Euro 2020 | Last 16 Results and Match Reaction | Shock for France as the Swiss Roll On | Is It Coming Home?

This round of the Last 16 has delivered, with one or two shocks along the way. Let's not waste any more time and begin the match reactions. 

Wales 0-4 Croatia 
Wales started the first ten to fifteen minutes in a decent fashion, Kasper Dolberg opened proceedings with a well taken goal, almost fifa-esque. the job was done for the Danes after Dolberg scored his second goal after the halftime break. Wales heads dropped from then on, Joakim Maehle scored the third, Wilson added to the Welsh pain by getting sent off unfairly, Martin Braithwaite added salt to Wales' wounds with the fourth late in added time after a lengthy VAR decision.

Wales did well to get this far, an achievement in itself, however, people were making an excuse for their elimination, blaming it on travelling to different countries. Congratulations to Denmark, their momentum continues. 

Italy 2-1 Austria
The contest was pretty much even for the ninety plus minutes, the Italian's class shone through in extra thanks to well taken goals from substitutes Federico Chiesa and Matteo Pessina. Credit to Austria, they gave it their all and got the goal they deserved which does not matter now all is said and done, they could've taken the lead in normal time but were denied by VAR, speaking of VAR, have you noticed how slow the English referees are with the technology in this tournament compared to other international officials? I'll say no more. 

Netherlands 0-2 Czech Republic
This tie was pretty even in terms of the first half, however the game changed ten minutes into the second, Donyall Melen missed a huge opportunity to put the Dutch in front and then Matthjis de Ligt was sent for handball moments later, it is worth pointing out that even before this all occurred, Czech Republic were by far the better side and they got their reward in the 68th minute, when Thomas Holes opened the scoring, Patrik Schick added another goal to his tally, with ten minutes of normal time remaining to seal the tie for the Czech Republic who go on to face Denmark in the quarter finals. 

Belgium 1-0 Portugal
This game was decided by a moment of brilliance from Thorgan Hazard on the 42nd minute. Portugal's best effort came in the second half from Raphael Guerrerio's strike which hit the post, other than that, they didn't pose a threat to the opposition's goal resulting in the end of their title defence. Belgium will play Italy on Friday in the next round. We are well and truly at the business end of the tournament. 

Croatia 3-5 Spain
I want to apologise to both teams here, I approached this game assuming it was going to be a boring and dull game, what we saw was one of the best games of the this tournament so far, it had everything, a comical own goal for Croatia's opener, the own goal had a positive effect as it inspired Spain to wake up. Pablo Sarrabia equalised prior to halftime. Chelsea's Cesar Azpilicueta and Manchester City's Ferran Torres scored the goals to put the Spaniards two goals clear of their opponents with less than a quarter of the game remaining, Croatia responded by scoring two goals in the last five minutes of normal time to take the game into extra time, you could tell they were tired, Spain raised their game yet again and scored two more goals in the first half of extra time. Luis Enrique's team are now in the last eight.  

France 3-3 Switzerland (Switzerland won 5-4 on penalties)
Many people on social media platforms were talking about Spain playing France in the next round prior to this game, however, Switzerland had other plans. They took the lead in the first half, thanks to a quality header from Haris Seferovic, but missed out on a golden opportunity to double it via a penalty which was missed, from then on, you could sense the tide of the game was turning in France's favour and that proved to be the case when Karim Benzema scored twice in two minutes, followed up by an amazing goal by Paul Pogba for 3-1 fifteen minutes later.

At 3-1 you would have been excused for thinking that was game over for the Swiss, to their credit, they didn't roll over, they scored two goals in the last ten minutes of normal time, sending the game to extra time where Kylian Mbappe' missed glorious chances to put his side in front, his miserable night was complete as he missed the decisive penalty in the shootout, meaning that Le Bleus were eliminated and Switzerland were the team to progress to the next round. Unbelievable scenes in Bucharest, which was the location of the first shock of the tournament. 

England 2-0 Germany
The Three Lions erased some painful memories from twenty five years ago by putting in a near solid team performance at Wembley in front of an electric crowd, as expected it was a cagey first half, in the second, Kai Havertz effort was followed up by a tremendous save by in form Jordan Pickford. Jack Grealish's appearance was met by cheers from the home fans, the cheers grew louder when Raheem Sterling slotted home the opener. Thomas Muller missed a golden opportunity to equalise for Germany, was it England's day? you bet, Jack Grealish crossed in the ball which was headed in by Harry Kane to seal the tie. The scenes at the end will be the one we will never forget, however, the team cannot be complacent, another game is on the the horizon, this Saturday at 8pm. 

Sweden 1-2 Ukraine (After Extra Time)
England's opponent's will be Ukraine after they defeated a much fancied Sweden team that were tipped to win this game. Oleksandr Zinchenko opened the scoring with a fine strike past the opposition keeper. Emil Forsberg equalised for Sweden via a deflection. It was advantage Ukraine after Marcus Danielson was sent off, and fairly, I want to add. Ukraine won the game thanks to a stoppage time header in extra time, scored by Artem Dovbyk. 

The Quarter Final predictions will be available Friday, July 2nd. 

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