UEFA EURO 2016: Wales Shine, Irish & Polish Dance, England’s Usual Start

UEFA EURO 2016 is underway! Woo!

It’s been a hectic few days already, and after the first round of games it’s already a mixed bag for the home teams…

WALES (2-1 win vs. Slovakia)

That Gareth Bale free kick though.

The quality of the tournament so far has been incredibly high, not only with Bale’s stupendous opener in their match on Saturday with Slovakia, but with Dimitri Payet doing his thing once again – this time in the French colours – but a win is exactly what Wales would’ve been looking for in their first major tournament in decades.

On top of this, they now have the upper hand against their next opponents England (more on that later) – a win against the Three Lions would automatically qualify them for the knockout stages. Definitely making the most of their time in the Euros, and it’s only one game in!
NEXT MATCH: vs. England (Thursday)

A late-minute equaliser for Russia left England with a draw.

ENGLAND (1-1 draw vs. Russia)

Meanwhile for England, a kick in the gut exactly when they didn’t need it – an injury time equaliser for Russia meant that a well-deserved win went amiss for the Three Lions. It’s not all doom and gloom, however – it keeps up a rather unusual stat in which England have never won their opening match in a Euro tournament, which is a bit of a surprise. Despite this, England have gone to the knockout stages in their two most recent appearances.

They’ll be up against fellow home team Wales next, who are riding a wave of momentum now. England’s other dubious record needs to be ended, and soon: They’ve not won a major tournament match since beating Ukraine in their last group stage match of EURO 2012, four years ago (two losses and two draws since then).

England have also notoriously been shaky, too – outside of the 3rd place in 1996 (and in 1968, as one of just 4 teams), all other of England’s appearances have ended in the group stages. Uh-oh.

All of this could be undone, sadly, as a result of off-pitch antics from certain sections of fans. Both Russia and England have been threatened with Disqualification from the tournament if their fans continue to misbehave. Russia already has disciplinary hearings against them for fans charging at England fans following the final whistle, but incidents before England’s first game also has them under scrutiny.
NEXT MATCH: vs. Wales (Thursday)

A Northern Ireland & Polish fan have a dance-off prior to the match.

NORTHERN IRELAND (1-0 loss vs. Poland)

While there’s been major issues with hooliganism during the tournament so far, Northern Ireland & Poland couldn’t be any more different – both sides are enjoying their time in the tournament, so much so a video’s gone viral on the internet of a dance-off between fans of the two nations!

On the pitch, Northern Ireland had their work cut out for them against a very up-for-it Poland – and as hard and strong as they defended, Poland eventually broke through. Still, a 1-0 defeat, while not ideal, is far from terrible. With third place still potentially going through to the knockout stages, they’ll keep their chins up and push on.
NEXT MATCH: vs. Ukraine (Thursday)

Hoolahan celebrates the opening goal against Sweden.

REPUBLIC OF IRELAND (1-1 draw vs. Sweden)

For a team that lost all three games without scoring a single goal in Euro 2012, it says something about the vast improvement of the team when they can say they’re disappointed about a draw with Sweden.

RoI took the lead on Monday with Wes Hoolahan scoring just after the second half got underway – but a frustrating own goal by Ciaran Clark with less than 20 minutes to go was the result of Sweden pushing hard after falling behind.

Try as they might though, neither team could find a winner – and as a result, it ended up a draw. Certainly something RoI of four years ago would’ve taken, but they keep their heads up high.

The question is, with World #2 Belgium and Italy (who took a 2-0 win against the Belgians) also in their group, how many more points can they take?
NEXT MATCH: vs. Belgium (Saturday)

Ashley Redman
No Lions on my chest, so I’m probably wrong