The UEFA Euro 2016 boot battle: Day 5
Fifth day of the tournament, and we’ve named it Pepe Day in honour of one of football’s biggest d****. His Portugal side faced minnows Iceland. In the same group, Hungary faced Austria. Sad news, there were only two games today. Good news, those two games produced more drama than the rest of Euro 2016 put together. And while we’re talking about bad news, on an unrelated topic, we regret to inform you that Low has been at it again with a bit of scratch and sniff. But moving swiftly on.
So Austria versus Hungary. On paper, Austria, who were unbeaten in qualifying, were clear favourites against a Hungarian side who progressed in a group consisting of Faroe Islands, Finland, Northern Ireland, Greece and Romania.
Austria set out instantly for the kill, as David Alaba fired a powerful drive at goal, but his effort hit the post. Soon after, he had another strike, but 40-year-old keeper (yes 40) Gabor Kiraly saved comfortably. The iconic keeper, known for wearing trackies while playing, was breaking a record as the oldest player ever at a Championships. At 40, I would take it if I still have all my limbs intact and have all my teeth.
Hungary then registered their first attempt on goal with Zoltan Gera stinging the palms of Robert Almer in the Austrian goal. Both teams went close again before the break, but ultimately went in at half-time 0-0.
Austria pressed in the second period but failed to find that clinical instinct. With a little less than half an hour to play, Hungary took a shock lead. Adam Szalai, a man who hasn’t scored for club or country since 2014 (and he is a striker!) incredibly bagged a goal. He played a couple of nice one-twos in some great link-up play, and eventually slid in inside the box to roll the ball in the net.
Just two minutes later, Austria thought they’d equalised, after the ball was lashed in, but it was ruled out for a foul. Aleksander Dragovic was penalised for a late challenge, and saw red after receiving a second yellow; the first for a bad tackle in the first-half.
Austria still pressed, despite having ten men, but gaps began to appear. Zoltan Stieber found himself clean through, and showed composure to chip the on-rushing keeper to seal the win for Hungary. What a game!
No players were involved in the battle, although we are thinking of promoting the prolific Szalai now after his goal. Cristiano Ronaldo however, was involved in the battle in the second match of the day, where group favourites Portugal faced minnows Iceland.
After an initial flurry by Iceland, Portugal took the impetus and began to dominate the match. After 30 minutes, Nani showed clinical finishing that Ronaldo couldn’t replicated, after a nice move, sweeping the ball home nicely from a wide angle.
They continued to dominate, but Iceland, a country with a population of 130 times fewer people than Ronaldo has Twitter followers, equalised against the run of play. Birkir Bjarnason capitalised on some shocking defending, and powerfully drilled home a deep cross with a swift volley.
Sit down for this next part, as it will come as a huge shock. You have been warned. Pepe, yes the Saint of football himself, the role model of role models, the man they call the exemplar sportsmanship, lashed out at Jon Dadi. The defender escaped any action, but couldn’t escape abuse on Twitter and people’s already low estimations of him falling even lower.
Ronaldo had a free header just five yards out, but he could only place it straight at the keeper. A number of late free-kicks were also squandered by the Real man, as a heroic Icelandic defensive performance ensured they earned a point.
Team Nike surprisingly suffered following Ronaldo’s performance. The forward failed to score, assist or even deliver a good performance worthy of a point. We penalised him for those free-kicks, which seemed to be magnetised to the Iceland wall.
Adidas
No points
Nike
Ronaldo -1
Overall score
Adidas 11-6 Nike
After the first round of group matches being complete, Nike trail Adidas by five. But with hosts France playing Albania, they will surely pick up a lot of points tomorrow.
Tomorrow’s Euro 2016 matches
Russia v Slovakia
Romania v Switzerland
France v Albania
Players involved
Adidas: Pogba
Nike: Koscielny, Evra, Payet
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