UEFA Euro 2016, days 6 and 7: four wins, two draws

June 17, 2016

Yesterday, in UEFA Euro 2016, England defeated their neighbours Wales 2–1; Northern Ireland won 2–0 against Ukraine; and Germany and Poland had to settle for a goalless draw. The day before, Russia lost 1–2 to Slovakia; the match between Romania and Switzerland ended in a 1–1 draw; and the hosts France won 2–0 against Albania.

Group B &mdash; Russia 1–2 Slovakia
After a draw in their opening match against England, Russia faced Slovakia on Wednesday, but Slovakia stunned the Russians as and  scored in the 32nd and 45th minutes respectively. scored a goal for Russia. The Slovaks won the match to leave Russia in last place in the Group B table.

Group A &mdash; Romania 1–1 Switzerland
Romania won a penalty kick in the 18th minute and scored from the spot providing an early lead. scored an equaliser for the Swiss just before the one hour mark. Both the teams had to settle for a draw.

Group A &mdash; France 2–0 Albania
The hosts France faced Albania in Marseille. Though the French had greater ball possession, the match was goalless for 89 minutes. Substitute Antoine Griezmann scored in the 90th minute, breaking the deadlock. scored the second goal for Les Bleus in injury time. France currently lead the table in Group A and will advance to the knock-out stage of the competition.

Payet was awarded Man of the Match for a second consecutive time.

Group B &mdash; England 2–1 Wales
Welsh player Gareth Bale opened the scoring from a free kick in the 42nd minute as England took on Wales. But their lead was nullified within a quarter of an hour as netted a goal. The match looked likely to end in a draw, but then scored a second goal for England to put them on top of the Group B table.

Bale has now scored twice in the tournament, both from free-kicks.

Group C &mdash; Ukraine 0–2 Northern Ireland
Ukraine dominated the game in terms of ball possession, but 's goal in the 49th minute gave Northern Ireland the lead. Later, deep in injury time, scored their second goal to ensure. Three Northern Ireland and two Ukranian players were yellow-carded in the match.

Ukraine lost their previous match 2–0 against Germany and with just one match to come against Poland, they are at the bottom of the Group C table.

Group C &mdash; Germany 0–0 Poland
Polish captain Robert Lewandowski faced several of his Bayern Munich teammates, including Manuel Neuer, Thomas Müller, and, in the Germany-Poland clash, but both sides had to settle for a goalless draw. Six players were booked, three from each team. was the first to be booked, in the third minute. Mesut Özil and Jérôme Boateng were also cautioned for Germany. , and  were the three Poles to be yellow-carded.

Both teams won their previous game and both now have four points.

After the match, Germany manager Joachim Löw said,