Goals, points tally and basically performance is the difference between the eight teams that back packed and the last sixteen that now have a chance to proceed to the last eight. Opportunities come once in a life time is what every one of them must be thinking and saying to themselves. Teams like Slovakia, Ireland, Portugal and N.Ireland that qualified on the basis of the best third placed teams count themselves lucky because competition was stiff in the groups. Despite that, the football fraternity was entertained more so by the derby day that pitched Germany vs Poland, England vs Wales. With all having proceeded to the last sixteen, expectations are high that most probably in the last eight, quarter finals and if we are lucky, the semi finals will see another another derby being staged. One that is a guarantee though is the Wales vs N.Ireland, which is an all English derby.
The teams that qualified to the last sixteen are as follows.
GROUP A: France and Switzerland
GROUP B: Wales, England and Slovakia
GROUP C: Germany, Poland and N.Ireland
GROUP D: Croatia and Spain
GROUP E: Italy, Belgium and Ireland
GROUP F: Hungary, Iceland and Portugal
The table is out and teams will pair each other as follows
MATCH 1: Switzerland vs Poland
MATCH 2: Croatia vs Portugal
MATCH 3: Wales vs N.Ireland
MATCH 4: Hungary vs Belgium
MATCH 5: Germany vs Slovakia
MATCH 6: Italy vs Spain
MATCH 7: France vs Ireland
MATCH 8: England vs Iceland
Looking at the fixtures, it's clear that there will be surprises, because these matches are a must wins and draws will lead to extra time or penalties. In the group stages, teams that thought were going to have an easy time, like Belgium, England, Spain and Germany were surprised by their opponents. Surely England will not forget the Russia draw, Belgium the Italy defeat, Spain the Croatia defeat and Germany the draw against Poland and the narrow win against N.Ireland. For this reason, it will be difficult to predict who wins the Euro 2016.
People have pointed out tactically capable teams lead by Italy, the hosts France who have a variety of options and now comes in Croatia who have proven to be as good. Stronger teams have been brushed aside because people believe another team, the "underdogs" should win this competition. It seems that this is the trend nowadays after what happened in the English Premiere League. The last sixteen matches will decide. A last sixteen highlight is that Italy and Spain played a friendly game prior to the competition which ended up in a draw, but this time it's going to be different. One has to win and one has to send the other packing. Its the EURO 2016, the competition is stiff and the champions are yet to be known. The journey continues.....Round of last sixteen prediction coming to you soon!
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