Euro 2024 power rankings: How the last 16 now rate
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Three games, three wins, five goals scored and none conceded. Spain were not among the favourites before the tournament started, but they are now. The mood back home has changed too, AS writing after the 1-0 win against Italy: “47 million Spaniards are starting to climb on board this ship that was half-empty two weeks ago.” The coach, Luis de la Fuente, even had the luxury of making 10 changes for the final group game against Albania, qualification already secured. The wingers Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal have impressed and in midfield Rodri has been Rodri. Can Spain go all the way? “Hope,” De La Fuente said, “is free, and we’re the first to feel that hope, that optimism. But we do so with our feet on the ground: it doesn’t guarantee anything.”
2) The hosts got off to a perfect start against Scotland in Munich on the opening night of the tournament, winning 5-1 with the youngsters Florian Wirtz and Jamal Musiala grabbing the headlines. A more pedestrian 2-0 victory over Hungary followed before Switzerland provided a real scare in the final group game, Julian Nagelsmann’s side needing a last-minute equaliser from Niclas Füllkrug to get the draw and top the group. “Of course we would have liked to win the game and to play great football,” the captain, Ilkay Gündogan, said. “But I think you also need games like that during a tournament.” There are defensive worries before the last-16 game against Denmark on Saturday, with Jonathan Tah suspended and Antonio Rüdiger carrying a knock.
“To finish top of the group is incredible,” Ralf Rangnick said after his side had beaten the Netherlands 3-2 to do just that. “We got rewarded for a very courageous and energetic game by my players.” He was not wrong. Austria have been one of the positive surprises of the group stage, making light of pre-tournament injuries to David Alaba – who is in Germany as a non-playing captain – and the midfielder Xaver Schlager. Rangnick even managed to start the game against the Netherlands with some key players on the bench, partly to rest them but to also to avoid second yellow cards and suspensions for the last-16 game. Their hard-pressing style can leave gaps in defence for better sides to exploit but there is a positive energy around the squad that can take them far.
That the narrative around the favourites should centre on Kylian Mbappé is no surprise but the way the group stage unfolded was not how Didier Deschamps had planned it. The 25-year-old new Real Madrid signing missed a sitter in the first game against Austria before breaking his nose after a collision with Kevin Danso. He missed the game against Netherlands but scored a penalty in the 1-1 draw against Poland. France, in fact, have yet to score from open play in this tournament and had to settle for second place in the group behind Austria. N’Golo Kanté’s form has been a plus but that they are so heavily reliant on Mbappé for goals is a problem. Time for Ousmane Dembélé, Marcus Thuram, Olivier Giroud, Bradley Barcola and others to step up.
They tried to do a Spain and rest several key players for their final group game after two wins – but the result was very different. Whereas Spain won 1-0 against Albania, Portugal lost 2-0 to Georgia. It may not matter in the end – Roberto Martínez’s side won Group F and will fancy their chances against Slovenia in the last 16. They have one of the best squads at the tournament and that was evident particularly in the 3-0 demolition of Turkey. Cristiano Ronaldo has looked sharper than he did at the 2022 World Cup and the spine of Diogo Costa-Rúben Dias-Bernardo Silva/Bruno Fernandes and Ronaldo could help them go far.
The team came into the tournament on something of a low with the coach, Murat Yakin, under pressure after a poor qualifying campaign, but emerged from the group stage on a high. Granit Xhaka has been one of the tournament’s best players, dominating midfield from a position slightly higher than the one he has had at Bayer Leverkusen this season. Around him Bologna’s Dan Ndoye has dazzled up front and at the back Manuel Akanji has led by example. “We have developed massively in the past six months,” said Xhaka. “This team now has a complete new desire, a new mentality and a new passion.”
The tournament’s lowest-ranked side have been a revelation. They deserved a point against Turkey in their first game and could have won their second against the Czech Republic but for Saba Lobzhanidze missing a very presentable late chance. It all came together against Portugal in the final group game, though. The big players, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Giorgi Mamardashvili, shone against an admittedly much-changed Portugal side and Georges Mikautadze leads the Golden Boot standings after the group stage with three goals. Now for Spain …
8) Going into the tournament it was difficult to know which Turkey would turn up: the one that won their qualifying group, beating Croatia away on the way, or the one that collapsed and lost 6-1 against Austria in a friendly in March? In the end we got a bit of both. Georgia were beaten 3-1 in one of the best games of the tournament before a resounding 3-0 defeat against Portugal. The final group game was a bit more difficult to judge as the Czech Republic had a player sent off midway through the first half but it still took Turkey 93 minutes to find a winner. The coach, Vincenzo Montella, won’t mind though and he has, in Kenan Yildiz and Arda Guler to name two, some exciting young attacking talent at his disposal.
: All the pre-tournament optimism has evaporated, three plodding group-stage games sucking all the energy out of the team and the fans. OK, the first half against Serbia was decent but since then there have been questions about the players’ fitness, Gary Lineker calling the team’s performance against Denmark “shit” and Gareth Southgate having beer cups thrown at him. Harry Kane has been out of form and so has Jude Bellingham, the team’s two biggest stars. The Trent Alexander-Arnold midfield experiment failed and so did the Conor Gallagher midfield experiment. Will Kobbie Mainoo start now? Will Luke Shaw finally play a part? There have certainly been more questions than answers so far.
They are through to the knockout stage but only just. The team went into the tournament on a high, having not lost since Domenico Tedesco took charge in March 2023. They then promptly lost their first group game, against Slovakia. They deserved to take at least a point – and probably win – but Romelu Lukaku had two goals ruled out after VAR interventions. A solid win against Romania followed but the team were then booed by fans after a cagey 0-0 draw against Ukraine, which meant they finished second. Can Tedesco change the narrative around the campaign and get his players ready to cause an upset against France? It seems a tall order.
Had they lost to Croatia, they would have faced an anxious wait to see whether they would qualify as one of the best third-placed teams. As it was Riccardo Calafiori raced upfield and passed the ball to Mattia Zaccagni, who opened up his body and scored the equaliser to make sure Italy finished second. Luciano Spalletti’s team were laboured in victory against Albania, outplayed in defeat against Spain and surprisingly hesitant in the draw against Croatia. Spalletti changed his 4-3-3 to a 3-5-2 against Croatia but it wasn’t a huge success. What will he do for the last 16?
Ronald Koeman described the defeat against Austria in the final group game as “appalling” and the result was particularly galling as they would have finished top had they won. But their performances in Germany have been disjointed, with midfield a particular area of concern. Frenkie de Jong’s absence has left a huge hole and v Austria, Joey Veerman was replaced after 35 minutes. Virgil van Dijk has not looked himself either so far. Any positives? Not many but Cody Gakpo has played well and scored two of the side’s four goals and Memphis Depay has avoided injury and found the net against Austria.
Kasper Hjulmand’s team will be pleased to have made it through to the knockout phase but there is still something missing. They are not as free-flowing as they were at Euro 2020, when they reached the semi-finals, and the fact that they did not win a group game will be a concern. Their best performance came against England when they drew 1-1 but arguably deserved to win and they are likely to need an even better performance to stand any chance against Germany. Midfielder Morten Hjulmand, scorer against England, will miss the game because of suspension.
Their work in the group stage was almost done within an hour of their first game against Ukraine as they raced to a 3-0 lead. They then needed only one more point to qualify, which they duly got against Slovakia, who also needed a point to qualify. Coach, Edward Iordanescu, however, was furious after the 1-1 draw eliminated Ukraine. “Everyone did their best to throw mud at the teams, at our work and our dignity,” he said. “It was shameful. They should have waited before judging us, but they threw this garbage not just at us but our opponent. If we were going to lose and go home we would have done so with our dignity intact.”
A team shaped by their Italian coach, Francesco Calzona, Slovakia have reached the last 16 for the second time in eight years. In France in 2016 their journey was ended by a 3-0 defeat against Germany – they will hope for a better result against England. And they will fancy their chances. The Slovakia job is Calzona’s first as a head coach, having worked as an assistant previously, but he has got the best out of this group of players, including a 1–0 win against Belgium in the opener. Napoli midfielder Stanislav Lobotka is the danger man.
One of only two teams to progress to the last 16 with three points, Slovenia drew all their group games and scored only two goals but, in fairness, were seconds away from beating Serbia to clinch a vital win. They are a hard-working team with two superstars, Jan Oblak and Benjamin Sesko, but the latter has not looked fully fit and that has had an impact on the team’s attacking play. They were solid against England, securing a last-16 game against Portugal, opponents they beat 2-0 in March with goals from Adam Gnezda Cerin and Timi Max Elsnik.