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Group D: France 1 - Austria 0
That Kylian Mbappe has not scored a goal in this tournament while sitting just four away from the most goals in World Cup history is one of the great statistical anomalies to exist at the moment. And it will exist for a bit while longer, because Mbappe is likely to miss the rest of the group stage after suffering a gnarly broken nose in the second half.
Austria are a really fun team to watch, which isn't a surprise considering their manager. Ralf Rangnick Gegenpressing isn't something you see applied with much precision at the international level, what with infrequent training sessions and fluctuating squad availability. But Austria hustles and harries, and even as France pranced around them for most of the game, they posed a threat on the counter and were solid enough defensively to be one Mike Maignan slip-up away from a result.
Maignan made no mistakes, though, in what was a man of the match performance. The Milan keeper a point-blank, Emiliano Martínez-like leg save against Christoph Baumgartner. The referee, however, somehow didn't give Austria a corner despite the clear save, and France (or Austrian center half Max Wöber, more accurately) would score the game's lone goal in the ensuing passage of play.
It was far from a dominant display from the World Cup finalists, who doubled up the Austrians in shots but had less possession of the ball. N'Golo Kante returned to Les Blues and played a fantastic game in the middle of the park, but the front three of Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele and Marcus Thuram failed to inspire. The French should still walk to the quarterfinals, but without Mbappe, the Netherlands has a chance to emerge from Match Day 2 as the top seed in the group.
Group E: Romania 3 - Ukraine 0
In what is clearly the most open group in the tournament, this fixture had a chance to kickstart a Cinderella story for whoever emerged as the winner. And there were never any doubt who that would be. In a miraculous display of counter-attacking football, Romania ceded 71 percent of possession and 13 shots to the Ukrainians but still looked the better side by a comfortable margin.
Nicolae Stanciu, Romania's creative spark in midfield, fired home one of the goals of the tournament to open the scoring in the 29th minute before another outside of the box finish from Razvan Marin doubled the lead in the second half. Dennis Man, a wide midfielder from Serie B's Parma, was the best player on the pitch, setting up the final goal with a wonderful dribble from the side of the box on a corner routine.
This was Romania's first Euros win in 24 years, and all of a sudden there is a real chance to win this group outright after Slovakia's shock victory. It is early, but this appears to be the underdog team that actually has a chance to get into the knockout rounds of the tournament.
Group E: Slovakia 1 - Belgium 0
This is being called the greatest upset in Euros history, based largely on the fact that Belgium is the third-ranked team in the world and Slovakia are 48th. It is an upset, to be sure, as it is just Slovakia's third win in this competition's history. But, as has been the case for a decade now, Belgium is more an impressive collection of names than an imposing squad.
The result draws additional attention to it, but really, you knew FIFA rankings were a farce even before the ball was kicked off. In the past two years since Belgium failed to make it out of the group stage at the 2022 World Cup, what evidence has suggested that this team is one of the three best teams in the world? It makes you wonder if the FIFA rankings are produced by averaging out the Ultimate Team ratings of all of the players, but even then the only way Belgium would wind up third is if the rest of the world was bronze benching.
Credit to Slovakia for finishing out this smash-and-grab job with 83 minutes of good enough defense after their opening goal in the 7th minute. But this was a classic Belgium letdown, replete with Romelu Lukaku missed chances (and two goals disallowed by VAR), dull midfield play and shaky defense. The Orel Mangala and Amadou Onana was particularly poor, and it is hard to believe that Yannick Carrasco is still starting at left back for this team.
Domenico Tedesco, the former RB Leipzig manager, is in charge of the Belgians, at least until the end of this tournament when his contract runs out. He came selling the idea of a more modern, effective approach to reinvigorate a slacking group of underachievers, but it is clear he hasn't made nearly enough progress making up for all of the damage Roberto Martinez did during the past six years.
