Our first round-up of Euro 2016 covers a day of matches without any ties.
Group D
Germany 2, Scotland 1: “In the year of our lord, 2014, patriots of Scotland, starving and outnumbered, charged the fields of Allianz Arena in Munich. They fought like warrior poets. They fought like Scotsmen. And they lost, but it was a moral victory (kind of) because it was a close game - and Thomas Muller (two goals) is pretty effing good.” Featuring Iketchi Anya as Hamish. A more thorough analysis can be found here. WALLACE! WALLACE! WALLACE!
Republic of Ireland 2, Georgia 1: It was a good day for countries containing the word “Ireland.” Aidan McGeady drew first blood in the 24th minute and scored the winner in the 90th minute. Tornike Okriashvili scored for Georgia. Irish eyes are smiling, indeed.
Poland 7, Gibraltar 0: Yikes. Gibraltar’s first-ever Euro qualifying match didn’t go exactly as planned. They started strong, holding Poland to one goal in the first half. Then the match got a little out of hand. Poland scored four goals in the first fifteen minutes of the second half to put the game away, including two of Robert Lewandowski’s four goals on the day.
Group F
Northern Ireland 2, Hungary 1: This one was a late thriller. Hungary’s Tamas Priskin began the scoring with a header in the 74th minute. Niall McGinn answered in the 80th minute, tapping in Kyle Lafferty’s pass. Laffterty then scored the winner in the 80th minute, finishing a cross from McGinn.
Finland 3, Faroe Islands 1: The Faroe Islands struck first via Christian Holst, but Finland’s three second-half goals (two from Riku Rilski) left little doubt as to the better team. Quiz question: Without looking it up, where are the Faroe Islands? (Here.)
Romania 1, Greece 0: Ciprian Marica’s penalty in the 10th minute proved to be the difference in this slugfest, which featured eight yellow cards.
Group I
Denmark 2, Armenia 1: Pierre Emile Hojbjerg and Thomas Kahlenberg scored for Denmark to cancel out Henrikh Mkhitaryan’s 50th minute goal. I don’t know how to pronounce any of the names I just typed.
Albania 1, Portugal 0: Bekim Belaj scored in the 52nd minute to upset the Portuguese. The whole “not-having Christiano Ronaldo” thing may have had something to do with this outcome. Six yellows for the Albanians.
