Four out of five. Who would have predicted that?
Of the quintet of teams competing in the European Championship finals for the first time since the current format was adopted, fouradvanced. Only Albania fell off the pace as Iceland, Northern Ireland, Slovakia and Wales progressed to the round of 16.
Expansion of the field from 16 to 24 teams for the 2016 competitionaccounts for some of the debutants’ success. Four third-place teams qualified along with the first two finishers in each of the six groups, which is how Slovakia and Northern Irelandprogressed.
Yet Albania also finished third and lost out on tiebreakers. Wales won its group, which included England, Slovakia, and Russia. Iceland finished in a tie with Hungary for firstplace ahead of Portugal. None of the debutants finished last in its group, a fate that befell the likes of Austria, Sweden, Ukraine, and 2018 World Cup host Russia.
So the concerns of someobservers that an expanded field would adversely affect both the qualifying campaign as well as the tournament itself have not been borne out. Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo maynot have been impressed by Iceland — he criticized its “small mentality” after holding Portugal to a 1-1 tie — but its incredible last-second goal that downed Austria, 2-1, instantly took a placeamong the most memorable moments in the tournament’s history.
At least one debutant is assured of a spot in the quarterfinals, since the round of 16 pairs up UK neighbors Wales andNorthern Ireland. (They might not necessarily be part of the United Kingdom in the future, as the stunning Brexit vote by which a 52-percent majority opted to leave the European Union is expected torevive movements in Scotland and Northern Ireland to seek independence from British rule.)
Iceland gets a dream draw with England, whose players are among the most popular in the tiny nationthanks to extensive coverage of the Premier League. (Iceland captain Gylfi Sigurdsson also captains Swansea City.) Slovakia is in the deepest water against Germany, which didn’tallow a goal in its three group matches.
As the knockout rounds unfold, the format’s pros and cons will be debated, along with the inevitable discussion of further expansion. In a32-team tournament, would the dilution of the field expected for 2016 actually occur, and might that be offset by reverting to the process by which only the top two teams in each group advance.
With third-place teams in the mix, there’s more suspense during the final days of group play as results knock nations in and out of qualification. It’s an unfair process to compareteams that don’t play each other or share common opponents, unlike the top-two-per-group format, but it does ramp up the uncertainty.
In any case, the performance of these debutants hasenhanced the competition, and in some ways has increased pressure on nations that didn’t qualify. The Netherlands has stumbled in such situations before, but many countries around Europe canwatch the euphoria in Reykjavík and Belfast and Cardiff and think, “That could be us.”
So Scotland, Serbia, Finland, et al, you’re on the clock.