Euro 2020 Match Day 3 Review
As the group stage draws to a close, and with the first knockout stage to look forward to, here is your round-up of all the results and match reports from the final group stage games specifically involving Leeds United representatives at Euro 2020.
Results:
Sunday 20th June Group A: Italy 1-0 Wales Monday 21st June Group C: North Macedonia 0-3 Netherlands
Tuesday 22nd June Group D: Czech Republic 0-1 England Group D: Croatia 3-1 Scotland
Wednesday 23rd June
Group E: Slovakia 0-5 Spain
Group E: Sweden 3-2 Poland
Group F: Germany 2-2 Hungary
Player Stats: Only four Leeds United players have made it through to the Round of 16; Kalvin Phillips, Robin Koch, Diego Llorente and Tyler Roberts. Of the four to progress to the knockout stages only Phillips has featured at Euro 2020, and naturally boasts some of the more impressive numbers.
Ezgjan Alioski, Mateusz Klich and Liam Cooper are all heading home as a result of their sides failure to progress from the group stage, and all played varying roles for their countries.
Alioski played every minute of North Macedonia's major tournament debut campaign, meanwhile Cooper was dropped for the last two of Scotland's three games after completing ninety minutes against the Czech Republic. Klich started all three of Poland's group fixtures, and looked fit and healthy to return to pre-season at Thorp Arch next month.
Match Reports:
Italy 1-0 Wales - Tyler Roberts
Wales became the first Home Nations side to secure their place in the Round of 16, despite succumbing to a 1-0 defeat to group winner's Italy in Rome on Sunday.
Robert Page's men finished as runner's up to Roberto Mancini's side in Group A by virtue of a superior goal difference, with Switzerland's 3-1 defeat of Turkey seeing them fall two goals short of assured qualification. Wales' opening-day draw with the Swiss, coupled with their 2-0 win over the Turk's, was enough to seal their place in the knockout phase.
Mancini rung the changes to his unbeaten Italy side, with only goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, stand-in skipper Leonardo Bonucci and Chelsea midfielder Jorginho keeping their places.
Emerson's long-range effort was the first of many to sting to test the early reactions of Leicester City 'keeper Danny Ward, with the Italian's naturally taking charge of proceedings from the off.
Andrea Belotti's teasing drive across the face of goal sailing narrowly wide was the next warning signal fired, following a nice through ball from Federico Bernardeschi to set the Torino striker up from a narrow angle.
Chris Gunter's powerful header from a Daniel James corner was the closest Wales came to breaking the deadlock, after the Charlton Athletic full-back lost his man at the near post to glance an effort just inches from Donnarumma's top-right corner.
But, Italy took the lead five minutes before the break through a well-worked set piece routine. Matteo Pessina arrived first on the scene to meet Marco Verratti's near-post free kick, volleying into the bottom-left corner beyond Ward to put the Italian's in front.
And, the game looked relatively sewn up from that point onwards.
Bernardeschi struck a post from distance eight minutes into the second half, with his free-kick beating both the wall and Ward in the Welsh goal, but not the upright.
And, any hopes of Wales clinching the win required to top the group were dashed moments later, as Ethan Ampadu was shown a straight red card for a late challenge on Bernardeschi.
Ampadu's dismissal seemed borderline controversial, in that whilst it was most likely the correct decision by the letter of the law, on the replay's and in live play it did appear fairly harsh.
Wales naturally faced an uphill struggle against the form side of the group playing a man light, and Ward had to be alert to deny Belotti from doubling Italy's lead only minutes later, as Federico Chiesa's excellent run and cut-back was denied the finish to match.
The stereotypically solid Italian defence did afford Wales one huge chance to snatch a point with a quarter of an hour to go, and of all the people for it to fall to, the whole of Wales would've been wanting it to drop to their captain Gareth Bale.
Joe Morrell's long free-kick delivery was met well by Joe Rodon, whose header towards the back post found Bale unmarked ten yards from goal. With the ball dropping perfectly onto his favoured left foot, Bale sliced a volley high over the bar to the relief an unprotected Donnarumma.
Belotti again stung the palms of Ward, and came inches away from diverting a Bryan Cristante effort goalwards before full-time confirmed both sides' safe passage to the next round.
Leeds United forward Tyler Roberts is still yet to feature at Euro 2020, with Keiffer Moore preferred as Wales' focal point up top. But, as the tournament progresses Roberts will be hoping there's still time for him to make his major international tournament debut.
Thus far, only Aaron Ramsey, Connor Roberts and Moore have got on the scoresheet for Wales. Meanwhile, Ward collected one clean sheet in three group games, and Ampadu's sending off in Rome saw him become the youngest player to be shown a straight red in a European Championship.
Wales will now face Denmark next in the Round of 16, having last met in 2018.
North Macedonia 0-3 Netherlands
North Macedonia's first major tournament appearance came to an end with a 3-0 defeat to The Netherlands in Amsterdam.
Leeds United's Ezgjan Alioski featured in every minute of his countries Euro 2020 campaign, grabbing a goal in the 2-1 defeat to Ukraine, which leaves him with eight senior international goals from his 42 appearances and as one of only two players to ever score a goal for North Macedonia at a major tournament alongside Goran Pandev.
North Macedonia thought they'd taken a surprise, early lead when Ivan Trichkovski buried his one-on-one with Maarten Stekelenburg, after being sent through by Pandev, only for VAR to disallow the goal for a marginal offside. Aleksandar Trajkovski then struck a post from distance, as North Macedonia looked to go out with a bang.
But, The Netherlands took the lead midway through the first half, and in contentious fashion. Refere István Kovács' decision not to award Nort Macedonia a free-kick on the edge of the Dutch penalty area was upheld by VAR, with Donyell Malen and Memphis Depay's rapid counter-attack handing out the harshest punishment for an excellent opening twenty-minute showing from the visitors.
Depay eventually put the chance away, after a wonderful one-two combination with Malen on a fast break, applying a deadly one-touch finish to put the Dutch ahead.
The Dutch took control after taking the lead, and almost doubled their advantage five minutes later, with Stole Dimitrievski being called into action with a big save to deny Denzel Dumfries from close range, before Depay saw his powerful effort from distance blocked as the Dutch began to slice their opposition open heading into the break.
Moments after the restart Matthijs de Ligt saw his header excellently cleared off the line by Trichkovski. But, the hosts did make it 2-0 shortly after with Depay's run to the byline and cut-back providing a tap in, and the first of two goals on the night for captain Georginio Wijnaldum.
Wijnaldum doubled his tally only seven minutes later, pouncing on the rebound to smash home from ten yards out, after seeing Malen's shot smartly saved by Dimitrievski.
The Netherlands subsequently coasted to a 3-0 victory, with substitute Wout Weghorst rattling a crossbar en route, and rubber-stamped their authority with qualification as undefeated group winner's.
Frank de Boer's side will be in the Round of 16, however, unfortunately it's time to bid farewell to North Macedonia, who have brought sensational drive and energy, alongside a magnificent stroyline to the tournament.
And, with Alioski's participation finished and his contract expiring in the coming days, surely there will soon be some inclination as to whether that was the last Leeds fans will see of their number ten.
Czech Republic 0-1 England
England joined Wales as the second Home Nations side to qualify for the knockout phase by beating Czech Republic 1-0 at Wembley on Tuesday, sealing their Round of 16 spot as winner's of Group D.
Leeds United's Kalvin Phillips completed every minute of the group stage fixtures for Gareth Southgate's side, putting in a man-of-the-match performance in the opening game against Croatia, where he assisted Raheem Sterling's winner.
The Three Lions are joined in the next round by runner's up Croatia, and Czech Republic, who qualify as one of four best-performing 3rd-place finishers. Meanwhile, Scotland are out of Euro 2020.
Sterling bagged his and England's second goal of the tournament to send England on their way to victory, but not before striking the post inside the opening two minutes. Latching onto a fantastic ball from Luke Shaw in behind Tomas Kalas, Sterling's attempted lob over Tomas Vaclik rebounded off the base of the post and away to safety.
But, the pace of the Manchester City forward was evident, and sent out an early warning to the Czech's. A warning that would not be heeded.
The Three Lions took the lead on twelve minutes, with Sterling nodding home a teasing delivery, stood up towards the back post by Jack Grealish.
From then on, England strolled to victory without showing the killer instinct required to truly put the result beyond any reasonable doubt. Captain Harry Kane's beleaguered start to the competition continued, as the Tottenham Hotspur striker wasted a chance to double the lead midway through the first half, firing straight at Vaclik from ten yards out.
After being sent through by a defence-splitting Harry Maguire pass, Kane appeared reluctant to shoot on his weaker left foot, opting to cut back onto his right, which perhaps narrowed the angle and allowed Vaclik too long to set himself. Arguably the decision-making aspect of his finishing was the area targeted for criticism against the Czech's, something infrequently levelled at the Premier League's Golden Boot winner.
Tomas Holes brought a smart, diving save out of Jordan Pickford with a shot from distance, and Tomas Soucek thumped an effort narrowly wide before the break.
With a sense of meaninglessness to the game, the second half saw little created for either side.
Tomas Pekhart fired a shot wide for Jaroslav Silhavy's side in the closing stages, meanwhile Jordan Henderson saw a goal disallowed for one of the clearest offside decisions of the tournament, after seeing his deflected close-range effort find the back of the net with five minutes to go.
Thus far, only Sterling has got on the scoresheet for England. Meanwhile, at the other end, Pickford and co have collected three clean sheet from three group games.
England will now face an old foe in Germany next in the Round of 16, having last met in 2017.
Croatia 3-1 Scotland
Scotland's first major tournament appearance since 1998 came to a cruel, early end on Tuesday with a 3-1 defeat to Croatia at Hampden Park.
Leeds United captain Liam Cooper collected his sixth senior Scotland cap when he completed 90 minutes in his countries 2-0 opening-day defeat to Czech Republic, but hasn't feaured for Steve Clarke's side since. Defeat to Croatia confirmed the Scots finished bottom of Group D.
Scotland started brightly in front of an atmospheric crowd of just under 10,000 in Glasgow. Che Adams' failure to connect with John McGinn's clever far-post delivery represented a significant early chance for the hosts, dealt with well by the smart reactions of Dominik Livakovic.
However, the visitors took an early lead through a well-placed Nikola Vlasic effort. Scotland failed to deal with Josip Juranovic's cross, with Ivan Perisic beating Stephen O'Donnell in the air to nod down for Vlasic, who stroked a left-footed drive into the bottom-right corner.
Scotland equalised before half-time, with Callum McGregor's gorgeous effort from the edge of the area finding the bottom-left corner, to unleash a celebration that threatened to tear the roof off Hampden Park. McGregor pounced on a loose ball eighteen yards out, to rifle the Scots level before the break.
But, Tartan Army hearts were to be broken in the second half. David Marshall was required early on to deny Josko Gvardiol at close quarters, before a vital three-minute spell changed the game.
McGinn very nearly poked home Stuart Armstrong's deep cross, instead finding the wrong side of Livakovic's netting. And, moments later, Ballon D'or winner Luka Modric sensationally punished the Scots with a typically world-class finish.
Finding space on the edge of Scotland's box, Modric bent an effort with the outside of his right foot into the top corner, leaving Marshall with no chance.
Perisic and Modric combined to add a cruel late third for Zlatko Dalic's side, with the former rising highest at the front post to nod in Modric's corner. Perisic outjumped Kieran Tierney at the near post, and applied the deftest of flick-on's to find the far corner.
Croatia have advanced to the Round of 16, where they will face Spain (and hopefully Diego Lllorente). However, Scotland's Euro 2020 adventure is over, after finishing bottom of Group D, with only a draw against England to take away.
For Cooper, sadly this could be his first and only major tournament appearance for his country, but Leeds' skipper will be hoping to force his way back into Clarke's side to add to his six caps.
Slovakia 0-5 Spain
Spain finally announced their arrival at Euro 2020 with a thumping 5-0 win over Slovakia to seal their place in the Round of 16. Luis Enrique's side knew they must win to qualify, after two underwhelming draws left the Spanish side with two points from their first two group games.
Confirming their safe passage to the knockout phase in emphatic fashion, Spain finished as runner's up to Sweden in Group E, sending Slovakia and Poland crashing out at the earliest opportunity.
The prevalent theme from Spain's previous games had been their profligacy in front of goal; having created an abundance of chances in both draws versus Sweden and Poland, they only had the one goal to show for it. And, this game looked to be heading the same way when Alvaro Morata saw an early penalty saved by Martin Dubravka.
VAR awarded the spot-kick for a foul by Ondrej Duda on Koke, overturning a decision which referee Bjorn Kuipers had originally given in the other direction. Morata went high to the keeper's right-hand side, but saw a sprawling save from the Newcastle United stopper agonisingly deny him a second goal of the tournament.
Morata tested Dubravka again with a powerful shot from distance, and the Slovakian goalkeeper was winning the personal duel between the pair until a calamitous error on the half hour mark gifted Spain the lead.
Helpless to prevent Pablo Sarabia's strike cannoning off the crossbar, Dubravka rushed back to push the dropping ball behind for a corner, but instead managed to palm into his own net under little pressure. A bizarre moment, which gave Spain the lead will likely go down as one of the more comical goals in Euro's history, unfortunately for Dubravka.
Aymeric Laporte doubled the lead on the stroke of half-time, scoring his first senior international goal with a delightful looping header from Gerard Moreno's lofted pass to the far-post.
Laporte rose between Lubomir Satka and Peter Pekarik to nod in the direction a retreating Dubravka was back-pedalling from, after another rash decision to close down Moreno in a wide area.
Spain took only ten minutes of the second half to add a third, with Sarabia finally getting himself on the scoresheet by stroking a calm left-footed effort into the bottom corner, at the end of a typically Spanish passing move, culminating in Jordi Alba's cross.
With the result already in the bag, Enrique's side began to play with real freedom. Ferran Torres was next to grab himself a goal, with a cheeky backheeled finish to round off a smartly-worked short corner routine between Pedri and Sarabia.
Torres flicked his effort home from close range, putting the Spaniard's 4-0 up with more than twenty minutes remaining.
Another own goal followed to put Slovakia out of their misery, captain Juraj Kucka the unfortunate soul to deflect Pau Torres' goalbound effort into his own net following a scrappy goalmout scramble.
Spain's 5-0 rout sees them register the biggest margin of victory by any side at Euro 2020 to this stage, and will fill Enrique with confidence heading into the next round having found their feet at the right moment.
Leeds United defender Diego Llorente is still yet to feature for his country in their opening three group games, after rejoining the squad following a brief isolation period as a result of testing positive for coronavirus only days before the start of the tournament. Llorente will be hoping Spain's progression will increase his chances of getting game time before the tournaments' conclusion.
Moreno's two assists in three games see's him 2nd in the tournament behind Switzerland's Steven Zuber and Denmark's Pierre-Emil Hojbjerg. Unai Simon boasts two clean sheets from three, conceding only once in the group stage. Meanwhile, Laporte, Torres, Sarabia and Morata all have one goal apiece.
Spain will now face Croatia next in the Round of 16, having last met in 2018.
Sweden 3-2 Poland
Poland crashed out of Euro 2020 with a 3-2 defeat to Sweden in Saint Petersburg on Wednesday.
Leeds United midfielder Mateusz Klich completed 73 minutes for Paulo Sousa's side, but was unable to prevent the Poles from being eliminated, despite a late rallying comeback.
Sweden topped the group as a result of their victory, and were joined in the Round of 16 by Spain, after they thumped Slovakia to secure their place in the knockout stages.
Sweden got off to a dream start when Emil Forsberg fired Janne Andersson's side in front inside ninety seconds. Forsberg continued his run after Alexander Isak was taken out by Kamil Glik on the edge of the penalty area, pouncing on Kamil Jozwiak's failed attempt to clear, before rifling into the far corner beyond Robin Olsen.
Poland should've equalised a quarter of hour later, captain Robert Lewandowski miraculously managing to hit the crossbar twice with two headers in the space of three seconds from Piotr Zielinski's corner. The first, a powerful downward header which looped up over the reach of Olsen, and the second an uncharacteristically tame effort with the goalkeeper grounded.
Wojciech Szczesny was forced to deny Robin Quaison early in the second half, before Bartosz Bereszynski blocked Forsberg's follow up effort, to keep Poland just about in the game.
Although, Sweden doubled their lead on the hour mark. A fantastic run and deft lay-off from Dejan Kulusevski was rewarded with a sublime finish from Forsberg, who gave Szczesny no chance when hammering into the bottom-corner from the edge of the box.
However, Sweden's second goal seemed to ignite a fire in Lewandowski, who responded with a sublime finish of his own only a minute later.
After a quick turnover of possession, Zielinski sent Lewandowski away on a one-man counter attack. With Victor Lindelof allowing the Bayern Munich hitman to cut in from wide of the left-hand side, Lewandowski whipped a delicious effort into the far top-corner to hand the Poles a lifeline.
Poland thought they'd equalised when Jakub Swierczok tapped in Przemyslaw Frankowski's cross from close range, with VAR having to confirm a tight offside call in favour of Celtic's Mikael Lustig.
But, Lewandowski's single-man rescue mission continued, as Poland's all-time record goalscorer restored parity with only six minutes remaining. Picked out tremendously by Frankowski's early cross, Lewandowski was given freedom to turn and shoot inside the area, giving Olsen no chance and Poland the opportunity for a grandstand finish.
Knowing they had to score in the final moments, Poland went in search of the winner, but were caught cold at the wrong end deep into stoppage time, as Viktor Claesson wrapped up the three points and Sweden's safe passage to the Round of 16.
Another assist for Kulusevski followed brilliant hold-up play by the Juventus midfielder and substitute Marcus Berg, sending Claesson through one-on-one with Szczesny to deliver the final blow to a wounded Poland.
Andersson's Sweden side will be in the Round of 16, however, unfortunately it's the end of the road for Poland, who failed to deliver on the pre-tournament optimism that surrounded them.
For Klich, Leeds fans will be relieved to see their man come through the tournament unscatched, and to some extent may even cheer the early exit. A well-deserved rest is surely now in order, before a return to a gruelling Marcelo Bielsa pre-season in July.
Germany 2-2 Hungary
Germany just about scraped through to the Round of 16 after being given an almighty scare by Hungary in Munich on Wednesday.
Joachim Lowe's side came from behind twice to rescue a draw, which sees them progress to the knockout stage as runner-up in Group F, the much-renowned 'Group of Death'.
Germany probed early with Joshua Kimmich forcing a save out of Peter Gulacsi from a narrow angle, after being found with a perfectly-weighted ball over the defence by Mats Hummels inside the opening five minutes.
But, Hungary defied expectation to take the lead on ten minutes when Adam Szalai's header looked to be sending the German's crashing out of the competition. Stooping to meet Roland Sallai's cross, Szalai buried his header beyond Manuel Neuer to put the Hungarian's ahead.
Shellshocked Germany responded quickly, with Hummels hitting the bar with a header from a Kimmich corner, and Matthias Ginter firing straight at Gulacsi from close range before the break.
Hungary almost doubled their lead at the beginning of the second half, with Sallai's cheeky attempt at beating Neuer at his near post directly from a free-kick in a wide area cannoning off the woodwork and behind.
With tension rising, Germany levelled through Kai Havertz with just over twenty minutes to go. Despite having a decent game, Gulacsi made an error in coming for Kimmich's long free-kick delivery into the box, and was beaten to it by Hummels. With the ball dropping under the bar, Havertz helped Hummels header on its way to ensure the Germans restored parity.
But, Hungary didn't lie down and accept defeat, Marco Rossi's side sprung another incredible surprise when they responded directly from the restart.
The tenacious running of Andras Schafer was rewarded, when he latched onto Szalai's lofted through ball, beating the on-rushing Neuer to meet the bouncing pass with a first-time header that sent the Hungary bench into ecstacy.
Germany were hanging on by a thread, and left it late. With seven minutes remaining the German's were heading home and the Hungarian's were going through, which would've left England to face Portugal.
But, with six minutes to go Leon Goretzka fired the German's level and into the Round of 16. Substitutes Jamal Musiala and Timo Werner were involved in the build-up, with Goretzka initially attempting to set up Werner from Musiala's cross. But, as the blocked pass fell back to him, Goretzka smashed home a cruel blow to Rossi's valiant men.
Leeds United defender Robin Koch has still to feature for Germany thus far. Koch will be hoping Germany's extended stay at the tournament might afford him the chance of a major international tournament debut.
Havertz leads the way in terms of goalscoring, with two in three games to his name. Robin Gosens and Leon Goretzka have also found the net for Die Mannschaft thus far. Meanwhile, Germany have failed to keep a single clean sheet in their three group games,
Germany will now face England next in the Round of 16, having last met in 2017.
So, that's your review of this game weeks results at the Euro's. Check back at the end of the next round of fixtures to see how the boys got on in our Euro 2020 Review, and keep an eye out for our weekly preview of the next round of fixtures if and when any of our lad's make the quarter-final's.
We've got all your Euro 2020 covered on AllLeedsTV.
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