An Entertaining Summer with the Euros

This summer in Germany, the long-awaited UEFA European Championship 2024, more commonly known as the Euros, took place. Filled with many upsets, underdog runs, and emerging stars, this tournament was a special one to remember.

Group Stages

The opening game of the Euros featured the hosts Germany against Scotland. Germany were already leading during the first half when Scottish center back Ryan Porteous got a red card, leading to Germany’s complete domination. The hosts were victorious with a comfortable 5-1 win to start their campaign.

Across the other group stages, upsets were happening left and right with France drawing 1-1 to Poland and England drawing 0-0 and 1-1 to Slovenia and Denmark, respectively. From the group stage performances alone, powerhouses England and France seemed to be underperforming, as despite having most of the possession throughout the game, they were unable to finish off their opponents and convert opportunities into goals. Though they weren’t one of the favorites to win the tournament, Croatia’s national team also fell short of expectations. After getting dominated by Spain in their first group-stage game and drawing against low-ranked Albania, they needed a win against Italy to qualify for the knockout stage. Despite leading with a goal from midfielder Luka Modrić, Croatia couldn’t hold the lead as Italian forward Mattia Zaccagni curled the ball into the top corner in the 98th minute, drawing 1-1 and handing Croatia an exit in the early stages of the tournament. 

However, the underdogs performed better than many expected them to. The main face of this story was Georgia, a team making their Euros debut. After a loss and a draw, they needed a victory against Portugal, the strongest team in their group. Everyone thought the Georgians were going home, but after a quick early goal by forward Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, who used his pace to get past the defenders, the team relied on rapid counter-attacks to end the game. This knockout blow came in the 57th minute when Georgia was awarded a penalty, and forward Georges Mikautadze slotted it in to make the score 2-0. Despite 22 shots from Portugal, the Georgians emerged victorious thanks to a heroic defensive stand, allowing them to qualify for their first-ever tournament appearance. 

Round of 16

Fierce battles took place everywhere, but the England vs. Slovakia match brought the most entertainment. After a silent 25 minutes, Slovakia broke the deadlock as forward Ivan Schranz received an overhead pass, got past the English defender, and calmly finished into the bottom corner. England looked to bounce back by keeping possession, but the players all lacked the finishing shot. The game went to the 95th minute, and with one more minute to play, when all hope seemed to be lost, midfielder Jude Bellingham scored a beautiful bicycle kick to bring it to extra time. The momentum was with England as just a minute after the first half of extra time began, forward Harry Kane scored a header from a play right after a corner kick to send England to the next round.

Another highlight during this round was Portugal vs. Slovenia. Again, despite dominating possession, Portugal couldn’t score, taking the game to extra time. Then in the 103rd minute, Portugal forward Diogo Jota was fouled in the box, earning a penalty for Portugal. Striker Cristiano Ronaldo placed the ball on the penalty mark and lined up for his runup. All of the Portuguese fans and players were ready to celebrate. He ran up and shot, but Slovenia’s goalkeeper Jan Oblak got his hand on it, denying Ronaldo’s goal. The game eventually went to penalties, but Oblak’s magic stopped there as Portugal defeated Slovenia 3-0 to advance.

Quarterfinals

The final eight still included underdog teams like Switzerland and Türkiye, but also top teams like Spain and France. In the first quarterfinal game, two favorites to win the tournament, Spain and Germany, faced off. After an intense first half, both teams still had yet to score. The match's first goal came from Spanish midfielder Dani Olmo who found the little space in between Germany’s defense to shoot it towards the far post. Germany, on the other hand, couldn’t score despite their relentless shots. That was until the 89th minute, when after a heading pass from German midfielder Joshua Kimmich, Florian Wirtz half-volleyed the ball into the bottom corner to take the game to extra time. In extra time, Spain’s magic worked again as Spanish midfielder Mikel Merino rose the highest on a cross to score a 119th-minute header goal to end the match.

Another entertaining game was England vs. Switzerland as underdogs Switzerland tried to pull another upset. The Swiss took the lead with forward Breel Embolo pouncing on an English mistake. However, a few minutes later, English forward Bukayo Saka scored a beautiful finesse goal from outside the box into the bottom corner to tie the game. Then, both teams struggled to score, and the game went to penalties. The Swiss struggled against the English side who were far more familiar with penalty shootouts, and their tournament run ended.

Semifinals

Four days after Spain got their hard-earned victory, the semifinals commenced with a European-giant showdown: Spain vs. France. Although Spain were the favorite to win the game, France declared their presence with an early opener from forward Kolo Muani, who headed a beautiful cross from his teammate and forward Kylian Mbappe. Spain didn’t die down and continued attacking. Then the ball went to 17-year-old Spanish forward Lamine Yamal, and he didn’t hesitate to score a banger from outside the box, becoming the youngest goalscorer in Euros history. A few minutes later, Olmo followed up with another goal, giving Spain the lead. The two teams continued the fierce fight, but in the end, Spain came out victorious, advancing to the final.

Final

The atmosphere in Olympiastadion Berlin was electric as 65,600 fans arrived hoping to watch their country lift a trophy. On the afternoon of July 14, 2024, the Euros final began with Spain going against England. At the start, Spain dominated with their relentless attack, but they were unable to get past the English wall as the first half ended 0-0. Then, as soon as the second half started, England’s backline was out of shape, and Spanish forward Nico Williams took the opportunity to smash it in the bottom corner to give Spain the lead. To respond, England started attacking but made no progress. Then, English manager Gareth Southgate made a super-sub and put in Cole Palmer, hoping that the young English forward would provide some energy to a lackluster English attack. It surely did as Palmer buried a beautiful shot outside the box into the bottom corner and tied the game up. As the score remained 1-1 late into the game, it seemed that the final would see extra time until Spanish forward Mikel Oyarzabal played the ball out wide to fullback Marc Cucurella and started running in. Then, Cucurella gave a low-driven pass into space and Oyarzabal stretched his legs to score the winner out of nowhere just minutes before the game ended. A few minutes later, the whistle blew, and Spain were the champions of Europe.

As Spain’s wonder team took the silverware, the UEFA European Championship 2024 had everything from broken records to vibrant atmospheres to major accomplishments by underdog teams. This victory by Spain makes them the team that has won the Euros the most with four wins, beating Germany who were tied with the Spanish for three wins. Also, the fastest Euro goal was scored in this tournament as midfielder Nedim Bajrami from Albania scored a goal against Italy in 23 seconds, breaking the previous record of 57 seconds. 

These records were broken because of the support of the fans as they are the element of the tournament that makes it so unique. One highlight of this crazy atmosphere seen in the 2024 Euros was the traditional march of Dutch fans wearing bright orange before the game. The most iconic part of the march is when they sing “Links Recht,” a song by a party named Snollebollekes, and flood the streets of Germany to support the Oranje. These atmospheres can turn crazy and dangerous in fan support, especially when beer gets splashed around and the empty cups then get thrown onto the field and sometimes hit players and coaches. Gareth Southgate was a target from these throwers after a lackluster performance, proving how passionate these fans are.

This Euros was a special one as many unexpected teams got far in the tournament. Teams like Slovenia, Slovakia, Georgia, and Romania all booking a spot in the Round of 16 was an impressive outcome considering their previous records weren’t as great. An example of this is Georgia as they placed 4th in their Euros qualifiers group and had to take Greece to penalties in further qualification matches to earn a spot in the Euros. Another team that unexpectedly went far was the Netherlands. With a mediocre team that didn’t have a solid midfield and an average attack, it was impressive for the Dutch to get to the semifinals. The outcomes shown by these teams give hope for European soccer as every nation becomes strong and provides a solid fight with the top teams. Although these teams did show promise, Spanish soccer was dominant in this tournament, as the Euros had everything from upsets to pure domination to entertainment.