Kickoff chronicles

France vs Belgium

The third day of the knockouts first saw France take on Belgium at the Dusseldorf Arena in what was the most anticipated Round of 16 tie with 2nd in the world taking on 3rd in the world according to FIFA rankings. It was fair to say the first 45 minutes were even, with Belgium dominating the first half, and France the next 22 minutes. The biggest chance of the half occurred when a whipped cross in from the right wing by Jules Konde was met by a powerful Marcus Thruam header. Unfortunately for the French fans, his effort just whizzed over the top corner. The first 45 minutes concluded with the two teams level at 0-0.

The second period was dominated by France as they picked up where they left off. They came so close on multiple occasions with Aurelien Tchouameni having his effort from range saved by Koen Casteels as well as Kylian Mbappe and William Salabia seeing their shots fly just wide of the woodwork. Didier Deschamps’ team left it late, but in the final 5 minutes they found a winning goal to send them to the last 8 of the Euros. N’Golo Kante played a quick pass to Randel Kolo Muani who was inside the penalty area. Muani rolled Belgian defender Jan Vetongen and fired a shot as soon as he turned, watching as his effort hit the knee of Vertongen, finding the far corner. It was redemption for the young French striker as in the 2022 World Cup final he was highly criticised for his effort in the dying minutes of the game, having a 1 on 1 chance saved by the Argentinian keeper with France going on to lose in penalties. The final whistle was blown with the game finishing at 1-0. It is another disappointing campaign for Belgium, once again not able to replicate the heroics of their 2018 3rd place spot at the Russian World Cup. France would get to find out who their quarter finals opponent were in just a few hours after their fixture finished, with Portugal and Slovenia playing next.

Portugal vs Slovenia

The final game of day 16 was staged at the Frankfurt Arena with Group F winners Portugal playing 3rd place in Group C, Slovenia. Portugal were always going to find it hard trying to break down Slovenia as they had only conceded 2 goals so far and were unbeaten in Group C. Unsurprisingly, Roberto Martinez’s Portugal dominated the first half but failed to score with everyone in the Slovenian backline and midfield putting in a brilliant shift to keep them at bay. Portugal’s best chance to find the lead was just before the interval when Rafael Leao made a dancing run into the Slovenian penalty area. The tricky winger then played the ball back out to the edge of the penalty area to Fulham midfielder Joao Palhinha. Palhinha set himself up before watching his powerful effort hit the post and bounce out of play. The half ended 0-0 with Slovenia satisfied with their first half performance and clean sheet. 

The second half was much less entertaining but more of the same, with Portugal dominating possession and chances but failing to convert. It was proving not to be Portuguese captain Cristiano Ronaldo’s day as he had two late efforts saved by the experienced Slovenian and Atletico Madrid keeper, Jan Oblak. At the end of 90 minutes the game finished 0-0 heading into an additional 30 minutes of extra time.

At the end of the first 15 minute half, Portugal looked destined to take the lead when the dancing feet of Diogo Jota inside the Slovenian penalty area resulted in him being taken down with the referee left with no choice but to award a spot kick to Portugal. Once again, it was not the all time top scorer in the Euro’s day as Ronaldo saw his powerful penalty parried away by Oblak.

With 6 minutes left to play in the tie, Slovenia came so close to kicking it at the death. The experienced Portuguese centre back in Pepe (still playing at the ripe age of 41) made a horrible error, miskicking the ball and leaving Benjamin Sesko 1-on-1 with keeper Diogo Costa. Portugal needed a hero in this nervy knockout tie and Costa stepped up to fill those shoes, charging out to stop the Leipzig striker from winning the game for Slovenia with a quite brilliant save via his outstretched boot. The game finished 0-0 after 120 minutes meaning penalty kicks would decide who progressed through.

Despite his brilliant comeback into professional football, it was heartbreak for Josip Illicic as he had to watch Slovenia’s and his first spot kick saved by Costa who was proving to be a Portuguese brick wall with the saves he was pulling off. Showing his bravery and persistence, Ronaldo backed himself to take Portugal’s first spot kick, finally beating Oblak as his penalty nestled into the bottom left corner. Slovenia’s 2nd taker was Jure Balkovec but he too had to watch in agony as his effort was parried away by the brilliant Diogo Costa. 2nd for Roberto Martinez’s side was Manchester United’s Bruno Fernades as he calmly slotted his penalty away resulting in Portugal taking a 2-0 lead. Next up for the Slovenians was Benjamin Verbic who had to score if they were to have any chance of coming back in this shoot-out. Unfortunately for him, Costa was making it impossible for any Slovenian to find the back of the net, diving the right way for the 3rd time in a row to parry away Verbic’s spot kick. Bernardo Silva was next for Portugal knowing he had the chance to win the game for Portugal. The Man.City midfielder dispatched it perfectly, rolling it down the side netting and rolling Portugal into a quarter final tie against France. It was a miserable end for Slovenia, as they were so close to winning their first ever knockout game at a European Championships. However, they will hold their heads high going home as they go back knowing they didn’t lose a game over 120 minutes in the whole tournament.

Written by Ollie Wade