France-Ireland stands out amid poor knockout games at Euro 2016

By Hilton Yip Source:Global Times Published: 2016/6/27 22:58:01

The Euro knockout stages are underway, but so far it has been underwhelming. The first three round of 16 games were painfully uneventful, as teams sought to play cautiously and hold out for penalties, while the late games on Sunday were one-sided blowouts. Fortunately, hosts France and the Republic of Ireland provided an exciting match that hopefully will not be the last.

France were shocked early when the Republic won a penalty in the ­second minute and Robbie Brady scored. Though France launched several ­attacks, Ireland held their own and maintained their lead into the second half before ­Antoine Griezmann took over with a quick double that stunned Ireland. Griezmann then had a clear chance on goal before being tripped from behind just outside the penalty box, which earned Irish defender Shane Duffy a red card and effectively ended the game. Ireland tried hard to equalize, but the quality of the French team was apparent.

The previous knockout games were nowhere near as eventful.

Croatia were one of the favorites after their group stage performance, which included a win over Spain, but their match with Portugal was a snoozefest, despite the presence of Croatia's Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic and Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo sharing the same pitch. Wales versus Northern Ireland saw a lot of passion but little action and end result before an own goal from the latter.

Meanwhile, Germany and Belgium both showed off truly fearsome form ­after slow starts in the group stages when they battered Slovakia 3-0 and Hungary 4-0, respectively. While the latter two are not big names, Slovakia had held ­England to a 0-0 draw, while ­Hungary played Portugal to a 3-3 draw in their final group games. Such one-sided blowouts are still only marginally ­better than dull matches in a tournament knockout stage. And dull is exactly what a lot of critics have been labeling this ­edition of the Euros as.

Even many of the stars have not had much of an impact. Sweden's Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Croatia's Mario Mandzukic and Modric came and left without doing much, while Ronaldo only came to life in Portugal's final group game. Polish ace Robert Lewandowski is still without a goal. Wales' Gareth Bale has been the pick of the big names so far, with three goals in the group stage and an ­assist in the win over Northern ­Ireland. Of course, soccer is a team game that the likes of Iceland and Ireland have showed can be played without ­major stars.

By the time you are reading this, all of the second-round games will have been played. It certainly would be a travesty if France versus Ireland was the only good match.

In any case, maybe this Euros is ­simply saving the best for last.

The author is a Hong Kong-based freelance writer. hcpyip@gmail.com

Posted in: Extra Time

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