Finally, some knockout football.
There have been 36 matches at this Euro and just eight teams have been eliminated.
That sounds a bit weird to me.
After two weeks of the Euro, 16 teams of the 24 that started the group stages are still around for the knockouts.
Doesn’t even feel like anything has happened. Was there any danger and jeopardy involved?
With all the big dogs still there, the short answer is a hard no.
This week, it dawned on me that I don’t like the Euro 2020 group-stage format.
With the top two from the six groups qualifying for a last 16, they needed four best third-placed teams to make up the numbers.
And that makes for a long-winded qualification for the knockouts.
With heavyweights like Germany and Portugal playing on Wednesday night, only defeats would have put them out at the first hurdle from the “group of death”, Group F.
Had one of them lost and been eliminated, Group B contestants Finland would have made the knockouts, having last played on Monday.
And that could have meant that the Finns would have had a couple of more rest days than their first knockout opponents.
OK, that’s that. That’s my little tantrum over.
Apart from having to deal with confusing permutations up until the last second of the Wednesday night matched, it’s been a lekker little tournament to watch.
And after a bloated group stage, the mense will get what they want to see – real football.