UEFA Euro 2024: Matchday 2 review as the Euro 2024 progresses towards final group stage matchday

New Delhi: After the matchday 2 of Euro 2024, the tournament’s story is unfolding with a lot of  excitement. Fans have enjoyed some thrilling matches where fantastic encounters and close contests have kept everyone on edge. Certain teams like Germany, Spain and Portugal have already qualified for the knockout stages while Poland became the first team to get eliminated from this Euro campaign. Each match has had its moments of brilliance—great goals, smart tactics, and crucial saves—that highlight the talents of Europe’s football stars.

As Euro 2024 moves forward, the competition is getting even more intense. Matchday 2 has set the stage for an exciting journey ahead, where every game is full of passion and determination. The stage is set for the final group stage matchday as the teams get ready to give their best performance to qualify for round of 16 as the stakes look high and every team has their eyes set on knockout stages. As the Matchday 2 came to an end, here’s a look on how the teams will be going into the final matchday.

Group A

The group A saw Germany qualifying early as they were able to defeat a stubborn Hungary side who gave their all on the pitch but just couldn’t get the job done. It is official that Germany will be playing the round of 16 with a group stage match left, where they face Switzerland, who were able to grasp a point after a 1-1 draw against struggling Scotland.

The Germans had to put up a good show against a brave Hungarian side who improved a lot from their matchday loss against Switzerland, but the German shining star Jamal Musiala and a goal from the veteran midfielder Ilkay Gundogan helped their side carry their wonderful form from the openeing game of the campaign.

Switzerland were up against Scotland and it was pretty much an end to end match where both the teams had their chances but failed to convert that eventually resulted in a 1-1 draw with goals from Scott Mctominay for Scots and Xherdan Shaqiri for the Swiss.

Group B

Moving on to group B, Spain had a chance to make it out of the group stages early but they were up against a tough opposition, in Italy. However, the Spanish posed a constant threat as their young talented wingers, Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal caused menace in the Italian territory. However, an unfortunate own goal from Riccardo Calafiori, who was solid throughout the game, allowed Spain to edge past the 2020 Euro champions that booked their ticket to round of 16.

On the other hand, Croatia and Albania, both needed a result in order to keep their qualification hopes alive. Albania got the perfect start after they took the lead after just 11 minutes into the game and continued to threaten the Croatian defence after that. It was an end to end contest where the Croatians were also looking like a team with an intent, constantly on the move causing the Albanian defence some real problems.

But in the 74th minute, Croatia’s efforts were rewarded after Andrej Kramaric put the ball past the Albanian keeper and soon after that, an own goal made it 2-1 for Croatia. But the match didn’t end there, as the real drama took place when Klaus Gjasula, the scorer of the own goal, levelled the score for Albania in fifth minute of added time to win a point for Albanians as the match ended 2-2 with the Croatians left disappointed.

Group C

England and Demark played a repeat of the UEFA Euro 2020 semi-final while Slovenia took on Serbia in the second matchday of Group C. This group became the first group out of which none of the teams sealed qualification to the next round on this matchday as both the games ended in a 1-1 draw.

Serbia took on Slovenia in Munich and looked set to be knocked out of the competition as they were losing the game 1-0 heading into added time after the first 90 minutes. However, a Luka Jovic header right at the death prevented them from a second straight loss and kept them in the mix heading into the final matchday.

England, the favourites to proceed from the group, missed out on sealing early qualification as they were held to a 1-1 draw by a spirited Demark side, that pushed the English to their limit and would be more disappointed of the two sides with the result.

Group D

This is the first group that has a team that has been officially eliminated from the competition as following a loss at the hands of Netherlands in matchday one, Poland were blown away by Austria as they lost the game 3-1 in a match where Marko Arnautovich became the oldest player to score in this year’s championships.

Heading into matchday two, the big game that had everyone’s attention was the game between France and Netherlands but the match failed to live up to the billing. Without Kylian Mbappe on the pitch, the French attack was extremely wasteful and failed to capitalize on the numerous chances they created.

Meanwhile, the Netherlands failed to create much of substance and when they scored a goal against the run of play, it was ruled out by VAR. The game had huge potential to be a thriller but ultimately ended up being an exciting yet frustrating 0-0 draw.

Group E

Group E was the most unpredictable group out of all as after the first matchday, the results looked like a big concern for the teams that looke the most likely to make it out of the group. Belgium and Ukraine both suffered disapppointing defeats, as their shaky start to the campaign raised a lot of questions.

However, Ukraine were able to make a brilliant come back from 1-0 down to win the game 2-1 against a Slovakian side with high spirits, fresh from defeating the group favourites, Belgium on matchday one. The Slovakians took the lead early as Ivan Schranz cored and early goal to give them the lead in 17th minute. However, Ukraine came back roaring after Shaparenko levelled the game in the 54th minute before Yaremchuk scored late to win it for Ukraine.

Belgium finally hit the ground running after they beat a very brave Romanian side who were punished for not taking their chances. It was Youri Tielemans, who gave Belgium an early advantage after hitting a fizzing shot from outside the box, just two minutes into the game. Later, the Belgian magician Kevin De Bruyne made it 2-0, adding further to the misery of Romanians. It was a strong performance by the Belgians who improved considerably from their matchday one performance.

Group F

Group F saw another clash where the lack of creativity and finishing was clearly evident as Czech and Georgia shared the spoils after a 1-1 draw. Both the teams were looking to get the best possible result after their disappointing start to the campaign, but the match just couldn’t take off as the finishing touch was clearly missing for both the sides. Georgia never looked like scoring as they only managed to take five shot throughout the game, with one of them being a penalty which was converted by Georges Mikautadze to give them the lead.

Czech Republic took a record 27 shots in this game while only being able to score a scrappy goal courtesy of Patrick Schick who levelled the game in the 59th minute. After they equalised, the Czech had further chances to take the lead but just couldn’t capitalise on the chances they were getting as the match ended 1-1.

On the other hand, Portugal became the third side to qualify after Germany and Spain, by absolutely thrashing Turkey 3-0 with goals from Bernardo Silva, an own goal from Samet Akaydin and Bruno Fernandes. The match was pretty much one sided as Turkey had an off day with their defending and Portugal made sure that they took full advantage of that.

 Here’s a look at the how the second matchday of Euro 2024 as certain teams progress through to the round of 16 early while some keep fighting for a spot  Football Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today