A 54-yard Beauty ft. Patrik Schick

A 54-yard curling ball, staring at the Scottish net (and probably winking at retreating goalkeeper Marshall) and finally landing in between the posts by Patrik Schick (of Czech Republic) is touted to be the Goal of the Tournament already by many ! What a way to begin the Euro 2020 tournament. With such soaring highs we also witnessed some dark lows with Christian Eriksen (of Denmark and Inter Milan) collapsed in their opener against Finland. Some strong leadership and presence of mind shown by the Danish captain Simon Kjaer helped the medical staff attend to the motionless player on the turf without any distractions. The game was suspended and Eriksen was taken to the hospital in a stable condition, the star footballer then tweeted about his condition.

The opening round games saw some pre-tournament favorites Belgium and Portugal record 3-0 victories each while Netherlands went 2-0 up only to find themselves 2-2 after a gutsy Ukrainian fight back but managed to pull off a 3-2 win thanks to Denzel Dumfries’ first international goal. Cristiano Ronaldo scored a brace to become Euro’s all time top scorer with 11 goals in 22 games. The GOAT eats whichever record it sees 😋. Just be sure that Cristiano Ronaldo agrees with your product, else he’ll move it from the table and you’ll lose $4bn in market value (Coca Cola incident in the press conference). First real upset of the tournament came when Slovakia secured a 2-1 win over Poland, who went down to 10-men after Krychowiak got a double yellow in the game. Italy had a dominant start to their campaign after thrashing Turkey 3-0 in Rome. England beat Croatia in a closely fought contest giving the Three Lions important three points ! Spain and Sweden played tournament’s only stalemate (0-0 draw) with Spain registering 17 total shots in the game. The first all heavy weight contest this tournament was Germany facing France which was decided by an own goal from Mats Hummels. France also had two goals chalked off by VAR. Germany have a daunting task ahead in the Group of Death, facing defending champions Portugal next.

Turkey who were touted as dark horses couldn’t live up to the billing after Gareth Bale led Wales beat them 2-0 with goals from Aaron Ramsey and Conner Roberts. Russia got their first win of the tournament by beating Finland 1-0 in their second group game. Italy swept Switzerland with a 3-0 thrashing thanks to a brace from Locatelli and one from Ciro Immobile who is in fine form. Ukraine kept their knockout hopes alive with a 2-1 win over North Macedonia. England and Scotland renewed the ‘oldest rivalry in international football’ with a 0-0 draw. Much is spoken about the ‘average’ performances by the Three Lions so far. The Dutch qualified for the knockout stages with 2-0 win over Marko Arnautovic less Austria. Hungary pulled off an upset by holding world champions France to a 1-1 draw. We would expect the French, led by super-star Mbappe, to be red hot, but that is not the case yet. Germany, coming off a close loss against France, destroyed the defending champions Portugal 4-2, keeping the Group F (of Death) in play to put all four teams with a shot to qualify for the knockouts. Looks like 4 points and a healthy goal difference may be sufficient to advance to the next round. Remember, four best third placed finishes also qualify.

Back to club football, Sergio Ramos will leave Real Madrid after a tenure full of 22 major trophies ! Cristiano Ronaldo is not committed to Juventus for the future, his contract expires next season. Also, CR7 is two goals shy of being the all time leader in international goal scorers ! (Ali Daei of Iran at 109, CR7 at 107) 😎. Everton, Spurs and Crystal Palace are still looking for their new manager with Rafa Benitez being at the top of the pack for the Toffees’ job.