Belgium faces France.. Germany faces Denmark in the round of 16

Austria achieved a resounding surprise by topping Group D, after defeating the Netherlands 3-2 in Berlin, and ahead of second-placed France, which fell into a 1-1 draw with Poland in Dortmund, in the third and final round of the group stage of the 2024 European Football Cup held in… Germany.

The Netherlands was third with 4 points, ensuring its qualification to the final 16 with France (5 points) after Spain defeated Albania 1-0 in the second group, last Monday, while Austria took the lead with six points.

In the second match, Kylian Mbappe opened his scoring account in the European Cup with a goal from a penalty kick (56), while Robert Lewandowski equalized in the same way (79), and Polish goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski, who received the best player award in the match, played a major role in his country’s team getting a point.

In the fifth group, yesterday, the Slovakia national team tied with its Romanian counterpart with a goal for each, and the Belgium national team also tied with the Ukraine national team without goals, so that all the teams in this group were equal with a score of 4 points, but the qualification went to Romania, which came in first place and qualified as leader of its group, and qualified with it. Belgium is in second place, and the Slovak national team also secured qualification from the best of three groups. Matters were decided by goal difference, leaving the Ukrainian national team out of the tournament, and the Belgium national team clashed with its French counterpart in the eighth final of the tournament.

England won the top spot in Group C with a goalless draw with Slovenia, which in turn qualified for the quarter-finals for the first time in its history, finishing among the top 4 teams in third place, behind runner-up Denmark, which in turn tied 0-0 with Serbia.

Denmark (3 points), which did not win any match in the group stage, will play Germany, the leader of Group A, next Saturday.

In the first match in Cologne, England, who had already secured qualification to the last 16 with Spain’s win over Albania in Group B last Monday, continued their poor form since the start of the tournament, falling into a draw for the second time in a row after Denmark’s 1-1 draw and their opening 1-0 win over Serbia.

Despite the criticism directed at the Three Lions coach, Gareth Southgate gave confidence to his players who played the first two matches with one change, as he strengthened his midfield with player Conor Gallagher, and put defender Trent Alexander-Arnold on the bench. In contrast, Slovenia, supervised by Matjaj Kek, who drew with Denmark and Serbia with the same score of 1-1, entered the match with the aim of not losing to maintain their hopes of qualifying, and this is what they were able to achieve.

England thought they had opened the scoring after an effort from defender Kieran Trippier on the left side to Phil Foden, who passed the ball on a golden platter inside the area to Bukayo Saka who followed it into the empty goal, but the assistant referee raised the offside flag on Foden (20).

The second half was no different from the first, as England seemed unable to score despite the changes made by Southgate, most notably the removal of Gallagher, Saka, and Foden, and the introduction of Kobe Mainoo, Cole Palmer, and Anthony Gordon.

In the second match, Denmark failed to achieve a new victory over Serbia during their confrontation in Munich, after winning the three previous confrontations between them since Serbia gained its last independence in 2006.

Serbia, meanwhile, failed to win for the eighth consecutive match in a major tournament, since beating Costa Rica 1-0 at the 2018 World Cup, and bid farewell to the tournament under the watchful eye of tennis star Novak Djokovic.