Hands up! Germans survive

Zaza in just for PK, misses badly

1C-Germany took a 1-0 lead in a match they dominated possession but a what-is-he-thinking arms up Jerome Boateng caught the ball off his arm giving 1E-Italy a PK they did not miss in the 78'.  In the only match between group winners, both teams played it safe the rest of the match.  Going into penalties, Germany had only missed 2 in their history of Euro and World Cups (26 of 28 in six PSOs, winning 5).  Then again, Germany had never beaten Italy in a Euro or World Cup (0-4-4).

After being the first team to score against GER in this Euro, ITA started off well and then had their PK specialist Simone Zaza, who came in the 120', next but he skied the ball high.  Uncharacteristically, GER did miss

Clearing the path for Ronaldo

Run little man, run

About the only exciting thing in the later stages of the 2C-Poland-3F-Portugal match was a wave of blue shirts chasing an un-shirted fan on the pitch.  Portugal tied the match in the 33' but both teams played it safe in overtime.  About the only thing that went right for Ronaldo was his PSO goal as he was blatantly taken down in the box early with no call and flubbed two settling chances, that for a mere man would be hard, but for elite players would be gimmes.  POR hit all five PSOs to POL's three.  But the Portuguese hopefully won't be looking to the final as they will get to play 1B-Wales and not 2E-Belgium in the semis.

After going up a goal, BEL took the foot off the pedal and the Welsh took full advantage,

So improbable, the impossible has happened

Unbelievable.  Unbelievable.  The two-time reigning Euro champions are out!  Oh, there was a second match?

1E-Italy scored early and late in methodically eliminating 2D-Spain, 2-0.  The Spanish fizzled in the World Cup and continued at the Euros.  Change is coming.  Of course, the reward for Italy is a quarterfinal matchup with 1C-Germany.

My favorite tweet

I'm gonna miss hearing Vin Scully's voice and a portion of one of his most famous quotes is so applicable here:  "So improbable, the impossible has happened!".  In the second match, oh my, 2B-England got off to a dream start with a PK conversion in the 3rd minute.  Tiny 2F-Iceland would be doomed and the rout on.  But the spirit of Nordic island country fought back with two great run-of-play goals by the 18th minute.  Even with 72 minutes left, England had

Favorites Rule

Belgium lucked out

1A-France fell behind early on a PK goal by 3E-Ireland but a brace by Antoine Griezmann in 3 minutes sent the hosts to the Quarterfinals, 2-1.  IRL GK Darren Randolph did his best with 8 saves but it was not enough.  1C-Germany missed a PK but it didn't matter in routing 3B-Slovakia, 3-0.  Both GKs combined for 16 saves but 2E-Belgium scored early and then finally broke through with 3 goals in the final 12 minutes to put away 1F-Hungary, 4-0.  By NOT winning their Group, Belgium

Goals! Golazo, PSO, Own, Late OT

Shaqiri Golazo!

2A-Swiss's Xherdan Shaqiri game-tying golazo (incredible scissor kick) in the 82' was the highlight of SUI's tournament-high 29 shots but 2C-Poland held on and rifled in all 5 of their penalty-kick shootout attempts to advance to the Quarters, 1-1 (5-4).  There were a total of 50 shots in this match but just 12 on target.

In the battle of two UK countries, 1B-Wales finally broke through with a hard cross along the goal that was tapped in by a 3C-Northern Ireland defender (to be fair, if he didn't tap it in, a Welsh player would have) for the only goal of the match.

Thanks to the expansion to 24 teams and new Round of 16, 3F-Portugal was