While the thrill of the winner was exciting, Portugal and Croatia were uninspiring for most of the game.

For the first time since 1980, neither side had a shot on target for the 90 minutes of regular play.

Looking at the shooting statistics of both sides, Croatia had 19 shots on goal and only 1 shot on target, while Portugal only had 4 shots on goal and 1 shot on target, and it was this shot on target that made Portugal score a goal against Croatia in the last minute of extra time and was lucky to advance to the quarterfinals.

The huge advantage in the game could not be converted into a victory, and Croatia still failed to break through the fate of Portugal's winless situation, falling in the first round of the knockout stage of the European Championship for the third time.

This game is a typical knockout style game, in the face of a decisive victory that is death or defeat, both sides appear cautious, on the premise of not making mistakes, concentrate heavy troops on the backfield defense, and dare not invest too many troops in the attack, so that both sides almost did not create an absolute threat opportunity in the first 110 minutes, until the last 10 minutes, Croatia, which did not want to rely on penalties to decide its fate, suddenly made a force, but fate was not on their side, after the continuous attack created a threat and hit the post with a header, The Portuguese used a counter-attack to finish the match. It was Ricardo Quaresma who scored the goal, but it was their captain, Cristiano Ronaldo, who saved his first shot of the game, allowing Quaresma to score the winner in front of goal.

Perhaps because of the caution in the face of the knockout stage that has never been crossed, or because of the nervousness in the face of the opponent who has never been defeated, the invincible Croatian team in the group stage adopted a relatively conservative tactics in this game, in the case of the full field of data dominance, 17 shots on goal but did not hit the target once, the opponent's only chance to score a goal, perhaps, this is the arrangement of fate.

If Croatia had not been conservative in the regular season and had attacked aggressively, perhaps the outcome would have been different. Unfortunately, there was no possibility in football, and it is a pity that the powerful Croatians could not go further.

In this game, UEFA officially awarded the best of the match to Portugal's rising midfielder Renato Sanchez, and interestingly, the 18-year-old talented midfielder only came on as a substitute in the 50th minute of the game.

Alexis Sanchez also became the second-youngest player of the tournament at the tournament, following England's 15-year-old cadres.

Portugal's next opponent in the quarter-finals is Poland, who knocked out Switzerland on penalties, and if they can progress to the semi-finals, they will face the winner of England and Belgium.

If it were England, Cristiano Ronaldo would surely be reminded of that friendly at Wembley Stadium in London, where he lost 2-0 to England.

If they meet again in the semi-finals, what can Portugal do to stop the in-form Qiansheng, who has already scored seven goals?

For the host French team, the result of 2 wins and 1 draw in the group stage can only be regarded as good, after all, the strength of the three opponents in the same group is inferior.

But if it weren't for Dimitri Payet's last-minute strike, the hosts, who had high hopes from French fans, would have had a hard time getting off to a good start.

Albania, who were considered the weakest team in the group, only managed to save face in the last minute thanks to two goals from Payet and Antoine Griezmann.

In the final game of the group, they drew 0-0 with Switzerland after qualifying early, and although they finished first in the group, they fell into the bottom half of the death zone, which made the French very worried about the prospects of the French team in the knockout stage after a stumbling performance all the way.

France's first knockout match was against Ireland from the British Isles. This is Ireland's third European Championship final in their history and the first time they have progressed from the group. Ireland have come a long way from their last European Championship, when they lost all three of their group stage matches.

At the Stade Gérland in Lyon, France are unbeaten in seven international matches (five wins, two draws). From the 3-1 friendly against Spain on 17 October 1968 to the 2-1 win over Denmark in the group stage of the 1998 World Cup.

For France captain Hugo Lloris, the match was very meaningful: he played in this stadium for five seasons; This match was his 55th for France as captain.

Before the game, France coach Didier Deschamps said we defended well, conceded only one goal in three group games, and it was a penalty, so we defended well.

Soon, Paul Pogba was slapped in the face.

Just one minute later, a foul in the penalty area was made, and Northern Ireland international Roberto Brady opened the scoring from the penalty spot, and the host French team actually fell behind 0-1 early.

It was France's second goal conceded at this European Championship, and it was a penalty just like the first. In the opening game, the French team also conceded a penalty and then came back to win, this one, can they replicate the comeback performance in the opening game?

After conceding the goal, the French team launched a fierce attack, and in 20 minutes, the French team had four shots on goal, either off target or saved by the brave Irish goalkeeper Darren Randolph, after that, the two sides went back and forth, although it was a dream start, but Ireland coach Martin O'Neill could not feel relaxed, because the stronger French team suppressed Ireland on the field, and the attack was fierce.

One side was in a hurry to equalize, the other side wanted to keep the win, and the two sides moved bigger.

In the 25th and 27th minutes, Ireland captain Simons Coleman and French striker N'Golo Kante were each awarded Topaz, who had accumulated two yellow cards and would be suspended for the next round if France progressed.

The two sides fought for every inch of territory, and the confrontation was very fierce, and Erlai's attack was fast in the first half, and the ability to limit the midfield was a headache for the French team. In the 41st and 44th minutes, Ireland defender Joffrey Hendrick and French centre-back Adil Rami scored another topaz.

In the first half, the French team fell behind at halftime for the first time in this European Cup, and the fans of the French team kept shouting and cheering, believing that the team could turn around.

In the second half, Didier Deschamps made the first change, replacing the yellow-carded N'Golo Kante with youngster Kingsley Koeman and bringing Dimitri Payella to the middle, with Coman and Anthony Griezmann roaming on the flanks.

This adjustment immediately showed a good effect, the French team increased the tempo, the offensive became more and more fierce, and soon, in the 58th minute, the French team's right-back Bakali Sagna crossed from the right, and Griezmann scored with a beautiful header in front of the goal to equalize the score!

Three minutes later, French centre-forward Oliver Giroud, who had become a bread feeder, provided a fine assist and Antoine Griezmann scored twice with a cool left-footed volley in front of goal. Excited Payet and Antoine Griezmann celebrated the goal by shining shoes, and the French fans in the stands were even more excited.

Ireland immediately replaced the ineffective striker Darryl Murphy with striker Joan Walters in the 65th minute, and a minute later, Shaun Duffy fouled Griezmann in a behind-the-back tackle and went straight to the red card. Ireland, which is backward, is even more passive in the face of France, which has one more person.

Although the French team reversed and overtook the lead, the one-goal lead was not safe, so they continued to put pressure on the Irish team and tried every means to score another goal to completely kill the game.

Andre Pierre Gignac, who replaced Olivier Giroud, almost killed the game when his curling shot hit the crossbar in the 77th minute, leaving the audience sighing and Deschamps even more annoyed.

After that, both sides had a lot of shots on goal, but unfortunately they couldn't score again, and in the end, thanks to Griezmann's brace in three minutes, the French team won the stubborn Ireland in a thrilling way to reach the quarter-finals.

Griezmann, the scorer of this game, had a total of 8 shots on goal, 5 of which hit the target, scored two goals, and the pass completion rate reached 81.7%, helping the French team to win the quarterfinals Griezmann was officially voted the best player of the game by UEFA officials, and he also ranked second in the scorer list with Spanish striker Alvaro Morata with three goals.

Although Ireland lost, their tenacious performance won the applause of the French fans and reached the knockout stage for the first time.

Although France advanced to the quarterfinals as they wished, their performance was unconvincing, and coach Didier Deschamps was criticized by many professionals. Many people feel that if the French team does not change the fearful performance of conceding first and then reversing, it will be difficult to go further in this death half, and the performance of the next strong opponent Germany has added to the worries of French fans.

At the Pierre Moruwa Stadium, Germany, who won Group C, welcomed one of the best teams in the group, Slovakia. This is an old rival, Slovakia beat Germany 3-1 at home in the warm-up match on May 29, and this time in the knockout round, Slovakia can once again defeat the mighty German tank and reach the quarterfinals of the European Championship for the first time?

World Cup champion Germany did not concede a goal in the group stage, and did not concede a goal in the past 400 minutes. It was in the warm-up match against Slovakia in May, and once conceded, it was three goals. However, the goalkeeper for that game was Bernd Leno.

Sometimes the results in the warm-up games don't reflect the true strength of the two sides, and Slovakia coach Jan Kozak is well aware that Germany's dominant performance in the final round of the group stage has made him know that it will be difficult to repeat last month's miracle. So he deployed the same tactics to ensure that the team could launch lethal counterattacks while defending solidly.

However, soon after the opening, Kozak knew that the German team in this game was the real German team. (To be continued.) )