Just to follow up on the last post, I can now give the full roundup of goal statistics from the group stage (presumably to much rejoicing across multiple continents). As I noted, as of Match Day 2 there had been more goals scored in Euro 2020 than at the same time in Euro 2016, but Match Day 3 has been a feast of goals, not least because of the unexpected goalfest on Wednesday, where the two remaining Group E games produced 5 goals each, and those in Group F produced 4 goals apiece.
To put it another way, those four matches accounted for 18 goals, compared with 21 goals across the eight matches to wrap up the other four groups. And those other groups did feature some high-scoring games, such as Denmark's miraculous 4-1 defeat of Russia to snatch second place in the group and qualification for the round of 16.
Also impressive is the fact that there haven't been any more 0-0 draws since the second match day, presumably because the third-place qualifying for the knockout rounds meant that so many groups had something to play for, and so they came out to win. The podcasts I've been listening to have been pretty down on the new format, as introduced in 2016, but I wonder if it's succeeded in providing the right amount of jeopardy that's forced teams to go for wins rather than playing cagily. After all, as someone pointed out on Totally Football, England was set to face each of the four teams from Group F at some point on the day, as the ranking swung around based on who'd scored.
Admittedly it's not too inspiring that Ukraine squeaked through with a single win and two losses, beating out Finland and Slovakia on goal difference. That said, Slovakia were the architects of their own downfall by not only losing 5-0 to Spain, but by gifting them two of those goals. The best own-goal, indeed, has to be Slovakia goalkeeper Martin Dubravka jumping up to palm the ball over the crossbar, only to (inexplicably) palm it downward into his own goal.
Incidentally, the own-goal tally for the tournament is now up to 8, compared with 9 for every European Championship from 1976 to 2016 (which itself set a record, with 3 own-goals). I talked last time about why this might be happening, but it's worth noting that 3 of those 8 came from goalkeepers, and two of those were freak bounces off the keeper at an awkward time. Which just makes Dubravka's howler more inexplicable, because if he had but remembered which direction was up... alas.
This all means we're now at the business end of the tournament, where one team goes on and one team goes home. I'm cautiously optimistic about Italy's chances against Austria, but if they do win that game they have the privilege of facing either Portugal or Belgium. And if Italy manages to surmount that challenge, they'd next face likely France or Spain (or Croatia, or more remotely Switzerland) on their way to the final.
It's hard to know how to feel about Italy's showing so far: I'm used to them imploding at some point in a tournament, but what worries me is that I can't see where that implosion will come this time around. My hope is that coach Roberto Mancini has instilled a more Northern European ethos in the team, and we won't get more of those timid displays where Italy sets out to play for a draw - but you never know. At the very least, if Italy does make it to the final it'll be on the back of beating a bunch of traditionally strong teams.
And if they go on to win, it'll be a little disappointing not to be in London, as I was in 2006, to see the city's numerous Italians go nuts celebrating in the streets of the West End. But at least the tournament's on, so I won't complain too much.
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