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 a fantastic lofted ball through to Vladimir Weiss. The ex-Man City winger then checked back onto his right foot, in the process evading two Russian defenders and giving himself space to curl a lovely effort into the bottom corner.
Hamsik then, just before the break, when he received a short corner off Weiss. The Napoli-man then turned and unleashed a bullet shot into the top corner.
The second-half saw Slovakia continue to dominate, but Russia brought themselves back into it in the final ten minutes. Oleg Shatov crossed in towards Denis Glushakov, who scored with a well-placed header.
From then on it was all Russia, but they couldn’t break down what was, at the time, a shaky Slovakian defence. They play Wales in their final group match needing a win, whereas Slovakia will play group favourites England.
After only just beating Albania in their opener, Switzerland needed to produce a much better performance, if nothing else, when they faced Romania. The Romanians themselves had taken France all the way before that Dimitri Payet strike condemned them to defeat.
Bogdan Stancu gave the Romanians a somewhat surprise lead from the penalty spot after the Swiss squandered some great chances. Stephan Lichtsteiner pulled back Alexandru Chipciu to concede the penalty, and Stancu calmly converted.
Despite being dominated, Romania continued to have the best chances. However, they could not add to their lead before the break.
On the hour mark, Switzerland equalised through Admir Mehmedi. The ball fell to him from a corner, and he clinically lashed it through a couple of defenders and into the top corner.
After that, both teams seemed content with a draw, and that is what they got.
Into the final game then, and the hosts were looking to improve on a less than convincing performance in their opener, against Albania. Astonishingly, they started the game without Paul Pogba or Antoine Griezmann in the starting 11. Pogba features in our Adidas team, with Patrice Evra, Laurent Koscielny and Dimitri Payet all involved for Nike.
Albania restricted the French to few chances in the first-half, as they appeared to be missing that cutting-edge that, dare we say, Pogba may have supplied. An Olivier Giroud header was the closest they came to opening the scoring, whereas Albania, although not creating much either, had a free-kick that went just over.
Pogba came on for a less than impressive Anthony Martial after the break, and the difference was noticeable. He had a half-volley sail over, Giroud had a header rebound off the post and Bakary Sagna also fired over from a decent position. Koscielny also missed a great chance, failing to connect to yet another perfect Payet cross.
The goal did come eventually however, when Griezmann headed in an Adil Rami cross late on. Payet topped off the win with a second with the last kick of the match. The forward raced through, cut back on his right and coolly finished into the corner.
France qualify then, but have been quite poor in their first two games. Albania are all but out, knowing that even a win against Romania in their final group game may not be enough to see them qualify.
As for battle, Payet yet again sorts out Nike. His MOTM performance gets him two points, along with a point for his goal and a bonus point for a number of exquisite crosses. Evra loses a point for putting in, what we thought was, a bad performance but it equals out due to the clean sheet. Koscielny gets one also for the clean sheet and Pogba gets one for a good performance, as he inspired his team into action.
Adidas
Pogba +1
Nike
Evra 0
Payet +4
Koscielny +1
Overall score
Adidas 12-11 Nike
So it is very close after more heroics from Payet. Tomorrow sees three home nations involved in a decisive round of matches. It also sees a massive nine players featuring in our battle.
Tomorrow’s Euro 2016 matches
England v Wales
Ukraine v Northern Ireland
Germany v Poland
Players involved
Adidas: Neuer, Bale, Ozil, Hummels, Howedes, Muller, Alli.
Nike: Hart, Gotze
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