The Group Stage ended with England through to the Round of Sixteen but Scotland knocked out, unable to go through in a 'best third place' capacity. All of our predictions were for Scotland to lead a 'Highland Charge' through to the knockout rounds for the first time but it was just not to be.
Scotland's first game was also their heaviest ever defeat in the Championship, suffering a 1-5 defeat to hosts Germany. Once more their 'top scorer' all time record is 1 goal, this time around Scot McTominay joins that list for scoring Scotland's solitary goal of the three games, against Switzerland. Well, not exactly the solitary goal, as they notched another in that opening game against Germany, although that was an own-goal by Antonio Rudiger. Although not recorded by the UEFA website, technically Rudiger became Scotland's joint top goalscorer at a European Championships!
England have looked uninspiring in each game, and weak at the back. Their 'safefty first' approach of passing out from the back has caused some high stress levels amongst those of us watching; These players are not Barcelona and the wayward passes across midfield and defence, and a goalkeeper that sometimes plays as sweeper, often look clumsy and too inviting to the opposition who tend to press hard and find a goal. However some last gasp heroics from Bellingam (bicycle kick!) and Kane (confident header from Ivan Toney's flick to the back post) spared the three lions from an embarrassing flight home.
Like it or not it is a tactic that has just about worked, and other teams have done well in tournaments in the same way. Momentum is everything and in knockout football the key is to get out of the group with as few injuries or cards as possible then gain momentum, peaking in the big games. England somehow won their group, scraped past Slovakia, and now it is time to turn on the style. Maybe, just maybe, this time we can say #itscominghome ?
Here are out predictions for the Round of 16, what are yours?
|
|
AG |
KT |
Dice |
|
Switzerland v Italy |
0 - 1 |
0 - 1 |
0 - 2 |
|
Germany v Denmark |
2 - 1 |
3 - 1 |
3 - 1 |
|
England v Slovakia |
2 - 0 |
0v0 (5v4 on pens) |
0 - 4 |
|
Spain v Georgia |
3 - 1 |
4 - 0 |
2 - 2 (3 v 1 AET) |
|
France v Belgium |
1 – 1 (3 – 2 AET) |
2v2 (5 - 5 AET 5v4 pen) |
0 v 0 (0 v 0 AET, 0 v 1 pens) |
|
Portugal v Slovenia |
3 - 1 |
2 - 0 |
6 - 3 |
|
Romania v Netherlands |
1 - 1 (2 - 3 AET) |
1 - 0 |
0 v 0 (2 v 0 AET) |
|
Austria v Turkey |
4 -1 |
1 - 1 (3 - 2 AET) |
0 - 5 |
As usual, we present these predictions for fun only and do not encourage gambling, nor do we suggest that you use any of this information to inform it!
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