Euro 2016 daily: good goals, tight games litter day three

Day three of Euro 2016 featured exactly zero Chelsea FC players. This gave us a chance to be completely neutral (maybe) and enjoy the games on offer.

The three games played on Sunday 12th June finished with two 1-0’s and a tighter-than-it-appeared 2-0. This did not mean the games were devoid of quality. Croatia faced off against Turkey, Poland played the surprise home nation qualifiers of Northern Ireland and one of the favourites, Germany, finished the day against Ukraine.

Croatia are many people’s dark horses of the tournament, but their defence could be seen as a weak link, especially as Dejan Lovren was left at home because of a disagreement with the coach. The midfield is their real strength, La Liga stars Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic patrol the middle while Ivan Perisic gives them quality out wide. Mario Mandzukic is the target man up top.

They showed their superiority in a controlled, if not dominant, display over a promising Turkey side. The losing team edged the possession stats with 51%, but Croatia managed 19 shots, six on target.

The deciding strike was a beautiful volley by the brilliant Modric. I would be absolutely fine with Chelsea throwing as much money as they can at Real Madrid to sign the Croatian dynamo.

Croatia face Czech Republic next, while Turkey play defending Champions, Spain.

Game two of the day saw a dangerous Poland side open their campaign against surprise qualifiers Northern Ireland.

The 1-0 scoreline flattered the British team, Poland were dominant and enjoyed 65% of the possession. NI failed to attempt a single shot on target and striker, Kyle Lafferty was without any sort of midfield support.

While the losing team were certainly rigid in defence and smothered most of the Polish attempts, they were unable to stop Arkadiusz Milik scoring.

Milik has the makings of a star, still only 22-years-old he had a fantastic season for Ajax, scoring 24 goals and contributing 12 assists in all competitions.

He could fit in well for Chelsea under Antonio Conte, playing just behind Diego Costa, or even alongside the Spaniard in a front two. Start the rumour mill guys, you heard it here first!

#MiliktoChelsea

Maybe not, but he took his goal very well. Having spurned an earlier chance he made no mistake this time, rifling a left-footed shot through defender, Craig Cathcart’s legs.

Poland play rivals Germany next, after Northern Ireland take on Ukraine.

In the evening game, Germany beat Ukraine 2-0. As expected, the Germans dominated possession with 68% and had 8 shots on target, but Ukraine could’ve easily scored one or two. Manuel Neuer made a couple of key saves early on, and had a mix up with centre-back Shkodran Mustafi which almost resulted in a hilarious own goal.

The best save of the day went to Jerome Boateng, Yevhen Konoplyanka scuffed a shot which ended up hitting Boateng and towards his own goal. Just as the ball looked to be drifting in, the German defender stuck out a boot and volleyed it away. Take a look:

After an early period of dominance, Germany scored through a flicked Mustafi header.

It took them until the 92nd minute to score their second. Mesut Ozil receiving the ball on the counter and playing a fabulous cross to the recently substituted Bastian Schweinsteiger to crash into the net

Todays games could be some real treats.

Spain play Czech Republic in the early match. Cesc Fabregas, Cesar Azpilicueta and Pedro provide the Chelsea interest, don’t be surprised to see Fabregas as the only starter though. Petr Cech will be starting in goal for the Czechs, for those of you still missing him.

Sidenote – it’ll be interesting to see if the David de Gea situation has an impact on Spain’s performance and who starts in goal.

Possible Manchester United signing, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, will be under the microscope in Sweden’s match with Republic of Ireland. The match starts at 17:00 GMT and will feature two sides looking for a victory in the so called ‘group of death’.

The last game of the day sees heavyweights Belgium and Italy go head-to-head. With two Chelsea stars, rumoured transfer links and the incoming manager all featuring, this is not a game to miss for CFC fans.

Next: Chelsea at Euro 2016: players, manager and transfer targets

With Eden Hazard keen to impress Antonio Conte and captaining one of the favourites for the trophy, the winger will be hoping to handle the pressure and gain some momentum for the upcoming Premier League season.