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France Falls and Spain Survives as Euro 2020 Comes Alive

Bhupender SainiJul 02, 2021Sports
France Falls and Spain Survives as Euro 2020 Comes Alive

It would be too definitive to declare that Monday, June 28, 2021 was the greatest day of tournament soccer in history. Over the last 90 years, after all, there will have been days that have brought an even grander torrent of jaw-dropping drama.

But none of them immediately leap to mind.

A year late, its span diminished and its carnival atmosphere doused, Euro 2020 had been ticking along quite nicely until Monday.

Its group phase, always something of a slow burn, had been illuminated by Italy’s adventure and Denmark’s remarkable courage, by Spanish neurosis and Dutch energy. There had been lots of goals — at such a clip that the tournament would have more in its first couple of weeks than Euro 2016 had across a month — and lots of spectacular ones, too: Patrik Schick’s vision, Luka Modric’s invention, Cristiano Ronaldo’s unruffled brilliance.

On Day 1 of the knockout round — a day that feels like the distant past but was, in fact, Saturday — Denmark swept past Wales, and Italy edged out Austria. On Day 2, the Czech Republic stunned the Netherlands in Euro 2020’s first real shock, and Belgium beat Portugal in the tournament’s first consequential meeting of heavyweights.

What followed, on Day 3, could — at a considerable stretch — be presented as a natural extension of all that, as if the tournament had been building to this, in much the same way as the works of Shakespeare are a natural extension of the accounting ledgers in the city of Ur, or the way the miracle of human life is a natural extension of the anaerobic reproduction of single-celled organisms.

Perhaps the best way of phrasing it is this: Twenty minutes into the first game of the day, Spain’s meeting with Croatia, the prodigiously gifted Spanish midfielder Pedri scored an own goal — through no fault of his own — from just inside his own half. Eight hours later, that was not anywhere close to being the most remarkable thing that had happened.

What followed — 14 goals, two extra-time games, one penalty shootout, one overwhelming favorite (France) endangered, saved and then eliminated on the final kick of the day — at times defied belief.

Spain recovered from its setback to lead Croatia 3-1, with just a few minutes to play. As the clock ticked down, though, Mislav Orsic pulled a goal back, Luis Enrique’s team wobbled, and Croatia scented blood. As the game entered injury time, Mario Pasalic tied the game at 3-3, his great gift to the world an additional 30 minutes of the game.