Photo Credit: Reuters
Everyone loves an underdog story, and every major tournament is made infinitely better by one. However, the first round of matches at Euro 2024 was giving us little to get excited about on that front. And then Romania came along. With precious few big names in their squad, they were widely fancied to finish bottom of what is, on paper, the weakest group in the tournament.
Given that, it was a shock when they romped to a 3-0 win over Ukraine, but in hindsight, maybe it shouldn't have been. In qualifying, the Romanians topped their group ahead of a strong Switzerland side that opened their own tournament with a dominant win over Hungary, a side many fancied to be the dark horses in Germany.
In their final competitive match before the Euros, they beat the Swiss 1-0 and then followed that up with a real statement of a win over Ukraine in Munich. They may not have played their opponents off the park, but they defended excellently in their own half, not giving away any major chances, and took their own in some style, even if they had a little help from Ukraine goalkeeper Andriy Lunin.
We finally got the first major upset of the tournament on Monday afternoon as Slovakia stunned Belgium 1-0 in Group E to kick-start their tournament. Aside from it being a disastrous start to the campaign in Germany for Domenico Tedesco’s Red Devils, the loss exposed the Belgian attack’s lack of bite as they huffed and puffed but couldn’t get the goal they needed after conceding early.
The biggest culprit of wasting chances was the country’s record-scorer and mainstay in attack Romelu Lukaku, who had two shots on target, yielding an Expected Goals (xG) score of 1.20. Lukaku did have two goals chalked off, one for offside and one for a handball in the buildup, but still, he couldn’t get the job done.
It may be a brand-new tournament, but it is certainly still the same old France. With the return of N'Golo Kante to the fold, he walked into a midfield alongside Antoine Griezmann and Adrien Rabiot, it felt like something of a throwback when Les Bleus took on Austria in Dusseldorf for the late game on Monday.
The former Chelsea and Leicester City man was utterly excellent in the heart of midfield, proving that he still has so much left in his tank despite the move to Saudi Arabia at the age of 33. Just like in previous years, there is nothing too pretty about Les Bleus and the way they play. Under Didier Deschamps, they set up to be strong in midfield and solid at the back, while relying on the star quality and transitional pace of Kylian Mbappe, and in part, Ousmane Dembele.
Mbappe's class and cutting edge was the difference in this game once again, with his fast feet and electric speed causing the Austria defense all sorts of problems for the only goal of the game - an own goal scored by Maximilian Wober. It may not always be eye-catching, but it is a style that made France World Champions in 2018 and a side that has reached three finals during Deschamps' tenure.
