THE BEST GOAL? BEST GAME? BEST MOMENT?
OUR WRITERS TAKE THEIR PICK...
GROUP A GOAL OF THE GROUP STAGE
AARON RAMSEY for Wales v Turkey. The Gareth Bale pass, bisecting the central defenders, and the intuitive run from ramsey to take the ball on his chest and clip it beyond Ugurcan Cakir on the half-volley. ramsey had already missed two good chances but he didn’t flinch.
GAME OF THE GROUP STAGE
WALES 1 SWITZERLAND 1. The pivotal game, as things turned out. Wales were overrun, conceded, fought back to equalise — then went all out for a winner and could have lost at the death. The abiding image of that afternoon in Baku is Kieffer moore, his head wrapped in a red bandage, rising to score the equaliser. ‘The bandage gave a bit of grip for the header,’ he said.
MOMENT OF THE TOURNAMENT SO FAR
ROBERTO MANCINI and his coaching staff walking out in their powder blue blazers and dark slacks on the opening evening in rome. The sartorial statement of the group stage. Asked if his side were playing the tournament’s best football, mancini replied: ‘i don’t know that, but we’re a group of good-looking lads, for sure.’
GROUP B BY CHRIS WHEELER
GOAL OF THE GROUP STAGE
The second of two excellent
Belgium goals after Kevin de Bruyne had come on to inspire a 2-1 win over denmark. Great hold-up play by romelu lukaku, youri Tielemans’ square ball, a quick interchange of passes between the hazard brothers and a clinical first-time finish from de Bruyne.
GAME OF THE GROUP STAGE
RUSSIA 1 DENMARK 4. The danes were on zero points after being unfairly pressured into completing their opening game against Finland following Christian eriksen’s collapse, then narrowly losing to Belgium. They simply had to beat russia and did so in style to reach the last 16 on another emotional night in Copenhagen.
MOMENT OF THE TOURNAMENT SO FAR
When play stopped in the 10th minute of denmark’s game against Belgium to pay tribute to eriksen. A genuine outpouring of emotion from players on both sides who know him as a team-mate and 25,000 fans in Parken stadium where the former Tottenham star had been brought back to life five days earlier.
GROUP C
BY ADRIAN KAJUMBA GOAL OF THE GROUP STAGE
in Any other tournament year, Andriy yarmolenko’s curler for Ukraine against holland and Andreas Christensen’s thunderbolt against russia would have had a chance. But, if allowed to look elsewhere, Patrik schick’s stunner from 50 yards against scotland took some beating.
GAME OF THE GROUP STAGE
HOLLAND 3 UKRAINE 2. holland, 2-0 up and cruising, fell apart and were pegged back to 2-2, before denzel dumfries capped his first eye-catching display of the euros with a late winner.
MOMENT OF THE TOURNAMENT SO FAR
When it was confirmed Christian eriksen was awake and stable after his harrowing collapse against Finland. Given what could have happened, one of the best moments of any tournament.
GROUP D
BY DOMINIC KING GOAL OF THE GROUP STAGE
The obvious thing would be to say Patrik schick against scotland but i’m going for the moment of beauty Croatia’s luka modric produced at the same ground. if ever a goal encapsulated a player, this was it.
GAME OF THE GROUP STAGE
ENGLAND 1 CROATIA 0. A sunny afternoon at Wembley in the middle of summer, a result to spark excitement and Gareth southgate rewarded for a bold selection call.
MOMENT OF THE TOURNAMENT SO FAR
i Also have to look away from the group, to the realisation Christian eriksen
was going to be OK. i don’t know how the championship would have continued had the worst scenario unfolded. i won’t be alone in choosing this but clearly the saving of a young man’s life was the best result of the summer.
GROUP E PETE JENSON GOAL OF THE GROUP STAGE
MANCHESTER CITY’s Ferran Torres had only been on the pitch 45 seconds when he scored the best goal of spain’s 5-0 win over slovakia with his first touch. Koke took a short corner to Pablo sarabia, who played it back to Pedri, who returned the favour to send the Paris saint-Germain midfielder to the byline. sarabia’s cross was converted by Torres with a deft back-heel flick.
GAME OF THE GROUP STAGE
POLAND 2 SWEDEN 3. robert lewandowski’s one-man mission to put Poland in the last 16 came up short but only just. They needed a win in their last match and he scored twice and hit the bar twice in a five-goal thriller. Viktor Claesson’s stoppage-time goal gave sweden the victory in st Petersburg and top spot ahead of spain.
MOMENT OF THE TOURNAMENT SO FAR
BUKAYO SAKA’s run from deep into the Czech republic half. it won’t be recorded in the stats but the continuation of the move brought raheem sterling’s decisive goal. in a flash, saka had turned defence into attack and it felt like england’s tournament had started.
GROUP F MATT BARLOW
GOAL OF THE GROUP STAGE
ATTilA FIOLA’s sprint clear and low finish to give hungary the lead against France, followed by his wild celebrations, hurdling a barrier and frightening the life out of touchline presenter edit szalay by scattering her water bottles — all accompanied by the energy, emotion and surely the loudest roar of the tournament from more than 60,000 packed inside the Puskas Arena.
GAME OF THE GROUP STAGE
PORTUGAL 2 FRANCE 2. high quality under extreme pressure in sweltering conditions from some of the world’s finest footballers. Cristiano ronaldo saved Portugal again, while equalling the international goals record; Karim Benzema scored for the first time since ending his long exile from the France team, and Paul Pogba produced a passing masterclass from midfield.
MOMENT OF THE TOURNAMENT SO FAR
leon Goretzka’s skidding drive to rescue Germany, turn Group F on its head six minutes from the end of a frenetic final round of games, break hungarian hearts and set up england v Germany at Wembley on Tuesday.