Euro Roundup

Italy's players celebrates at the end of the UEFA Euro 2024 Group B football match between Croatia and Italy at the Leipzig Stadium in Leipzig on June 24. AFP Photos

Thanh Hà

After 12 days of an action-packed and entertaining group stage, Euro 2024 has now reached its knockout phase.

Beginning with 24, eight teams have now crashed out, leaving 16 to fight for the coveted trophy in Germany.

Switzerland, aiming for historic back-to-back Euro quarter-final appearances, open the round of 16 against defending champions Italy, which failed to impress unlike Euro 2020 when they eased through the group stage, at the Olympiastadion in Berlin on June 29.

Hours later, hosts Germany, have been impressive from the get-go, scoring eight times and conceding just twice on route to reaching the knockouts, will continue their home tournament in Dortmund against fellow unbeaten side Denmark, which will need to improve significantly if they are to enjoy another deep run.

Group C winners England, which welcome midfielder Phil Foden's return to the training camp following the birth of his third child, are back in Gelsenkirchen to face Slovakia, which qualified for the last 16 as one of the four best third-placed sides, having finished behind Romania and Belgium in the tight Group E, in which all teams finished on four points.

Spain, the only team to win all three games and not concede a goal in the group stage, will take on the surprise package and tournament debutants Georgia, who stunned Portugal to reach Euro 2024 knockout stages, in Cologne.

A noticeable tie will be between 2022 World Cup finalists France, who have two clean sheets so far but a lack of cutting edge up top and neighbours Belgium, with Kevin De Bruyne who was stunned and angry at being booed by his own supporters.

France's players take part a training session at the Home Deluxe Arena Stadium in Paderborn, western Germany, on June 27.

​​​They will meet in Düsseldorf after finishing as runners-up in competitive groups.

Portugal, who won Group F despite a shock final-day defeat to Georgia, will play knockout stage debutants Slovenia, who avoided defeat, which keeps their impressive unbeaten run intact while also making history by reaching the knockout phase for the first time, in Frankfurt.

Munich will host the penultimate match of the round between Romania, who impressed en route to winning their group, and the Netherlands, who finished third in the competitive Group D.

That group was won by Austria, who conclude the round of 16 with an enticing tie against Group F runners-up Turkey in Leipzig.

Stage records

After the group round, coaches and players have scored with some remarkable records.

Heading into the knockouts, Georgia’s forward Georges Mikautadze is the leading scorer with three goals.

Five players are joint-second in the list with two goals -- Germany’s Jamal Musiala and Niclas Fullkrug, Netherlands’ Cody Gakpo, Romania’s Razvan Marin and Slovakia’s Ivan Schranz.

Cristiano Ronaldo is the Euro 2024 record holder although he has not scored a single goal yet.

Ronaldo was the only player to have competed in six Euros since 2004. He is the oldest captain at 39 years and 142 days after Portugal's last group round match on June 27.

CR7 was the oldest player to assist on a score, after his pass that was converted into goal by Bruno Fernandes in their 3-0 win over Turkey on June 22.

Dominik Szoboszlai of Hungary is the youngest skipper, aged 23 years and 256 days on June 28.

Spanish striker Lamine Yamal is the youngest player, aged 16 years 338 days when he played the first match between Spain vs Croatia on June 15. 

Pepe is the oldest player when he got in there field at age 41 years 117 days when Portugal beat Turkey 3-0 on June 22.

At age 38 years 289 days, Croatian Luka Modric is the oldest player t score at a Euro. His opener in the 1-1 draw against Italy on June 25 helped him break record of Austrian Ivica Vastic who scored when he was 38 years 257 days in 2028.

Julian Nagelsmann is the youngest coach in the Euros, 36 years 327 days when he took Germany in the tournament opener beating Scotland 5-1 on June 15.

The earliest goal was by Nedim Bajrami when he opened the score for Albania in the first minute of the team's 1-2 loss to Italy on June 16.

Hungary's forward (No 23) Kevin Csoboth scores his team's first goal during the UEFA Euro 2024 Group A football match between Scotland and Hungary at the Stuttgart Arena in Stuttgart on June 23,

The latest goal was by Kevin Csoboth at the 99min 32sec when he netted to help Hungary beat Scotland 1-0 on June 24.

Spain are the only team to win all three games in the group phase.

France are the first team in Euro and World Cup to ensure their next stage's place without a goal scored by any of the team's players.

Before Mabppe scored a goal in a 1-1 draw between France and Poland in the last group phrase, Francec already had four points from one win and one loss and qualified for the next round.

In their 1-0 win over Austria, Maximilian Wöber scored an own goal at the 38th minute.

Ukraine are the first team in history earning four points, but not advancing to the knockouts. All four team's of Group E pocketed same four points but Ukraine placed bottom due to worst goal difference.

The match between Czech and Turkey was considered the dirtiest game in the Euro history.

Romanian referee Istvan Kovacs handed out 18 cards including 16 yellows and two reds. Curiously, five of the 18 were given to players who were not even on the field of play. 

Czech Republic's forward (No 19) Tomas Chory (up, left) argues with Turkey's players during the UEFA Euro 2024 Group F football match at the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg on June 26.

The previous record was 10 penalty cards, belonging to France's 0-1 loss to Portugal in the 2016 final; Italy's 3-1 penalty shootout win over the Netherlands in the 2000 semi-finals; and Germany's 2-0 win over the Czech Republic in the 1996 group stage.

The Czechs also became the team with the most red cards in Euro history. VNS