Well, the first round of Euro action is done now.
That means that the elimination rounds will begin soon. The first scheduled elimination games are set. And there were some surprises.
By far the biggest surprise was Georgia. They managed to knock off heavily favored Portugal, who are considered one of the real heavyweights at this Euro tournament, possible candidate to win the whole thing. I had assumed that it was perhaps a mostly hollow win, since Portugal had already clinched first place in the group. However, they had their biggest star, Cristiano Ronaldo, in the game. I am still not sure that Portugal was going all out to try and win the game. Still, Georgia managed to score very early to take a lead, and ultimately defeated Portugal, 2-0. That qualifies as the biggest upset in the history of the Euro tournament, so that is a rather impressive achievement by the Georgians.
Up next for Georgia is Spain, one of two games scheduled for this Sunday. The other features another surprise success story, as Slovakia takes on England.
Before that, on Saturday, the two biggest, perennial powerhouses in Europe will both be in action. Italy, the defending champions, will take on Switzerland, while Germany takes on Denmark.
On Monday, France and Belgium square off, as does Portugal, fresh off being on the wrong side of a historic upset, as they will take on another surprise success story, Slovenia.
Finally on Tuesday, Netherlands will take on Romania, while Austria, a team that has surprised b looking like a serious powerhouse so far in this tournament, will meet Turkey, or Turkiye as I am increasingly seeing it spell, in another big match, with both teams having already exceeded expectations.
That should make the next few days at the Euro very interesting. We shall see who qualifies now for the quarterfinal round.
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