Euro 2016 Round of 16 – Day Three

Italy 2, Spain 0
Goals: Giorgio Chiellini (ITA) 33’, Graziano Pellè (ITA) 90+1’

General Thoughts:

• I eagerly anticipated this one. These two countries have played some CLASSIC games in my lifetime.[1]  What grabbed the most attention is that this is a rematch of the Euro 2012 Final, when Spain crushed Italy, 4-0, in Kyiv.[2]
• All of the shirt-tugging in the first 30 minutes got irritating to watch. Italy could have been awarded a penalty in the 30th minute during a corner, but Turkish referee Cüneyt Çakır chose not to penalize it.  Either that, or he didn’t see it.
• What a free kick by Italy in the 33rd minute! Italian forward Éder blasted a shot that Spanish keeper Manuel de Gea dove to parry.  In the resulting chaos, Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini,[3] who was standing at the edge of the Spanish wall, poked in the rebound with his left foot.
• Italy led 1-0 at halftime, and they deserved it big time. If it weren’t for the excellent play of De Gea, Italy would have led by multiple goals.
• HOW IN THE HECK WAS GERARD PIQUE’S PLAY IN THE 58TH MINUTE NOT A FOUL?!??? Not only that, it should have been a booking.[4]
• Just a few minutes later, another Italian player was clobbered by a hard Spanish foul.
• Thankfully, the game calmed down after this, because I don’t think Çakır would have handled any further escalation very well.
• After Spain nearly scored several times in the dying minutes, Italy mounted a furious counterattack that forward Graziano Pellè sent past De Gea to make the score 2-0 in stoppage time.
• Italy dominated. They easily could have won by four or five goals.
• Even though Spain went out rather unceremoniously, they really did have an amazing run over this Euro tournament, as well as the previous two.

June 29, 2016, 12:55 pm MST

Iceland 2, England 1
Goals: Wayne Rooney (ENG) 4’ (PK), Ragnar Sigurðsson (ISL) 6’, Kolbeinn Sigthórsson (ISL) 18’

General Thoughts:

• Iceland’s manager is a Swede named Lars Lagerbäck. While he was the coach of the Swedish national team, he never lost to England.  Worth noting.
• That really was a foolish foul by Icelandic keeper Hannes Thór Halldórsson that resulted in an English penalty. Wayne Rooney coolly sent it home[5] to give England a 1-0 lead in the 4th minute.
• Great play by Iceland on the throw in. It went to defender Kári Árnason at the corner of the box, where he flicked it in to a sprinting Ragnar Sigurðsson, who poked it home with his toe to tie the game in just the 6th minute.[6] [7]
• English goalkeeper Joe Hart made a huge error when he allowed the second goal. He should have stopped forward Kolbeinn Sigthórsson’s shot in the 18th minute with no trouble, but instead, it squirted under his arm and trickled into the goal.  It wasn’t the worst howler by an English keeper in a major tournament, but it is in the top three.[8]
• After the second Icelandic goal, it appeared that too many English players panicked and tried to tie the game – no matter what position they played. After that, there were times that England was too cautious in attack and ended up allowing the Icelandic defense to get set up.
• Hart made a spectacular save in the 56th minute and again in the 83rd minute to keep England within one goal. I’d say that he shook off the earlier mistake very well, but what do you think the English sports press are going to focus on in the coming days?
• ESPN misspelled “Ecuador”[9] in a graphic that they showed during the 58th minute.
• England’s offense played horribly. Their cross attempts were pathetic.  Some of their tactical decisions on offense looked like they were designed by someone who had never seen a soccer match before.  Plus, there were times that I wondered if they realized that they didn’t get extra points for scoring a goal from outside the penalty area.
• England’s play was so bad that Ian Darke and Steve McManaman were beside themselves for just about the entire game.
• Halldórsson made some really nice saves to preserve the lead for Iceland, but England rarely tested him. However, give him credit.  He did the job well when he had to.
• England just doesn’t have a good finisher. They desperately need to find one, because Alan Shearer and Michael Owen are too old.
• Yes, England’s play was lousy, but give Iceland credit. They made England play with desperation for almost the entire game, exposing all kinds of problems with the English squad.
• Do not call Iceland a Cinderella. This is a very good squad who beat the Netherlands TWICE in qualifying to get here.  The French are going to have their hands full in the Quarterfinals.
• The last time England won a knockout game at any major tournament was a Round of 16 match against Ecuador in the 2006 World Cup, where David Beckham scored on a beautiful free kick in the 60th minute to give England a 1-0 win.
• English manager Roy Hodgson resigned in disgrace after the game ended. I feel sorry for England’s next manager, as he will inherit a gigantic mess.

June 30, 2016, 1:30 am MST

[1] The list: 1980 Euro Group Stage, 1988 Euro 1994 World Cup Quarterfinals, 2008 Euro Quarterfinals, 2012 Euro Group Stage, 2012 Euro Final, 2013 Confederations Cup semifinals,

[2] The 2012 Final was the most lopsided score of any European Final.

[3] You may remember Chiellini as the victim of Luis Suarez’s bite during the 2014 World Cup.

[4] Çakır is one of those officials who keeps making controversial calls in the Champions League and in major tournaments.

[5] Only because it wasn’t during a shootout.

[6] I wonder if ESPN had to mute Steve McManaman’s microphone after this play.

[7] This was only the second time in Euro history that both teams scored within the first 10 minutes of the game.  The other was the 1964 Final, when Spain defeated the USSR, 2-1.

[8] That award goes to Robert Green on Clint Dempsey’s goal in the group stage of the 2010 World Cup against the USA.  Hart’s is either the second- or third-worst, along with David Seaman failing to jump on Ronaldinho’s looping free kick from around 3/4 of a mile away in the Quarterfinals of the 2002 World Cup against Brazil, the eventual champs.  Comment on this post to give me your vote as to which one was worse – this one or the 2002 one.

[9] They spelled it “Equador.”  Amateurs.