Key events
Tremendous.
They might eventually find their lack of an elite-level centre-forward does for them, but Germany look decent don’t they? A midfield of Toni Kroos, Robert Andrich, Florian Wirtz, Jamal Musiala and Ilkay Gundogan is absolutely not to be messed with, and it’ll take something significant to stop them.
What a joy Georgia have been so far. They’ll need to beat Portugal now to stay involved and that seems unlikely – though perhaps Martínez, with his team qualified, will rotate – but even if they go home, they’ve enriched our lives over the last week.
If Roberto Martínez gets his Portugal side right, they’ll take some stopping. Bruno Fernandes ended the club season in rare form and looks right in the mood at this tournament, while Bernardo Silva is also at it. Behind them, João Palhinha and Vitinha supply ballast – and quality – while alongside them, Rafael Leão gives cutting edge and on the bench, a panoply of options mean no match-situation should faze them.
We’ll also have a look back at yesterday’s action. Belgium got themselves going, Kevin de Bruyne to the fore as they dealt with Turkey. They seemed to have better cohesion with Your Tielemans in the side – I was surprised he didn’t come on sooner against Slovakia – and Amadou Onana looked much better next to him.
Preamble
Hello there! And welcome to today’s blog, which’ll take you from now up until this evening’s games which conclude Group A. We’ll bring you Scotland v Hungary and Switzerland v Germany, but prior to then we’l have all the chat and news from what’s shaping up to be a classic tournament. Off we go