The UEFA Euro 2016 boot battle: Day 14
First day of the knockouts for Euro 2016. At last teams have to go for it, with a clean sheet and a draw not quite hacking it now, unless you’re confident with your penalties. Switzerland played Poland in the day’s opener, with no players involved in the battle.
Switzerland started very sloppily and nearly conceded in the opening 30 seconds after Arkadiusz Milik latched onto some lazy defending, but keeper blocked before Robert Lewandowski fired over with an open goal. Both teams struggled to create great chances, but Poland had the better of the game. It was they who opened the scoring when Kamil Grosicki ran down the left, cut inside and played it across the box. A clever dummy by Milik allowed it to go through to Jakub Blaszczykowski, who had time to place it through the keeper legs.
The Swiss came out in the second half a different team, and pressed on. They had plenty of efforts but were unable to get past Lukas Fabianski. In the last ten minutes, they had their best chance when the ball came to Johan Djourou. His shot was blocked but the ball then fell to Haris Seferovic, who clattered the ball against the bar.
They did equalise though, minutes later through one of the goals of the tournament. The ball came out to Xhedran Shaqiri on the edge of the box, and he mastered a great overhead which went in off the post.
Stephan Lichtsteiner buried the first down the middle. Out-of-form Robert Lewandowski then placed it beautifully in the top corner. Arsenal’s new signing Granit Xhaka missed the first of the shootout, blasting his very wide. Milik capitalised on the error by just squeezing his in. Shaqiri placed his in calmly sending the keeper the wrong way. Kamil Glik then made it 3-2 Poland, blasting his in. Fabian Schar converted well after that, as did Poland’s Blaszczykowski. Ricardo Rodriguez stepped up for Switzerland’s fifth, knowing he had to score. He did into the bottom left corner, leaving Grzegorz Krychowiak with the chance to send Poland through. He sent his penalty into the top right corner, meaning his side won 5-4.
Wales later played Northern Ireland in a home nation’s derby, with Adidas’ Gareth Bale featuring. The first half was about exciting as a punch to the face. Sam Vokes had a header which looked to be going in, but Arron Ramsey tapped in anyway only to be called out for offside.
Bale had a free kick about 25 yards out, but his well-hit effort was saved in the second half. In the 75th minute, Bale is played in down the right. He delivered a fantastic cross which forced Gareth McAuley to deal with, and he did by putting into his own net.
Ireland pressed for a winner, but it didn’t come and Wales held out to impressively reach their first quarter-final.
For his assist and good performance, Bale receives two points for Adidas.
The late game was Croatia against Portugal. Dario Srna and Cristiano Ronaldo started for Nike, whereas Ivan Rakitic featured for Adidas.
Pepe had the first big chance when he headed over a free kick. Ivan Perisic then replied shortly after with a tricky run before shooting wide.
In the second half, Marcelo Brozovic lacked composure as he fired over from inside the box. Domagoj Vida also squandered a great chance, heading wide from a free kick. That was the lot for the 90 minutes, so they went into extra-time.
It lacked quality with both sides struggling to create, until the last five minutes where a flurry of chances for both sides came along, including a Ronaldo effort which was saved. But with three minutes to play, Ronaldo assisted Ricardo Quaresma who headed home a rebound. Vida in the final seconds saw his volley go just wide and Portugal managed to scrape through.
Srna gets a point for the normal-time clean sheet. Rakitic and Ronaldo get no points for performance, but the Portuguese man does get one for his assist.
Adidas
Bale +2
Rakitic 0
Nike
Ronaldo +1
Srna +1
Overall score
Adidas 27-16 Nike
Tomorrow’s Euro 2016 matches
France v Ireland
Germany v Slovakia
Hungary v Belgium
Players involved
Adidas: Neuer, Howedes, Hummels, Vermaelen, Ozil, Pogba, Muller.
Nike: Koscielny, Evra, De Bruyne, Gotze, Payet.
The UEFA Euro 2016 boot battle: Day 12
Oh my word PANIC. There were four matches at Euro 2016 today… Four! We just do not think we are ready for this. But it was a huge day of football. The first match involved a lot of battle players in the Germany side who faced Northern Ireland, who still had a realistic chance of going through, even if they were to lose. Michael McGovern saved early when Thomas Muller went through on goal. He then ...[Read More]
The UEFA Euro 2016 boot battle: Day 11
Today was the day which home nations Wales and England would decide their Euro 2016 fate. England faced Slovakia knowing that they were all but mathematically through to the last 16, with Wales playing Russia. What more motivation did the two need to win today than knowing that wins would send those Russian muppets home? Roy Hodgson changed his side majorly from the team which beat Wales in the pr...[Read More]
The UEFA Euro 2016 boot battle: Day 10
Business time! Two matches played simultaneously. Obviously we can’t be in two places at once, and don’t have the dedication or will-power to record one game and watch it after, so we only watched the most important game. Seeing as though the tournament is being held in France, and the fact you could probably count the number of Romanian and Albanian players on a paraplegic’s hand, we chose to wat...[Read More]
The UEFA Euro 2016 boot battle: Day 9
Day 9 of Euro 2016 was the final day of the tournament where group matches will not be played simultaneously. What does this mean? It effectively means that we are getting down to the juicy, meaty, business end of the tournament. The part where teams can no longer sit back and rely on gaining a point through solid defensive play. No. Teams will have to all-out go for it with the kitchen sink, dish...[Read More]
The UEFA Euro 2016 boot battle: Day 8
Today hosted another three matches in this glorious Championships. No team has taken the initiative and the tournament by the balls and really put in an impressive performance. On show on day 8, were three teams who were fancied to do well at Euro 2016; Croatia, Spain and Italy. Italy were up first, and after never really emulating their famous 2006 World Cup success, they had a real chance to com...[Read More]
The UEFA Euro 2016 boot battle: Day 7
Day 7 at Euro 2016, and it was a big one. We’re going to do something a little different with this one. There may have been three matches, but only one stood out like a Zinidine Zidane headbutt to an Italian. England v Wales, so we will concentrate mostly on that battle. Firstly, though, Northern Ireland faced Ukraine in a match that they could do with winning after their opening-game defeat...[Read More]
The UEFA Euro 2016 boot battle: Day 6
The Russian fans took time out of their MMA schedules to show up to their nation’s game against Slovakia. But they needn’t have bothered. Their team, much like their reputation over the past week, got battered. Marek Hamsik was the star for the Slovaks, and his early volley went just past the post in the opening 15 minutes. The breakthrough came after 32 minutes though, when Hamsik again switched ...[Read More]
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...[Read More]
The UEFA Euro 2016 boot battle: Day 4
At last, a day of Euro 2016 without violence! Thank God, just how football should be. And thank God also that Germany weren’t playing again today, so we didn’t get another Joachim Low sex show. Holders Spain were in action first today, with Nike’s Iniesta and Ramos as well as Adidas’ Alba all involved. It was an absolute annihilation by the Spaniards, who dominated the Czechs in both possession an...[Read More]
The UEFA Euro 2016 boot battle: Day 3
Anyone else wake up this morning with an overwhelming sense of disappointment and a banging headache (as a result of trying to deal with that disappointment)? Me too. Kane on corners… No Vardy… We think this may be the beginning of the end for Roy. So expect Hart on all free-kicks and Rashford starting holding mid for the Wales game. But oh well, let’s not reminisce of the past. Today was another ...[Read More]
The UEFA Euro 2016 boot battle: Day 2
Second day of the 2016 Euros, and two of the home nations were involved. But before that, it was Switzerland’s turn to open their campaign against Albania. Fabian Schaer heading in after five minutes following a keeping misjudgement, putting the Swiss 1-0 up. Lorik Cana received two first-half bookings, firstly for a rash challenge and the second one for a humorous and blatant handball follo...[Read More]
The UEFA Euro 2016 boot battle: Day 1
Despite Payet’s incredible display in last night’s opening match which saw France defeat Romania 2-1, the two teams are tied. Koscielny looked uncomfortable at times paired with Rami, but in the end avoided losing points for a bad performance by being more solid in the second half. Evra however, had a shocker topped off with him conceding the penalty, meaning both defenders loose points for the go...[Read More]