⚽ UEFA Euro 2024 in Germany ⚽ - Qualifiers➡Group Stage➡1/8➡QF➡HF➡FINAL

[TastyChillySauce00]

What a drama there was in the Croatia - Italy match. Thanks to the last minute of extra time, Italy prevented Croatia from leaving the groups with a last-gasp goal.

Croatia did not even understand what they were facing at that moment, it was very strange because they were not expecting the referee to finish the match and they were focused on what the Italy team did. Modric missed a penalty in this match, but he made up for it with the goal he scored a few minutes later.

Still, Modric's missed penalty could enable Croatia to qualify for the round of sixteen. Modric's failing penalty cost Croatia a spot in the round of sixteen; thus, that is the most disappointing outcome of his performance. Croatia performed poorly and missed the round of sixteen. Moreover, they repeat it again by letting a goal go in the last seconds. 
Modric's single goal meant nothing because he could score two. After the loss against italy, Modric failed to bring his national club to fight against Switzerland, which already qualified. 

For Croatia, Donaruma and Calafiore were nightmares, and these men were main actors from italy that prevented Croatia from moving forward in the round of sixteen. At last, Modric has to leave his national football team with a poor record after Croatia lost against Italy in a dramatic game. 

[Majestic-milf]

 In all their meetings at European competition, this will be the 7th time they see being held to a draw and still Croatia have the upper hand of winning three times. The game was as it was expected to be; a thriller. With both sides testing the limits of the other and each coming up short. I even expected that Italy will break the record of having never won Croatia since towards the middle of second half, they began finding their rhythm and were asking questions but they had to settle for a pitiful draw which gives Croatia two points and Italy four, with Albania having no hopes at all.
 I enjoyed the game no doubt but my concerns with Croatia is that they like becoming serious in any competition when it's either in the last stages or close to it. Check most of their performances in other tournaments and you'd observe they tend to get serious when their backs are almost against the wall.
I don't think they will have gotten to this point if they had applied some form of seriousness to the game.

[MinoRaiola]

That's why in football matches, a team shouldn't proclaim itself the winner of any football match until the referee blows the final whistle because the scoreline can change to your opponent's favor.
What happened to the Croatia team is a very heartbreaking experience they won't forget in a hurry that their opportunity to qualify for the round of 16 was denied by the Italian's late-minute goal.  Nevertheless, Italians vs Croatia commonly end their match in a draw match mostly. This will be their 4th draw so far since their meeting with another. Only a win has occurred from Croatia

The goal 30 seconds before the end, a great show, nobody thought that would happen... Croatia also let in a goal against Albania in the final minutes, which is a shame for them. But Italys show so far has been very funny, the fastest goal in European Championship history for alabnia, scoring a owngoal and scoring a dream goal in the last second against Croatia. So Italys entertainment has been pretty cool so far, lets see what the next game shows. The game yesterday is being analysed in the media today, but a goal like that in the last second, you dont need analyses or anything else, that was luck.

[joniboini]

Well, I'll say something, and my English friends will forgive me, but for me Rooney did have his good moments, but he wasn't brilliant enough to start criticising in that way. Something that sometimes bothers me is that there are people who think they have the authority to criticise and judge others knowing that they will never be perfect.

To be fair to him he based his analysis on their performance last night, and I don't think you have to be a brilliant player to analyze how a game went. I agree that pundits in general have shallow analysis though. We've heard too many ridiculous analyses on football matches since years ago, I think they do that because the algorithm prefers rage-bait analysis like that. It's like a chicken and egg problem I guess. I think you should just ignore the emotional/biased part of their opinion, and pick out their main argument which usually boils down to "not good enough", "forward failed to convert opportunities", "terrible defending", etc.

[MK-74]

I hope you watched the Croatia - Italy match. It was a good match.
Italy scored a beautiful goal in the last minute at 90+8, it was truly incredible.
I didn't think the Italians would score, but they did and advanced to the next round.

Luka Modric made European history. Luka Modric became the oldest player to score a goal in the history of the European Championship.

[Justbillywitt]

What a drama there was in the Croatia - Italy match. Thanks to the last minute of extra time, Italy prevented Croatia from leaving the groups with a last-gasp goal.

Croatia did not even understand what they were facing at that moment, it was very strange because they were not expecting the referee to finish the match and they were focused on what the Italy team did. Modric missed a penalty in this match, but he made up for it with the goal he scored a few minutes later.

It was indeed a dramatic late goal from the Italian side which has now put Croatia in a difficult situation. They looked so certain that they were going into the next stage but they totally lost their cool which gave the Italian side the chance to qualify at their expense. I don't know why it's difficult for Croatia to hold on to a win in this tournament, and that has been a problem for them. They conceeded a late goal when they played Albania too, and a repeat of that has now put them in this tight corner where their hope of qualifying among the 3rd placed best ranked teams now depend on England's performance against Slovenia. England need to win with a scoreline of 3 goals and above for them to have any hope of qualifying.

So far in this competition England hasn't even scored two goals in a match and I wonder how that magic is going to happen for Croatia. Well all fingers are crossed, Croatia are a good side but somehow I think they have played their last game in this competition because I don't see England scoring that much goal today. England have already qualify for the next round and they wouldn't want to risk their players that much in search for more goals. If England will win it won't be more than a scoreline of 1 or 2 goals.

[HajiBagi]

What a drama there was in the Croatia - Italy match. Thanks to the last minute of extra time, Italy prevented Croatia from leaving the groups with a last-gasp goal.

Croatia did not even understand what they were facing at that moment, it was very strange because they were not expecting the referee to finish the match and they were focused on what the Italy team did. Modric missed a penalty in this match, but he made up for it with the goal he scored a few minutes later.

I have said before that Croatia will not go far in this tournament and that is what happened to them yesterday, thank god they have been eliminated from the group stage if not it will be boring seeing them playing in the round of 16, Croatia doesn’t know how to defend against any opponents they face and that is one of the reasons they have been eliminated, the Croatia players will be playing as if they don’t have any young players among them, luka modric miss the penalty and he made it to them by scoring goal immediately after he missed the penalty but that doesn’t mean that he has a good performance in the game because as one of the best midfielder in the world, you are not supposed to be missing penalty, modric use to miss penalty even in Real Madrid and it will affect the team sometimes when the team needs winning.

Italy has been trying their best and they deserve to win the game because the way they showed in the match against Croatia is very impressive, Italy even missed some chances in the match if not Italy would have won the game before the game ended because Croatia don’t know how to defend against their opponents, to be honest support Croatia in this tournament but after seeing the way they played from the beginning of the league I don’t like it and I’m very happy that Italy qualifies.

[asriloni]

I hope you watched the Croatia - Italy match. It was a good match.
Italy scored a beautiful goal in the last minute at 90+8, it was truly incredible.
I didn't think the Italians would score, but they did and advanced to the next round.

The goal from zaccagni makes me feel Dejavu with the goal from Del Piero, and assist from Alberto Gilardino at the 2006 World Cup Germany. And again, it's also happening in the same country. Italy is always full of surprises, but people doubted their ability to advance into the round of 16, and they made it to qualify for the round of 16. Italy breaks all of bad opinions about them.

Luka Modric made European history. Luka Modric became the oldest player to score a goal in the history of the European Championship.

A fantastic performance from a 38 years old player, and he paid what he missed when he failed to execute the penalty, but as he confirmed in his interview after the game against Italy, he would not retire from the national club. We may see him again at the world Cup in 2026.

[bering]

Italy was makes me shocked that i thought they will not be qualified because until minutes 90+7 they still unable to equalized the score but everything was change when Calafiori has solo run from Italy defensive lines and he gives the ball to Zaccagni which makes Zaccagni can equalized the scored even i have to says this is one of beautiful goal during this tournament however seeing Italy performance i personally can says they still unable to reach to their top form but at least Italy still able to qualified although they have to works hard to did that

In Group B besides Italy who qualified to the round of 16 we can see Spain also can qualified as group champion and just like people predicted that although for the current Euro Cup Spain squad was dominated by young players but so far during group stages they are still consistent and yesterday they have won with narrow score from Albania 1-0 this makes them can collect 9 points from 3 matches and the most impressive is Spain still not conceded goals however looking forward to see Spain upcoming opponent but apparently they still have to wait the results matches from other groups but for Italy at round of 16 they will fight against Swiss

[Inwestour]

Is anyone familiar with the detailed qualification rules for the four best third-placed teams?
What happens if two, or more, teams have an equal number of points and identical goal difference? Is there going to be a draw, or are other metrics to be considered, i.e. more goals scored etc?

Btw, it's a pretty neat system, when every team has at least theoretical chances of qualifying up until the final round.

I don’t know, I haven’t seen this used at the final stages yet. I think that now it will become interesting for many, whether Croatia will advance further thanks to this system or not. Yesterday's draw was not unexpected, from the very beginning it was clear that a draw would be enough for Italy, and they were moving towards this result, maybe the penalty that Modric missed was not enough, or maybe they needed to play more carefully in defense in the last minutes.

[Strongkored]

I hope you watched the Croatia - Italy match. It was a good match.
Italy scored a beautiful goal in the last minute at 90+8, it was truly incredible.
I didn't think the Italians would score, but they did and advanced to the next round.

Both teams fought until the end and the defending champions would almost have been eliminated early if the goal in stoppage time had not come, and for Croatia, it was very painful, even Luca Modric said that sometimes football is very cruel and that was an expression of his disappointment because he couldn't return to play for the next European Cup, his age would prevent it.

Luka Modric made European history. Luka Modric became the oldest player to score a goal in the history of the European Championship.

That's a personal record that will probably last a long time and he was also man of the match in that match, but everything would be more beautiful if his country could qualify for the knockout rounds but he had to accept defeat for his country's national team, but he is one of the legends of Croatian football with all his achievements with his country's national team

[Sg4j1n3ll0]

yesterday it was a very tough match for Italy, really painful, as an Italian I would really like to thank Zaccagni who believed in us until the end and scored a beautiful goal and then I would personally like to praise Calafiori because he was truly a sumptuous player and obviously the goalkeeper then thanks to the tournament that practically always saved us Gigio Donnarumma truly a great goalkeeper now the round of 16 against Switzerland will be a very difficult match

[Solokan]

What a drama there was in the Croatia - Italy match. Thanks to the last minute of extra time, Italy prevented Croatia from leaving the groups with a last-gasp goal.

Croatia did not even understand what they were facing at that moment, it was very strange because they were not expecting the referee to finish the match and they were focused on what the Italy team did. Modric missed a penalty in this match, but he made up for it with the goal he scored a few minutes later.

Croatia's match against Italy was very dramatic and to be honest, it's a shame that Croatia couldn't make good use of the golden opportunity they had. Yes, of course this 1-1 draw brought good luck to Italy, who of course qualified for the round of 16.

Yes, of course Italy was really lucky, he was able to take advantage of opportunities well in the final minutes of the match and of course Zaccagni really became a hero for Italy because he managed to score the goal that made the score 1-1. However, so far Croatia has fought optimally and Modric, even though he is 38 still young, is still playing optimally and well. Yes, even though he failed to execute the penalty kick, his failure was made up for by the goal he scored not far from when the penalty kick was taken

Of course, many Croatian fans were disappointed with the result of the match, but of course now Croatia must be willing to swallow the bitter pill of being defeated by Italy. Honestly, I don't know whether Croatia will qualify for the round of 16 or not, but honestly I hope Croatia can get a ticket to the round of 16, namely as winners of the 3 best groups. I think if Croatia progresses to the round of 16, the disappointment of Croatian fans will be alleviated.

Yes, but now Italian fans must be happy because their team has qualified for the round of 16. and I saw lots of Italian fans who were happy because their country had qualified for the round of 16.

[Roseline492]

Italy has been trying their best and they deserve to win the game because the way they showed in the match against Croatia is very impressive, Italy even missed some chances in the match if not Italy would have won the game before the game ended because Croatia don’t know how to defend against their opponents, to be honest support Croatia in this tournament but after seeing the way they played from the beginning of the league I don’t like it and I’m very happy that Italy qualifies.

The match between Croatia and Italy yesterday was very unpredictable and there was so much struggle on the side that would win, though Croatia performance was very encouraging and if they had given the penalty they cancelled they would have win the match, though they never believed Italy will be able to equalize the goal the way they did on the last minutes, so it was very sad for them after defending the goal from the middle of the match till 90 minutes and suddenly everything changes, so congratulations to Italy because they have qualified for another round so hopefully from the performance of Italy so far they have the chance to last longer on this league.

[Pandorak]

[...] Modric missed a penalty in this match, but he made up for it with the goal he scored a few minutes later.

As it should be, overcomes his mistakes is a must for him. In my opinion, Modric's kick was too relaxed, so it could easily be predicted and then pushed over by Donnarumma, Luka Modric should have used the penalty opportunity made by Frattesi's mistake. But unfortunately, in the end Italy was able to equalize the score of this match through a beautiful kick given by Zaccagni through a pass given by Calafiori.

[Unsoldier]

I hope you watched the Croatia - Italy match. It was a good match.
Italy scored a beautiful goal in the last minute at 90+8, it was truly incredible.
I didn't think the Italians would score, but they did and advanced to the next round.

Luka Modric made European history. Luka Modric became the oldest player to score a goal in the history of the European Championship.

The Croatia vs. Italy match was a real drama. It seemed like Italy wouldn't be able to do anything, but suddenly they scored the crucial goal and advanced to the Round of 16. Watching Luka Modric was especially interesting. He was so nervous for his team that he was chewing on his jersey.

I think the referees added too much extra time, a whole 8 minutes. I didn't keep track, but it seemed to me that there weren't that many stoppages in the match. Nevertheless, it was the 8th minute of added time that saved Italy.

I had predicted a 1-0 victory for Croatia and thought my prediction would come true, but it didn't.

[Catenaccio]

I hope you watched the Croatia - Italy match. It was a good match.
Italy scored a beautiful goal in the last minute at 90+8, it was truly incredible.
I didn't think the Italians would score, but they did and advanced to the next round.

That beautiful goal can be compared with two goals for Italy in World Cup 2006, scored by Grosso and Del Piero against Germany in semi final match. It is more similar to a second goal scored by Del Piero.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VlMRDJmZAI

Both teams fought until the end and the defending champions would almost have been eliminated early if the goal in stoppage time had not come, and for Croatia, it was very painful, even Luca Modric said that sometimes football is very cruel and that was an expression of his disappointment because he couldn't return to play for the next European Cup, his age would prevent it.

They fight hardly and did not give up but only one team can smile after all. It's Italy but they had to live with fear until very last seconds. Croatia can say they were unlucky but they must see why they let Albania and Italy scored two very late goals and steal 4 points from Croatia.

Generally Croatia luckily got a gift from Fratessi, an alternative player from Italy and got a leading goal but they failed to secure this advantage till the final whistle. Luka Modric felt painful because it's hard to accept such situations in two consecutive matches that changed all destiny for Croatia in this tournament.

[MK-74]

I hope you watched the Croatia - Italy match. It was a good match.
Italy scored a beautiful goal in the last minute at 90+8, it was truly incredible.
I didn't think the Italians would score, but they did and advanced to the next round.

That beautiful goal can be compared with two goals for Italy in World Cup 2006, scored by Grosso and Del Piero against Germany in semi final match. It is more similar to a second goal scored by Del Piero.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VlMRDJmZAI

Their hitting styles are exactly the same and the beauty of the goal is at the same level. This goal at an unexpected time made the match even more exciting.

I think the referees added too much extra time, a whole 8 minutes. I didn't keep track, but it seemed to me that there weren't that many stoppages in the match. Nevertheless, it was the 8th minute of added time that saved Italy.

In the second half and the last minutes of the match, the game started to stop a lot and there were a lot of fouls in the last minutes. I think the time given was normal.

[Lucius]

Unfortunately, the coach of Croatia did not learn anything from the previous two games and started again with practically the same players who are simply too old and in poor shape to be able to compete with any serious team.

In addition to all that, it was evident that the Dutch referee has his favorite, he did not award at least 10+ fouls by the Italian players, and on the other hand, for each similar foul, he gave a yellow card to the Croatian players. The highlight of his bad performance is the addition of even 8 minutes of compensation for which no one but him knows why - so we can say that in this case Croatia was damaged by a very bad referee.

However, when you look at all three games, the conclusion is clear, coach Dalic persistently refuses to refresh the team with young players and I think that he is the only one responsible for the failure of the national team. Unfortunately, he still has two more years on his contract and apparently resigning is not on his mind, so we can expect Croatia to continue to play poorly in the next competition of the League of Nations, which starts in a little more than two months.

[Catenaccio]

Their hitting styles are exactly the same and the beauty of the goal is at the same level. This goal at an unexpected time made the match even more exciting.

If you don't know, Zaccagni considered Del Piero as his idol but I see this goal of Zaccagni is more difficult than the goal of Del Piero. Both are beautiful goals but there is much pressure for Zaccagni  than for Del Piero.

If Del Piero did not score, nothing serious happens because that semi final between Italy and Germany nearly ended. With Zaccagni, if he did not score that goal, Italy would have lost that match. He is very determined with that shot and I believe that many players will try to make a cross pass, not make a shot like Zaccagni.

Unfortunately, the coach of Croatia did not learn anything from the previous two games and started again with practically the same players who are simply too old and in poor shape to be able to compete with any serious team.

I saw the coach tried to replace attacking players with defensive players and it's fair to say Italy nearly did not find their opportunities to score goal. They created only two considerable good chances and luckily exited a loss at very last seconds of the match. Croatian players tried to block Calafiori but failed and it opened a big space for Zaccagni to make his shot.