Big Teams Leaving It Late…
One thing’s clear during this Euro: Matches definitely are played all the way to the final whistle and there’s a lot of late drama, usually in the form of the favorites scoring late goals to win or at least seal the victory in matches during which their rivals had put up a great fight. Admittedly, there was one notable exception, where a goal was scored against the favorite team and the match ended in a draw because of it, but that sure is the odd one out at this point.
It all started from the opening France – Romania match, where France scored in minute 89 to win 2-1. And then they left it even later in their match against Albania, where the first goal only came in minute 90, before making it 2-0 in minute 90+6.
England was on both sides of the late drama, on the other hand, first conceding a goal in minute 90+2 in their match against Russia, which ended 1-1, but then scoring in minute 90+2 themselves in their match against Wales, to win 2-1 earlier today.
As for Wales, you may also say they left it late in their match against Slovakia, but I’m not sure that match had a favorite and that goal that made it 2-1 was scored in minute 81, so perhaps not quite so late.
It definitely was late in the Spain – Czech Republic match when Spain scored though, winning 1-0 thanks to a goal in minute 87.
Past this, there were a few cases of sealing the win late: In Germany – Ukraine, Germany made it 2-0 in minute 90+2. Then Italy also made it 2-0, this time in minute 90+3, in their match against Belgium. And Hungary left it late to make it 2-0 in their match against Austria, scoring in minute 87 for what others considered quite a surprise, though I didn’t see either team as really being a favorite in that match.
One conclusion so far seems to be that, if you’re a smaller team trying to hold on in front of a bigger one, not to mention if you already fell behind and are trying to equalize, you most probably won’t make it. Of course, the Portugal – Iceland match is the obvious and quite shocking exception to this rule, but so far the only one.
Posted this now both because it was starting to get hard to keep track of all these matches and because the last ones were clear examples and it’d have been a bit weird to post it later if things will change from now on. But let’s see what will actually happen.
Later edit: I shouldn’t have worried about things changing when it comes to late goals, or at least not right away. Add another one to wins sealed late, Northern Ireland making it 2-0 in their match against Ukraine in minute 90+6.
