The second day of Euro 2016 had a mixture of the good, bad and the ugly as the tournament kicked off proper.
With three football games scheduled between now and Tuesday 14 (shock), there’s going to be a lot to take in.
Here’s our rundown of the Heroes and Villains of Matchday 2 of Euro 2016.
Heroes
Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images
Gareth Bale
It had to be him. After close to a 60 year wait for Wales to feature in an international tournament, it had be Gareth Bale to score their first goal. The Real Madrid and Wales talisman was superb on Saturday, not buckling under expectation and delivering Wales their first win in the European Championship. His free kick was a excellent, and his work rate throughout the match (Aaron Ramsey also deserves a nod), sublime. Wales hounded and harried Slovakia throughout the game and deserved their win. That England could only draw later in the evening adds a gloss to the result. Wales have just gone from “maybe they’ll get out the group” to “they might top Group B”. Superb.
Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images
Eric Dier
The final score might have been disappointing, but for the most part England were good value in their 1-1 draw with Russia. There’s a good side hiding somewhere in the squad and central to that is Eric Dier work in central midfield. Working almost as a third centre back, Dier was superb last night, shielding his back four and springing attacks for the Three Lions. That he capped it with a wonderful free kick only underlines his growing importance to the England team. JOE readers seem to agree, with 25% of you voting in our poll calling him the best player in the England team on Saturday. England may have drawn, but the future is bright for the young wolf. (Because he’s a DIERwolf. Get it?)
Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images
Wales football fans
With much of the news coming out of Euro 2016 dominated by fan violence, it’s importance to focus on the good from fans home and away. Welsh fans were in fine voice yesterday, cheering their side on to an excellent victory. It’s no wonder why Bale thinks Welsh fans ‘feel more pride and passion than anyone else‘ as fan videos have shown the “12th man” get in a tizz following Wales’ debut goal. In an added touch, French media from Bordeaux has thanked Welsh fans for how friendly they’ve been. The good side of football.
VillainsÂ
Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images
Lorik Cana
You’re the captain and best centre back in your country. You’re playing in your very first European Championship. You’re on a yellow card. Why would you get yourself sent off?
There’s playing off emotion and letting it all get to you. Cana’s red card made a hard game exhausting for a scrapping Albania team that was unlucky to lose to Switzerland. His tournament is over, and with it, possibly Albania’s.
Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images
Roy Hodgson
Harsh? Possibly. As we said earlier, there is a good England team hiding somewhere in this squad, but it seems like Roy has problems finding it. England were by far the better side last night, but struggled to turn that dominance into end product. As the game progressed and the wide men grew tired, Roy could have been proactive and made changes to further stretch Russia. Instead, he hesitated, and Sterling and Lallana wilted as Russia grew in confidence. Much like in England in the 2014 World Cup, England have shown flashes of brilliance, but they are most left in a haze of confusion. England will most likely get out of the group, and a quarter final run is very possible, but they need to be more streetwise going forward.
Albania goalkeeper Etrit Berisha. Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images.
Goalkeeping
Maybe it’s the new tournament ball, but the level of goalkeeper at Euro 2016 has left something to be desired. Goalies are having a case of the vampires – struggling with crosses – as many men are coming out for balls and getting caught in no man’s land. Bad goalies mean more goals, but in what is supposed to arguably the hardest international football tournament to win, goalkeepers have to step it up.
Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images
Russian football “fans”
Shocking senseless violence committed by thugs. The beautiful city of Marseille is under siege from a gang of hoodlums wanting to sully the good games name. UEFA have announced they’ll be taking action, but last nights images of fan violence in the Stade Velodrome will send a chill up many a person’s spine. What will happen as the tournament progresses? What will become of Russia’s World Cup in 2018?
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