The 3 most underwhelming matches of EURO2024

All in all, EURO2024 has provided spectators with a real festival of football – underdog stories, nail-biting penalty shootouts, rapidly rising youngsters, the whole nine yards. However, those thrills and spills haven’t always come in the games where we’ve expected them. Had you decided to take in your well-deserved 90 minutes of international football during, say, Austria v France rather than Romania v Ukraine early in the group stages, you’d be sorely disappointed. Likewise, tuning into France v Belgium (see a theme emerging here?) rather than Spain v Georgia a day earlier might have spectators kicking themselves. The point is, it’s not always been the biggest dynasties of European football to deliver the classics in these tournaments.

So without further ado as we await the tournament final, let’s dive into the three most underwhelming matches of the competition!

Group stage – England 1-1 Denmark

Sorry, Three Lions fans – it might feel harsh for a team that’s in the final, but one of the most difficult editorial choices for this piece was which England group game would feature.

Granted, none of Group C’s encounters were exactly thrillers – it only took one win and two draws for England to top the group and nobody scored more than two goals. However, England v Denmark was crowned most underwhelming because of the expectation; this was a repeat of a highly competitive semifinal in 2021, featuring an England comeback via an own goal and extra time. Surely Denmark would be raring for revenge and England would be keen to ramp things up after a routine but disappointing opener against Serbia?

Not really. Despite being the joint highest-scoring game of Group C (yes, really), you definitely would not pick the game out as a semifinal repeat – or England as finalists for this year. Harry Kane found the net on 18 minutes from Kyle Walker’s low cross, but rather than build momentum England proceeded to cause some major hair loss across the country by sitting in to defend their narrow lead once again. It was not a surprise when Denmark equalised – although that goal was the standout moment of a game which otherwise lacked quality. Morten Hjulmand found himself in acres of space far outside England’s penalty area and took it upon himself to liven things up, slicing his shot through an array of England defenders and bouncing it in off the far post of Jordan Pickford, who reacted too late. That was in the 34th minute and was the last goal of the game, with both sides unable to find a winner. Considering the calibre of these two sides, it’s fair to say this stodgy 1-1 draw fell far below what fans expected.

Round of 16: France 1-0 Belgium

This one was another that was touted as the time two great footballing nations would really start to show up and play properly. Having fared surprisingly poorly in a group consisting of Ukraine, Romania, and Slovakia, only recording four points, Belgium desperately needed to prove themselves to stay in the tournament. Meanwhile, France had been slower out of the blocks than expected – like England, only two draws and a win in the group. More shockingly still, they had no goals from open play – Kylian Mbappé’s penalty against Poland and an own goal by Maximilian Wöber saw them through.

These teams were geographical neighbours, fellow World Cup semifinalists in 2018, and both had a lot of doubters they needed to silence – so big things were expected, and the fixture was seen as the best tie of the round of 16. Instead, the game stumbled to a 1-0 victory for France. There were only four shots on target in the entire game; Romelu Lukaku and Kylian Mbappé remained frustrated throughout. It was another feather in France’s defensive cap as they remained solid at the back throughout, and Deschamps’ side dominated possession – but really this game turned out to be another where Les Bleus failed to hit their stride.

It was Jan Vertonghen who put everyone out of their misery in the 85th minute, and somewhat hilariously confirmed the sharp shooting Own Goal as France’s top scorer so far. To be fair, N’Golo Kanté’s would-be assist was decent and Randal Kolo Muani’s effort might have troubled Koen Casteels without a deflection off Vertonghen’s unfortunately placed knee. The goal fit what was honestly a pretty rubbish game and Vertonghen would’ve been in with a shout for a fan-voted Man of the Match for having saved everyone the tedium of extra time.

Maybe France would finally step it up in the next round?

Quarterfinals: Portugal 0[3]-0[5] France (after penalties)

This one really took the cake for underwhelming. Just to rewind – in 2016, these two sides were European finalists and Portugal eventually triumphed through a dramatic extra time winner. In 2021, their group stage encounter in Budapest saw three penalties in 90 minutes, eventually finishing 2-2. Ok, neither of them had been all that electrifying so far this tournament – but it could be Cristiano Ronaldo’s final international game, for goodness’ sake! A place in the semifinal was on the line! Surely the magnitude of the occasion would see both teams let the handbrake off?

Absolutely not. It took more than fifteen minutes for a shot to be fired, and that really set the pace. Both teams looked so terrified of conceding that they forgot they’d also have to score in order to progress. Despite much chatter beforehand about a battle of the captains and a possible passing down the batons between the generations of Ronaldo and Mbappé, neither impressed.

The moment that summed up the encounter, and one to forget for Ronaldo, was his chance in the beginning of extra time. After being criticised all tournament, the script could not have been more perfectly written for him to slam home Francisco Conceição’s perfect ball into the box – his younger self would never believe he managed to send it over the bar.

There were just two laudable elements of the match: the defensive show put on at both ends not least by 41-year-old Pepe, and the penalty shootout. You couldn’t help but wonder where the finishing ability showed from the spot had been all game as the only mistake was João Felix’s attempt ricocheting off the post. The rest of the spotkicks were excellent, with France’s flawless five seeing them through – but it was a shame spectators were made to wait 120 minutes to see some thrills from two sides with such great reputations.

Continue to look back over the tournament, and of course follow full coverage of the EURO2024 final between Spain and England, here on FromTheSpot and on our X account.