  Italy rebuilding?  Their country is so loaded with soccer talent that they never rebuild – they reload.  There are Italian players who never sniff an international match who would be a regular starter for 3/4 of the national teams in the entire world.

[4] As far as I can tell from my research, he is the only player in this tournament who was on an active roster for the 1998 World Cup.

[5] The semifinals are not out of the question for them.

[6] To make a cross-sport analogy – would Shaq have been behind the 3-point line trying to feed Derek Fisher bounce passes in the low post?  Of course not.  The mere thought of this is enough to make me shake my head.

[7] That was Sweden’s first shot on target.  No, not in the game – IN THE ENTIRE TOURNAMENT.

[8] Hoolahan had just had a promising shot saved by Siragu, by the way.