Euro 2020 heavyweights France and Portugal punch up the script. England remains a mystery

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This article was published 24/06/2021 (1929 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

What would a major soccer tournament be without tabloid scandal, political drama and wonder strikes?

• Euro 2020: the tournament of the own goal. There’s not a marketing team in the world that could make that sound attractive. And there’s no real way to explain why a record eight — five more than the previous high, set in 2016 — have already been scored. But it’s a rematch of that 2016 final that will be one of the most talked about games of this event.

It is so rare that marquee matchups actually deliver. France’s 2-2 draw with Portugal had everything, except a match winner. It felt like a boxing match, even before French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris put his forearm through the jaw of Portuguese midfielder Danilo. The 2016 finalists traded blows and trips to the penalty spot, and both were saved by goals from aging superstars who couldn’t help but show their friendship on the pitch.

Having never scored at the Euros before Wednesday’s brace, Karim Benzema justified the faith French coach Didier Deschamps has in him. Olivier Giroud is pulling out his beautifully coiffed hair knowing he’s unlikely to see the pitch the way Benzema, Kylian Mbappé and Antoine Griezmann are playing.

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• I knew Cristiano Ronaldo would tie Ali Daei’s all-time international men’s goal scoring record this year. I didn’t think he would do it in the group stage. Those two penalty strikes assured Portugal’s tournament continues, and I wouldn’t bet against him scoring another against Belgium on Sunday. You’d think Álvaro Morata would have taken some notes from his Juventus teammate.

The Spaniard is snake-bitten from the penalty spot. But all it took was a Slovakian goalkeeper and a French defender from the Premier League to open the scoring faucet for Spain. La Roja coach Luis Enrique had previously described his team as a bottle of champagne, just waiting to pop. There were a lot of stinging Slovakian eyes Wednesday night.

• Ten qualifiers, three group-stage games and we still don’t have a clue what this England team really is. It seems as though Gareth Southgate doesn’t either. Though maybe his master plan all along was to save Jadon Sancho in the event that England drew Germany in the knockout rounds. They’ve done that, and I won’t be surprised if Southgate turns to the Borussia Dortmund star hoping he has the secret formula to avoid going to a penalty shootout with their archrivals.

• What’s with Croatia’s obsession with breaking British hearts? After ending any chance of the Jules Rimet trophy “coming home” by beating England in the World Cup semifinals in 2018, an overlooked and written off Croatian side extended Scotland’s misery at major tournaments, embarrassing the Tartan Army at Hampden Park. Scotland has never made it past the group stage. And how unlucky of Scottish playoff hero David Marshall to concede two world-class goals. It’s bad enough the Scottish goalkeeper and his teammates will have to live with the constant “what if?” thoughts.

• Soccer is better when the Dutch are good. And despite Frank de Boer, this Netherlands side look very good, a team to be feared. Seeing the Dutch back at a major tournament for the first time since Scarborough-born Jonathan de Guzman was on the team at the 2014 World Cup has been special. With the Czechs and one of Wales or Denmark standing in their way of reaching the semifinal stage, we’ll be seeing those beautiful Oranje shirts for a while yet.

• I loved the guard of honour shown to Goran Pandev when he was substituted off in his final game for North Macedonia. A legend in his homeland, like Lionel Messi is in Argentina or Ronaldo in Portugal.

• And I was very happy that Sweden coach Janne Andersson read my last Toronto Star piece, where I begged him to take the handbrake off this team. With Alexander Isak, Emil Forsberg and Dejan Kulusevski, Sweden is not a pushover. I don’t expect Andriy Shevchenko’s men to give the Swedes any trouble at all, which is a shame because, even at 44 years old, he might.

Toronto Star contributor Brendan Dunlop is host of “Headers and Footers,” the nightly UEFA EURO 2020 recap podcast. Follow him on Twitter: @brendan_dunlop