itsbeautifuloutside

Romania 3 Ukraine 0

17th June. Fußball Arena München

⚽️ IBO Reporter: jickster

Since the start of the tournament, Romania v Ukraine was always the game everyone was looking forward to, as we would find out the answer to the big question: how much of the game will Jickster be able to watch on his phone while in a Teams meeting at work with the microphone and camera switched off? The answer is a little bit of the first half, but not enough to write anything insightful, apart from marvelling at the continued ability of the fans at this tournament to create walls of colour to support their teams - I know it's always like that but I've really been impressed by the efforts this year and this game has a particularly good yellow end full of Romania fans.

Aside from that, it highlights comments from me here - it’s a bit of an upset as Romania gets their first tournament win since Euro 2000. They get a helping hand on the way as Real Madrid keeper Lunin gives the ball away to Stanciu, who still has a lot to do but hits a beauty to put them in front.

Another long-range goal makes it 2-0 as Lunin fumbles in a shot from Marin in the second half, quickly followed by a close-range finish from Dragus to make it three.

It looks like a deserved win for the Romanians, Ukraine's best efforts coming too late as they look for a consolation goal. Romania are now in a strong position to progress. While all is not lost for Ukraine, they badly need a result against Slovakia in their next game.

Belgium 0 Slovakia 1

17th June. Frankfurt Arena

⚽️ IBO Reporter: jickster

Then we go into the game between Belgium and Slovakia, and I am able to listen to some of the first half on the radio and half watch the second half. Up until now, all of the group’s top seeds have won their games, but I have a feeling that Belgium is there for the taking, with an ageing golden generation who missed their best chance of success a few years ago. Lukaku has one of those days upfront for them, as we finally do get that big surprise result with a 1-0 win for Slovakia.

Things started brightly for Belgium, with Doku looking lively and creating two openings early on, both spurned by Lukaku. Doku then gives the ball away in his own box, and Schranz eventually takes advantage to put his side in front, all this within the first 7 minutes. As Chris Sutton and Vicky Sparks enjoy saying the name of Petr Pekarik of Slovakia, Lukaku continues to waste chances. Early in the second half, Belgium really start to turn the screw on Slovakia, and Lukaku finally puts the ball in the net, but he is just about offside.

Belgium begin to run out of ideas, but with minutes to go it looks like they really do have an equaliser as Lukaku sweeps in Openda's low cross. We're all set to restart when a VAR check shows that it brushed Openda's hand at the start of the move and it's another goal ruled out. Technically, yes, it touched his hand, but I’m not as convinced as the ITV ref commentator, whose name I can’t remember, who thinks it's a clear deliberate movement. Pre-VAR, nobody would have cared about this goal being awarded; for me, it's an example of why we don't need it in the game, but there we go.

There is a lot of work to do for Belgium then; the format of the tournament will be quite forgiving for them, and they will probably still go through, but it has opened this group up what looked like perhaps the weakest set of 4 teams might end up producing a fair bit of drama. Hopefully, I get to watch a bit more of it in the next set of games!

Slovakia 1 Ukraine 2

21st June, Düsseldorf Arena

⚽️ IBO Reporter: jickster

It’s a 2pm working day fixture, and you know what that means- a match report based entirely on highlights! Slovakia are looking to follow up on their win against Belgium, and the goalscoring hero that day, Schranz, gives them an early lead here as well- the highlights show that they’d already had a couple of chances beforehand as well. Ukraine do, however, turn it around in the second half, with goals from Shaparenko and a tidy finish from Yaremchuk earning them a 2-1 win and their first points of the tournament. Sorry no more insight than that from me!

Belgium 2 Romania 0

22nd June, Cologne Stadium

Onto Belgium v Romania then, and I actually managed to watch all of this- I’m really glad I did because it was a really enjoyable game as well. Belgium came into it off the back of their poor result against Slovakia. They hadn’t exactly played badly in that game, but Romelu Lukaku’s Mr Bean-style combination of incompetence and bad luck had cost them the match, and I was really interested to see if he could turn things around here.

They get off to the perfect start here, Lukaku involved with his lay off smacked into the goal from the edge of the box by Tielemans. Belgium are clearly in the mood to put things right and continue to cause havoc; De Bruyne looks right in the mood with his surging runs supported by good work from Doku and Lukaku as well as Lukebakio- a player I wasn’t previously familiar with, but he is very impressive here. But it’s not all one-way traffic, and Romania themselves look to spring forward whenever they have the opportunity. They clearly don’t have the quality in the final third that Belgium do, but they do their bit, and it makes for a lively and attacking game.

We get to half time with the score still 1-0, and as the second half starts, it’s clear that Belgium want to get a bit of a cushion for themselves, and they turn up the gas, De Bruyne twice going close.

Then Lukaku is put through one-on-one, and I have to say I don’t fancy him at all; I’m expecting a tame shot at the keeper, but he finishes really decisively into the bottom corner. Belgium celebrates, and I see the replay and think, ‘Ah, yes, and he’s well onside as well; he’s put his problems behind him now’, only for VAR to pop up and show that he was a fraction off to everyone’s surprise. As a VAR-hater, I’d still prefer the benefit of the doubt to go to the attacker here, but at least the new system is pretty quick to correct things, so it’s not as bad as it could be.

Romania are boosted and immediately almost equalised as Man goes through and should do better but is denied by Casteels in goal. They continue to push forward but are finally caught out as De Bruyne gets on the end of a long clearance from the goalie and finishes well, an uncharacteristic type of goal for him but deserved for his performance.

Romania try to get back into the match, but the spirit is knocked out of them by this stage, and the game ends 2-0. Both teams contributed to an exciting match, and there could have been more goals for each of them, but Belgium were well worth the win.

So now we’re in a fascinating position in the group with all 4 sides locked on 3 points each! What a final day we have lined up with all to play for. The flawed nature of the teams, combined with a desire for attacking play, has made for a really exciting group so far, and the final games on Wednesday afternoon will be worth tuning in for.

Ukraine 0 Belgium 0

26th June, Stuttgart Arena

Slovakia 1 Romania 1

26th June, Frankfurt Arena

⚽️ IBO Reporter: jickster

It's another inconveniently scheduled set of matches for me, but I caught some on the radio and TV as I was excited to find out what these teams could offer up, all equal on 3 points and looking to progress.

Unfortunately, what I had failed to take into account was that a draw was a tempting option for all 4 teams. For three of them, they knew that a draw would definitely take them through. Even for Ukraine, who went into the day bottom on goal difference, they knew that if the other match between Romania and Slovakia produced a winner either way, then the draw would be sufficient for them. So all four approached their games in a cagy way, knowing defeat would most likely be the end for them.

Perhaps the best hope of entertainment would be another comedy slapstick show from Romelu Lukaku. Few players in the history of the game can swing between the sublime and the ridiculous like him, and he's having a classic tournament in that respect. After a few minutes, he gets a chance that the radio commentator says is a great opportunity ‘for a player of his calibre’; I have no idea what that calibre actually is, so judge for yourself how difficult the chance was.

There is some excitement soon after as Slovakia go in front in their game; Duda obliges with a nice header, opening things up in the group. But shortly afterwards, Hagi is tripped in the box for Romania, and VAR awards a penalty that Marin belts into the roof of the net, and we're back where we started, aside from a boost to the goals scored column for these teams.

In the other game, Belgium dominate and always look to have more quality. They push forward and make some half-chances, but the final ball isn’t quite right, and they never fully commit to the attack. Ukraine are able to hang in there.

With about 10 minutes left, Ukraine started to realise that they were in trouble as the other game was heading for a draw. They start to get the kitchen sink out and try to get that winner, Sudakov, with the best chance as he dances through but can't get the power on his shot to really trouble Casteels. It's too late for them, though, and the game ends with them going out on that goal difference.

Slovakia and Romania shake hands on their draw, and they both go through; reaching the last 16 would have been their aim for a successful tournament, and they can both celebrate.

Belgium also went through in second, but they now have to face France - job done after a tricky opening defeat for them,

but perhaps they will regret not pushing for the win that would have put them onto the other side of the draw. With their quality in attack they will always have a puncher's chance and maybe they