July 2: The quarter-finals are scheduled to kick off with Switzerland facing Spain and Belgium taking on Italy.
While Switzerland are looking for another upset against Spain, Belgium and Italy both put long winning runs on the line.
21:45 NST: Switzerland vs Spain (Saint Petersburg)
The winners of Monday's two epic round of 16 ties raise the curtain on the last-eight drama, with history clearly favouring Spain. These nations have met 22 times and Switzerland have won just once – a group fixture at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, where Spain of course went on to triumph in the final.
But Monday's action taught everyone to take nothing for granted, as Spain discovered when leading Croatia 3-1 with five minutes to go, only to have to play extra time; Switzerland made a similar comeback against France before winning on penalties, their first triumph in a major tournament knockout match since the 1938 World Cup, before the inaugural EURO had even been played. Switzerland will certainly not want a repeat of their last World Cup knockout game: a 1-0 round of 16 loss to Sweden at this stadium in St Petersburg in 2018.
Key stat: Yann Sommer saved two penalties (both from Sergio Ramos) the last time these countries faced off, in the UEFA Nations League in Basel on 14 November 2020, though Gerard Moreno's 89th-minute equaliser earned Spain a 1-1 draw.
00:45 NST : Belgium vs Italy (Munich)
Not all of the quarter-final line-up has worked out as predicted but plenty would have pencilled in this tie. Even so, Belgium ended up having to oust holders Portugal to make it here, and it took an extra-time period with a competition record-equalling three goals for Italy to earn their berth in overcoming Austria. Both of these sides cruised through the group stage, however, and have the tournament's only remaining perfect records following the Netherlands' elimination.
Their success over Austria ensured Italy are now on a 31-game unbeaten run, breaking an Azzurri best that had stood since 1939, with their winning streak at 12.
Yet Belgium themselves are 13 matches without defeat, despite having to deal with a string of injuries, and for Friday they are sweating on the fitness of Kevin De Bruyne and Eden Hazard – it does not look promising.
Key stat: Both Italy and Belgium have won their last 14 UEFA European Championship matches, including qualifying, meaning they now share the overall competition record with the host nation on Friday, Germany.
SEVILLE, June 27: Thorgan Hazard's first-half goal fired Belgium into the European Championships quarterfinals as the current world No. 1 team overcame defending champions Portugal 1-0 in a heavyweight clash here on Sunday.
The Dortmund attacking midfielder scored in the 42nd minute when he got the ball just outside the box and fired a superb shot into the bottom right.
"It was a nice goal and we beat the holders," said the 28-year-old, who was named the best player of the match.
Roberto Martinez's side will next face Italy, who are the only other team having won every game so far at the tournament, in Munich on Friday.
"Today was like a final...and Italy is also a complicated game," Thorgan Hazard added.
But some injuries that happened in the match have cast some shadow on Belgium's victory as playmaker Kevin De Bruyne limped off early in the second half because of an injury after being tackled from behind by Portuguese Joao Phlhinha. The Red Devils suffered another injury in the closing period as Real Madrid star Eden Hazard was replaced by Yannick Carrasco after straining the hamstring.
"Looking at that second half, we are lucky to win," Belgium defender Thomas Vermaelen said. "Portugal made it really hard for us. We had to really stay focused. It has cost us a lot of energy, but we have some time to recover and now we are looking forward to the game against Italy."
Fernando Santos' team pushed hard in the second half as Ruben Dias' header was punched away by Thibaut Courtois and Raphael Guerreiro's attempt hit the post.
The titleholders enjoyed 56 percent ball possession and made 24 attempts, four times than their rivals, but lacked some efficiency and accuracy, also some luck to earn them a victory.
"I think it's an unfair result but they scored and we didn't," said Santos. "We came back and thought we could turn it around. My players tried their best but the ball wouldn't go in, that's football."
"We're very disappointed, we thought we could win this tournament again after 2016. Some of my boys are crying in the changing room. All of Portugal should be proud of what they did today."
Belgium, who are striving for their first major title, benefited from an extra 48 hours' rest after easily winning Group B with three straight wins, while Portugal arrived in the knock-out stage with only one win from their group matches, 3-0 over Hungary in the opener. They then lost to Germany 4-2 and drew with France 2-2 to advance from the tough Group F as one of the best third-placed teams.
Portugal's superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, who certainly attracted most of the attention, failed to extend his scoring streak and stayed on 109 international goals to share the men's record with former Iran's striker Ali Daei.
The 36-year-old veteran has already broken some records after registered five goals from the three group matches - breaking the tie with Michel Platini to become the sole all-time best scorer of the tournament with 14 goals and surpassing Miroslav Klose in the record of most goals scored by a European player (21 goals) in major events (Euros and World Cups combined).
KATHMANDU, June 24: All games of group stages in the ongoing edition of the European Championship, Euro 2020, that kicked off on June 11 with matches held in 11 major cities across Europe — for the first time in the 60-year history of the tournament, came to an end of Thursday.
At the end of the group stages, 16 teams out of 24 have been qualified for the round of 16 stage.
These are the teams who have qualified from six different groups
Group A
1. Winner: Italy
2. Runner-up: Wales
Group B
3. Winner: Belgium
4. Runner-up: Denmark
Group C
5. Winner: Netherlands
6. Runner-up: Austria
Group D
7. Winner: England
8. Runner-up: Croatia
Group E
9. Winner: Sweden
10. Runner-up: Spain
Group F
11. Winner: France
12. Runner-up: Germany
Best four third-placed teams
13. Switzerland (Group A)
14. Ukraine (Group C)
15. Czech Republic (Group D)
16. Portugal (Group F)
Round of 16 fixtures:
1: Wales vs Denmark ( Saturday 26 June, Amsterdam)
2: Italy vs Austria ( Saturday 26 June, London)
3: Netherlands vs Czech Republic ( Sunday 27 June, Budapest)
4: Belgium vs Portugal (Sunday 27 June, Seville)
5: Croatia vs Spain (Monday 28 June, Copenhagen)
6: France vs Switzerland ( Monday 28 June, Bucharest)
7: England vs Germany (Tuesday 29 June, London)
8: Sweden vs Ukraine (Tuesday 29 June, Glasgow)
Potential Quarter-finalists
QF1: France/Switzerland vs Croatia/Spain (Friday 2 July, St Petersburg)
QF2: Belgium/Portugal vs Italy/Austria ( Friday 2 July, Munich)
QF3: Netherlands/Czech Republic vs Wales/Denmark (Saturday 3 July, Baku)
QF4: Sweden/Ukraine vs England/Germany (Saturday 3 July, Rome)
Semi-finals
SF1: Winner QF2 vs Winner QF1 (Tuesday 6 July, London)
SF2: Winner QF4 vs Winner QF3 (Wednesday 7 July, London)
Final
Winner SF1 vs Winner SF2 (11 July, London)
LONDON, June 19: Germany came from behind to stun defending champions Portugal 4-2 while France were held to a 1-1 tie by Hungary in the Euro 2020 second-round encounters of Group F on Saturday.
In Munich, Germany need a rebound in urgent as they lost their opening match against France 1-0 last Tuesday, but fell behind first when Diogo Jota's square pass allowed Christian Ronaldo to finish the job from close range after 15 minutes.
The hosts needed some time to find their rhythm but once the Germans gained momentum, they forced Portugal to make two own goals as Ruben Dias and Raphael Guerreiro helped Germany to take the 2-1 lead before the break.
Kai Havertz and Robin Gosens added two goals within 15 minutes after the interval. Ronaldo set up Jota to pull one back in the 67th minute, but the defending champions could not avoid a loss in front of a rejuvenated Germany.
The result means that both Germany and Portugal have three points in hand, one point behind group leaders France, who were forced to tie with Hungary.
Hungary, beaten by Portugal 3-0 in the first round, produced a brave defensive performance on home soil.
France was guilty of missing chances in the first half, with Kylian Mbappe and Karim Benzema especially guilty and Attila Fiola making them pay for their profligacy when he scored on a rare Hungarian break in first-half injury time.
Antoine Griezmann levelled up from the heart of the box in the 65th minute, but despite keeping the pressure on as the Hungarians were visibly tired, France was unable to find a winner, thanks partly to Hungarian goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi.
In the group's last-round matches next Wednesday, Germany will host Hungary while Portugal will face the World Cup champions France in Budapest.
In the last match Saturday evening, Spain and Poland drew 1-1 with Robert Lewandowski's second half header cancelling out Alvaro Morata's opener for Spain.
The result leaves Spain with two points from their first two matches in Group E and the Poles with just one and both probably need to win their last group games to avoid an early exit.
Sweden lead Group E with four points while Slovakia follow behind with three points thanks to a win over Poland.
Spain will host Slovakia next Wednesday when Sweden and Poland are scheduled to play in St Petersburg.
(Xinhua)
