Euro 2024: 10 takeaways from the second round of games

England stumble, Spain look the business as the minnows continues to impress.

\\ Awful England struggle again

Having limped past Serbia, an unchanged England side were woeful against Denmark. Again, having gone 1-nil up, they sat back and invited all the pressure onto themselves, giving Denmark the incentive who duly delivered with a great equaliser from Morten Hjulmand. It was another shabby performance from one of the sides tipped for the tournament, with issues in their structure and setup which has been totally imbalanced and failed to maximise the wealth of talent at their disposal. The Trent Alexander Arnold experiment once again failed, but it’s hard to pin much blame on the player himself who is looking up the field to no movement and players who just want the ball at their feet rather than looking to stretch the defences. Changes are badly needed, and even though England sit with four points there is a dark cloud hanging over their heads with such a hugely sub-par start to the tournament.

\\ Don’t write off the Danes

On the other side, Denmark were solid and every bit deserving of their 1-1 draw, putting them on two points heading into the final round and aiming for knockout stage status with Serbia to come. With grizzled veterans like Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg having a super tournament so far and Christian Eriksen with a miraculous opportunity after what happened at the last Euros, Denmark are an experienced side with lots of tournament savvy, they won’t fear anyone should they get into the next round.

\\ Spain look like real contenders

A 1-0 win for Spain against Italy sets them up for the knockout stages, and it easily could have been 4 or 5-nil. They have been really impressive, in complete opposite to England they have been set up to their strengths, with wide players stretching the field, allowing the passers to integrate in the middle with #9 Alvaro Morata. Their ability to go from 0 to 90 in attack is a danger and they gave Italy so much trouble, especially through Nico Williams down the Spanish left hand side. I said on these pages after the first round of games that Spain are being slept on, and that’s still the case.

\\ Williams & Yamal stock is rising

Speaking of Williams, the Athletic Bilbao man and Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal are emerging as two of the big stars of the tournament. Williams, who reportedly has a €50million buyout clause, will be catching the attentions of all the big clubs around Europe whilst Yamal, at just 16, looks like a superstar in the making. The naivety of youth has him not afraid to take on defenders and play off the cuff, and his size and skill is super impressive at such a young age.

\\ Hungary down and out

Hungary have been one of the big disappointments of the tournament. A decent squad, led by Liverpool’s Dominik Szoboslai, were slated as one to watch but a pre-tournament defeat to Ireland of all teams seems to have shown them to be not all that good. They barely laid a glove on Germany, losing 2-0, and await a Scottish side who rallied back with a 1-1 draw against Switzerland. It’s all to play for in the last round of games, but Scotland have nothing to fear here.

\\ Early kick-off madness

The early kick-off games have been one of the most enjoyable parts of the tournament so far. All have made for great drama, been wild and chaotic with some amazing atmospheres, with plenty of late madness and wild results from teams we mightn’t have been hugely familiar with beforehand in the so-called graveyard shift of the early group stage rounds. It’s a shame they come to an end after this weekend, but they will leave a lasting memory on a very entertaining tournament.

Romania 3-0 Ukraine
Croatia 2-2 Albania
Slovenia 1-1 Serbia
Slovakia 1-2 Ukraine
Georgia 1-1 Czechia

\\ Austria continue to impress

Austria knocked Poland out with a convincing 3-1 win on Friday night. Led by Ralf Rangnick, they’ve been well set up and may be one of the third places teams to go through, with the Netherlands to come in the last group game. They will certainly give whoever they’d meet in the knockout rounds a very difficult challenge, for a team who weren’t crazily fancied heading into the tournament. Elsewhere in their group, France and the Netherlands played out a fairly boring 0-0.

\\ Portugal get into gear

A 3-0 win over Turkey seals Portugal’s progression to the knockouts, and they looked like a team who are getting better with each game. They have goals all over the team and can now afford to rest some of the elder statesmen in their final group game against Georgia. A very strong side getting into their groove for a deep knockout push.

\\ Group E is all to play for

A 2-0 win for Belgium over Romania means all four teams in Group E are on three points heading into the final games, where Romania meet Slovakia and Belgium face Ukraine. Interestingly, a draw would be enough to see both Romania and Slovakia through, so there could be a handshake agreement to see out a professional 0-0 in that one, whilst the winner of Belgium of Ukraine will progress. Ukraine clawed back impressively against Slovakia to keep their hopes alive and Belgium haven’t got into fifth gear just yet, while Romelu Lukaku has had three disallowed offside goals, showing he’s been a bit out of luck so far in this tournament.

\\ Minnows no more

As an Irish fan, it’s hard not to look on enviously at fellow “minnows” at the tournament, but it’s also hard to think we’d be anywhere near as good as the likes of Georgia, who have been outgoing and entertaining in their two games, Albania who have been robust and extremely hard to beat, nor Romania who obliterated Ukraine and held their own for much of the game against Belgium. Whatever the world rankings say, Ireland feel miles away from being able to hold their own in tournament football and teams who we might once looked down upon have quickly overtaken us.