The UEFA Euro 2016 boot battle: Day 20
The last quarter-final saw hosts France play everyone’s favourite underdogs Iceland, a team who single-handedly made an old man redundant while simultaneously exposing him to abuse from an entire nation. ‘What? But that’s horrible,’ you may say. But when you realise the old man is Roy Hodgson and he was getting paid more than any other manager at Euro 2016, are Iceland not our heroes as well?
Pogba started for Adidas, with Payet, Evra and Koscielny starting for Nike.
A great game got off to a furious start, with France pressing heavily. Olivier Giroud ran through on goal and fired a low shot in the net from quite a tight angle to send the crowd into sheer ecstasy. Pogba doubled their lead in the 20th minute when he headed home a corner.
Jon Dadi Bodvarsson had the minnow’s first chance, but his shot went over the bar. Two minutes before the break, though, France scored a third via a Payet shot. The forward was in space at the edge of the box and he fired a shot into the bottom corner. Just two minutes later, Antoine Griezmann went in through on goal. As the keeper came out, he effortlessly chipped it over him to give the French a 4-0 half-time lead.
That’s right Roy… 4-0. FOUR goals in one half against the team that we managed to score one goal via the penalty spot. What a joke. An absolute embarrassment. Not that we are still bitter or anything.
Payet squandered a good chance just after the break, but it didn’t matter in the end. Gylfi Sigurdsson did start a temporary comeback for Iceland though. His cross found Kolbeinn Sigthorsson who finished to make it 4-1. Payet, three minutes later, then put any small doubts to bed. His inch-perfect cross found Giroud, who headed home after a good leap.
Five minutes from full-time, Iceland pulled another one back to make the scoreline more than respectable. Birkir Bjarnason rose to meet a cross and head into the net to make the final score 5-2. It was a great game and the hosts finally showed us why they were the pre-tournament favourites, with Iceland’s lack of quality perhaps being exposed slightly. A lot of credit must go to them though.
Pogba scored so gets Adidas a point. Evra and Koscielny lose two points each for the goals, but the Arsenal man gets one back for a good performance. Payet redeems Nike marginally by earning three points, one for a good performance and one a piece for his goal and assist.
Adidas
Pogba +1
Nike
Koscielny -1
Evra -2
Payet +3
Overall score
Adidas 24-10 Nike
Euro 2016 semi-finals
Wales v Portugal
France v Germany
Players involved
Adidas: Bale, Neuer, Hemmels, Howedes, Ozil, Muller, Pogba.
Nike: Koscielny, Evra, Gotze, Payet, Ronaldo.
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