Euro 2016: The Unusual Suspects
The first games have been played, and we still have no goals from Ronaldo — who’s international frustrations continue, Zlatan, Lewandowski, Hazard (why do we still expect him to score?), or Lukaku. Gareth Bale is arguably the only “talisman” who has scored so far and we could argue that the keeper could have done better to stop Bale’s freekick. Instead, we’ve seen unlikely heroes dominating the scoreline.
Let’s start with Eric Dier, who scored his first international goal for England against Russia with a beautiful freekick from 20 yards out. Dier not only scored but he played very well for England, dominating and controlling the midfield playing alongside Wayne Rooney. However, it all went downhill when Rooney was subbed out and England gave up a last minute equalizer. English player were all shocked but Vincent Kompany was clearly not surprised.
Another unlikely goal scorer was Olivier Giroud, who missed several chances during the game but was able to score after clearly fouling the goalkeeper and heading the ball in. But thanks to a brilliant performance from Dimitri Payet, his performance will be forgotten/forgiven and he will probably start versus Albania again. Why isn’t Martial starting instead of Giroud is beyond my comprehension.
Finally, we saw Graziano Pelle scored a beautiful volley for Italy. It’s hard for me to call Pelle an unlikely hero because he did score 14 goals for Southampton this season and he also scored three times during the qualifying rounds, but considering that Belgium was the clear favorite entering the match, I was expecting Lukaku or Hazard (not really) to leave their mark on the pitch.Instead, Lukaku missed chance after chance and Pelle converts to seal the Italian upset.
There’re still plenty of games to be played, but so far the big name players have not shown in the scoreboard. I have a feeling that this tournament will be defined purely on tactical strategy and team play. Short tournaments like The Euros or the World Cup are rarely won by the team with the best player, the winner normally is well organized, solid in the back, and the coach is able to get players to play above their level for eight or nine games.
