Euro 2016 group stage delivered twists and turns

Noel Butler

Analyst, TSN Radio 690 Montreal

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The group stage of a very first 24-nation European Championship provided us with 13 straight days of twists, turns, thrills and spills that even Walt Disney couldn’t have dared to imagine.

Who could have thought the three top scorers during Euro 2016 qualification — Robert Lewandowski, Zlatan Ibrahimović and Thomas Müller — with a phenomenal 33 goals between them, would not muster a single goal through the entire group stage?

Those giddy with statistics will roll over laughing when realizing England had a pass completion rate that was only bettered by three other nations. Possession might be nine tenths of the law, but it has so little relevance to what often plays out over the 90 minutes of a football match.

The two-day pause between the conclusion of the group stage and the Round of 16 getting underway Saturday morning allows for the desperately needed rest for teams as they set their sights on progressing through the knockout stage. It also gives supporters time to catch their collective breath. Supporters, I must add, that in the vast majority have not only been exceptionally well behaved but also very much contributed to the entire spectacle — from Lille in the north through Bordeaux, down to Nice along the breezy Côte d'Azur.

We’ve been treated to a goal of the tournament contender seemingly on a daily basis through the 36 matches in the group stage. From Cristiano’s deft flick cheeky grinner, to Lukaku’s precise impersonation of little Leo, to Modric’s majestic 30-yard volley and Hamsik’s vapour-like howitzer.

They all pale in comparison when taking into account Dimitri Payet’s late show winner for the hosts against Romania. The unbridled joy and emotion it immediately set off when it smashed into the back of the net was a sight to behold. It seemingly fused together the 80,000 plus capacity crowd as one at the Stade de France on the opening night.

Didier Deschamps had told Payet in March he would not start for France until he started to play the type and standard of football for his country that he had been displaying all season long while in the claret and blue of West Ham. When factoring in Payet’s even later Albanian showing, a career in reverse psychology awaits the French head coach.

Anyone who doubts Antonio Conte’s credentials as a win-at-all costs, old-school-type only have to watch footage of the Azzurri’s bench when Giaccherini got himself on the end of Bonucci’s 40-yarder to put the Euro 2012 runners up on the scoreboard against Belgium. Such was the celebration the Italian manager paid for it with a bloodied and bruised nose.

In an age where sports science and analytical data are appearing at the forefront of a team’s precisely engineered preparation, it was refreshing to hear Jamie Vardy, on the day after England had beaten Wales, state that, as far as he was concerned, a gym was a no-go area. He also announced that the heaviest thing he ever lifted to help sculpt and tone his footballing self was a large can of energy drink.

It must have been at that very point Arsene Wenger instructed Arsenal’s lawyers to remove and destroy immediately all evidence of their offer for the Leicester hitman. A few days later Vardy decided to stay put at the home of the BPL champions.

If Payet’s winner on the opening day bore almost as much significance as Ronaldo potting a penalty in Milan just over a month ago, then you tell me of a previous Euro or World Cup Finals where the very last goal on the final day of a group stage sent a nation of nearly five million into utter delirium. Robbie Brady’s winner in the 85th minute against Italy secured the country’s very first berth in the knockout stages of the tournament and cemented his place in Irish folklore.

All Irish eyes were most certainly smiling at Stade Pierre Wednesday night. As were the bar, nightclub, grocery shop and restaurant owners of Lille, who likely spent all day Thursday restocking the entire contents of their shelves and fridges. It’s thirsty work supporting the Republic. The Dublin Fire Brigade even got in on the joie de vivre act, letting the citizens of the capital know on their Twitter feed they were fully aware Brady was on fire.

Along the way the fans in green have changed car tires for the elderly, sung lullabies to babies, taken time to serenade young ladies and made the owner of a Parisian apartment do his best impression of the Pope as he waved from his balcony at the adoring green masses congregated, singing, dancing and drinking below. When combining all with the divine support from Northern Ireland and Iceland, Euro 2016 has truly provided an outpouring of fandom like not ever before witnessed. They have taken the 12th man cliché to an unimaginable new level.

Upon us now is a Round of 16 that not even Pythagoras could have made sense of exactly a fortnight ago as Europe’s elite awaited their group stage fate. From when qualification for Euro 2016 kicked off back in early September 2014, a total of 53 European nations, including the debuting Gibraltar, had their designs on making it to the big dance.

Now only 16 remain. Come rush hour Monday, only eight will remain. Only a fool wanting to part with his or her hard-earned money would attempt to predict the outcomes. 

With the way the group stage played itself out the only thing we can guarantee is that at least one of the finalists will come from a nation which has not ever previously had the honour of playing on such a prestigious football occasion.