Euro 2024: A smattering of football

Croatia - Albania 2-2

Germany - Hungary 2-0

Scotland - Switzerland 1-1

There's a yearly fancy-ass garden party I quite like and didn't want to miss, so I missed most of the football yesterday instead.

I did see Croatia - Albania in full, but that felt like a waste of 2 hours. I thought it was a poor game, only peppered by the political banners of the Albanian crowd which, of course they'd be, it's the Balkans!

But I don't know what's happening to Croatia. They are a better team than this, maybe it's just the euros are not the right outlet for them. It's really hard for a game to have 4 goals, spectacular executions and late injury-time drama and yet be this unentertaining. Or maybe it's just me being a tad too hopeful about what this Croatia team can do. I know they can't beat Italy, so their only hope now is for Italy to beat Spain so that they go into the last match without needing the points, and then maybe qualify from 3rd place. But this mathematics is beneath a team that was a World Cup finalist not 6 years ago.

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Saw very little, practically none of the Germany game, but I imagine there's little history to it. The game against Switzerland will be a bit more interesting, though the Swiss will only care about not conceding too many. And I have to say, by the looks of games so far, Germany are strong contenders for the title. I won't call it yet, but I might after the second round finishes.

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BUT... good on ya Scotland! Switzerland is a good team, I really didn't think the Scots would get anything out of the game. But this is a massive point. They are now very much in contention for second place, they need a high scoring win against Hungary, and hope for the best from Germany. I don't think the Germans would settle for anything less than three points, but they might settle for a 1-0 win. In which case Scotland would need to beat Hungary by 5 goals. Unlikely. Beating Hungary at all won't be easy, but it's doable. And, at the end of the day, a 4-points second place ensures passage too. which I hope they'll get.