Euro:England,Croatia book knockout spots, Czechs drop to 3rd place

England and Croatia from Group D booked their spot in pre-quarterfinals. Czech Republic will also join the club of 16 as one of the best third-placed teams in the tournament. England toped the Group with seven points while Croatia and Czech Republic finished with four points each. But Croatia secured 2nd spot from the group with better goal difference. So, Czechs after losing its last group match against England drops down to 3rd position.

England finished its last group match today with 1-0 win over Czech Republic. Raheem Sterling netted the decisive goal in the first half. Both teams were evenly matched in this game. But the English players were the first to break the Czech’s sturdy defence in the 12th minute of first half. Grealish from the left side of the penalty area lifted the ball to the back post, where Sterling headed in the only goal of the match. It was also Sterling’s second goal in this tournament. The Czech forwards carried many raids menacingly on the English post in the second half to finish the match on level. But England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford stood like a rock and foiled their attempts.

On the other side, Croats led by Captain Luka Modric finally got their Midas touch in the last group match. They convincingly beat Scotland 3-1. Nikola Vlasic netted the opening goal for Croatia in 17th minute but Callum Mcgregor brought back Scotland on level in 42nd minute. After the break Captain Modric and Ivan Perisic added one each in the second half to finish the match with 3-1. And Scotland’s dream of reaching the knock out stage of a major tournament for the first time ends on a disappointing note.

Now the results of upcoming last group clashes in Group E and F will set the final line-ups for the Rounds 16. These matches will be played today night and tomorrow morning IST. In the Group of Death, World Champion France, four-time World Champions Germany and defending Euro Cup Champion Portugal are vying to top the table. In any way England will have to face one of them in the knock out bout on 29th June which may prove hard nut for English players to advance to Quarterfinals.

So, the Euro Cup 2020 tournament now reaches to a galore of thrilling moments. Wait for the final out come of Group F till Thursday