After the opening weekend of games we already have a large spread of results in our pool. Pete Reynolds has had an excellent weekend with 13.25 points.
Anyway to the games:
France v Romania
France resemble England – good bunch of players going forward but a liability at the back. They managed to navigate a 2-1 win with a fantastic Payet goal.
Albania v Switzerland
Or as they say in Switzerland, Albania v Albania. Albania looked a decent outfit, but the deserved sending off meant that it was always going to be difficult, but Switzerland scraped home with a 1-0 win. Standard Switzerland – very few goals, very little excitement. Quicker they are out the tournament the better.
Wales v Slovakia
Fifty eight years in the wilderness and Wales came the party like they had never been away. An excellent performance against a very good team. Wales never lost faith and that victory make progression to the next stage more than likely.
England v Russia
A game England should never have drawn but were never convincing. Lots of good chances, but very few clear cut ones. The formation for me doesn’t work and there are a few players (Lallana and Sterling for two) who shouldn’t be out there. The real disappointing thing was the fact that Roy failed to change the shape of the team and sent on Milner – which ended up being a catastrophe.
A stark comparison to the rugby in the morning where Eddie Jones was decisive on the half hour mark which was ended up being a masterstroke.
That was probably the easiest game in the group – things will only get harder from here. Russia were abject -they showed no ambition, unlike their fans, who were far more organised, motivated and delivered results.
Turkey v Croatia
Croatia have so many world class players and should have won by more. Turkey were an easy second best.
Northern Ireland v Poland
A valiant performance from Northern Ireland, but it always backs against the wall. Lafferty never had enough ball to work with and they spurned the few set pieces they earned. Poland should have scored more.
Germany v Ukraine
As always, Germany delivered. A comfortable 2-0 victory, but there were some signs of big frailties at the back. Ukraine had plenty of chances – even though they were generally poor. Germany need to make changes up front, Gotze looked lost.
Standings
Results
Leaderboard
Next update after the end of Round One.
