Roundup of Day Seven at Euro 2020 as Group C took centre stage alongside Denmark’s Group B clash against Belgium.
Today’s action saw two further teams secure their places in the knockout stage as the first eliminated team was confirmed, whilst there was a poignant moment of unity in Copenhagen as Denmark and Belgium showed their support for Christian Eriksen.
Now here is a full roundup of today’s three matches, starting with North Macedonia’s battle for survival as they met Ukraine in Romania.
Ukraine 2-1 North Macedonia
North Macedonia created the first opportunity in Bucharest as a long ball forced a save from Heorhiy Bushchan after just three minutes.
Ukraine however quickly thereafter asserted their dominance as Ruslan Malinovskiy and Andriy Yarmolenko wasted several shots, only for their pressure to pay off as Yarmolenko won a 29th minute corner which he proceeded to fire in from at the back post as he met Oleksandr Karavayev’s flick-on.
Five minutes later, Yarmolenko turned assistant as he played through Roman Yaremchuk to fire in to double their lead.
Goran Pandev soon afterwards chipped in for North Macedonia but his effort was ruled out for an offside move in the build-up, as Ukraine kept a two goal lead at half-time.
Arijan Ademi continued North Macedonia’s momentum as he forced a save from Bushchan just two minutes after the restart, with both teams soon exchanging chances until Karavayev fouled Pandev in the 55th minute.
Ezgjan Alioski stepped up two minutes later to fire in the penalty but Bushchan was able to block the spot kick, only for the Leeds’ star to smash in on the resulting rebound to reduce North Macedonia’s deficit.
Both teams went on to waste several chances as Aleksandar Trajkowski went closest for North Macedonia in injury time, whilst Stole Dimitrievski saved Malinovskiy’s 85th minute penalty after VAR spotted a handball during the Ukrainian’s free-kick minutes earlier.
Ukraine eventually clung on for victory to give them hope of qualifying for the knockout stage whilst North Macedonia were eliminated later in the evening, after Netherlands defeated Austria to make it mathematically impossible for the debutants to qualify for the knockouts.
Denmark 1-2 Belgium
An electric start from the hosts saw Jason Denayer’s pass intercepted by Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg who teed up Yussuf Poulsen to fire across into the bottom left corner to put Denmark in front.
Play was halted in the tenth minute as both teams and the spectators united in an massive round of supportive applause for Eriksen, who is currently in hospital after suffering a cardiac arrest in Saturday’s defeat to Finland.
Mikkel Damsgaard, Daniel Wass and Poulsen all wasted further chances in the first half as Belgium struggled to get a foothold in the game, except for various set pieces which all came to nothing with Roberto Martinez opting to substitute Dries Mertens for Kevin De Bruyne at half-time.
Denmark however enjoyed the better start to the second half as Thomas Delaney fired wide from outside the box in the 48th minute.
De Bruyne’s impact upon the Belgian Red Devils soon afterwards became clear as he played a sharp one-two move with Romelu Lukaku in the 55th minute, before teeing up an incoming Thorgan Hazard to lash in to level the scoring.
Thorgan Hazard’s brother – Eden however would provide the decisive pass from Youri Tielemans’ pass 15 minutes later, with De Bruyne blasting in the winner to complete Belgium’s comeback, as Martin Branthwaite and Mathias Jensen wasted late chances for Denmark.
Belgium consequently sealed a top two finish in Group B and are the second team after Italy to confirm their place in the knockout stages.
Russia and Finland meanwhile sit second and third ahead of Denmark with all three teams scrapping over the last guaranteed qualification spot in their final group matches on Monday 21 June.
Netherlands 2-0 Austria
A bright start from Netherlands quickly paid dividends just eight minutes in after Stefan de Vrij was fouled by David Alaba, with referee – Orel Grinfeld ignoring penalty appeals until VAR persuaded him to overturn his decision.
Memphis Depay proceeded to step up and dispatch his penalty into the bottom left corner to put the hosts ahead, as Frank De Boer’s Netherlands controlled the first half without too many clear-cut chances as Depay missed two further shots, including a 40th minute strike from Wout Weghorst’s pass which flew just wide.
Austria however came out and dictated the opening stages of the second half until the Dutch won a corner on the hour mark, with Dpay’s delivery headed by De Vrij on goal but blocked to Matthijs de Light whose shot was cleared.
Netherlands eventually wrapped up qualification as Group B winners in the 67th minute as Depay played through Donyell Malen, who teed up Denzel Dumfries to fire in their second to seal victory and a spot in the Last 16.
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