The second round of the Euro 2020 kicked off on Saturday, with two matches played on each day. The first four matches were reviewed by me in this post). The next four matches however started with rain of goals, while in the last two matches, had slimmer goal margins.
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In the Croatia vs Spain match, 90 minutes was not enough to send any of them to the quarter finals, as it ended in a 3-3 draw. Score lines opened in the 20th minute of play, when Unai Simón carelessly handled the long pass to him from Pedri, letting it slip pass his leg, and into the goal, giving the Croats a goal advantage.
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At the 77th minute, Spain had returned the favor with 3 goals, and an 85th minute struggle in front of Unai Simón's post saw the ball cross the goal line. It was going to end at 3-2, but Mario Pašalić decided to prove himself as a worthy substitute, as his last minute header took the ball home, driving the match into extra time. The Spaniards showed dominance in this period, with many strikes that yielded two beautiful goals, bringing the scores to 3-5 at the end of 120 minutes.
In another match on the same day, Current world champions, France were rather unlucky. Swiss' Haris Seferović opened the score line in the 15th minute with a brilliant header, and this they took into halftime. After a rain of goals in the second half, the match ended in a 3-3 draw. Extra time yielded no reasonable result, as both goalkeepers made some brilliant saves.
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Kylian Mbappé's missed penalty during the penalty shoot out cost France qualification to the next round. it is noteworthy however, the contributions of Karim Benzema and Paul Pogba during the match. Pogba's 75th shot had so much precision and enough speed to evade all oppositions. Switzerland's Gavranović also pushed so hard till he got a last minute equalizer for his side, after being denied a goal earlier, being in an offside position.
England vs Germany was rather less of fireworks than what was expected of such an encounter. There were a couple of weak and wayward strikes, especially in the first half. One of these is Thomas Muller's 81st minute moment with the keeper, which veered off to the keeper's right. The breakthrough came in the 75th minute, when Raheem Sterling converted a good cross from Luke Shaw to a neat goal.
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Harry Kane soon followed up with another goal in the 86th minute, making good use of a cross from Jack Grealish. This sealed the win for England, knocking Germany out of the race for the trophy.
The final match for this round had Ukraine going through to the quarter finals at the expense of Sweden. The first half witnessed two brilliant goals, the first from Oleksandr Zinchenko in the 27th minute, with a close shot, too unstable for Olsen to handle. Sweden's Emil Forsberg leveled the scores with a luckily deflected shot, 2 minutes before half time.
90 minutes ended on level terms, but the decider came in the last moments of extra time. Artem Dovbyk sends home a cross from Zinchenko with a swift header. It was Sweden's late goal against Poland that gave Ukraine a spot in the knockout round, and now, a late goal takes them a step closer to the trophy.
The closer it gets to the final, the hotter the battle, and of course, the more interesting football gets. We can't wait for what the quarter finals hold for contesting nations, and for soccer viewers alike.
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