Table of Contents
Group A: Switzerland 3 - Hungary 1
Hungary has found a regular place at this competition after a 44-year span with no appearances between 1972 and 2016. However, they still profile as a relegation candidate in league table terms, while the Swiss are a comfortably mid-table outfit, having made it out of the group stages in each of the past two tournaments.
The Swiss were on top for the majority of this contest, taking the lead in the 12th minute with a goal created from manager Murat Yakin's smart structure. The queen on the tactical chess board was Michel Aebischer, a central midfielder for Bologna, who masqueraded as a wide left midfielder while constantly rotating into central positions. On the opening goal, Aebischer popped up in between Hungary's central midfield duo before firing off a delicate through ball for Kwadwo Duah to chase down off the back shoulder of his defender.
Aebischer made it 2-o with a rifled right-footed shot from well outside the box just before halftime, putting the game out of reach before Barnabas Varga made it interesting again just past the hour mark. Hungary has a decent team and never looked vastly inferior, but they are the classic Euro side relying heavily on the brilliance of its lone world class player, and Liverpool ace Dominik Szoboszlai was merely good in a fixture his nation needed him to dominate to pull off an upset.
Switzerland has quite a bit more talent overall, including a ton of poise in the build up, with domestic title winners Granit Xhaka (from Bundesliga champion Bayer Levekusen) and Manuel Akanji (from Premier League champion Man City) offering progressive passing and carrying, respectively. Germany are still favorites in Group A, but the Swiss have tactically flexible pieces across the pitch and a strong opening victory to build on to get through to the knockout rounds.
Group B: Spain 3 - Croatia 0
Welcome to a new era for Spanish football. It isn't necessarily that Luis de la Fuente has come into the job with a radically different philosophy compared to his predecessors, and more that he arrived into the first Spanish setup with natural wingers on each side of the pitch since the start of the new millennium.
With 16-year-old Lamine Yamal and the ancient (by comparison) 21-year-old Nico Williams at his disposal, De La Fuente has a much more dynamic and vertical side than the Spanish teams of years past, even if those trophy-laden teams were superior in every other facet. Let us take a moment to remember some of the players Spain has crowbarred into a "winger" role during the past decade or so: David Villa, Santi Cazorla, David Silva, Dani Olmo, Pablo Sarabia.
Yamal and Williams give Spain a different gear in transition and when isolating full backs in low blocks. As a result, we might see a Spanish side that is less obsessed with the possession game. According to Dermot Corrigan, Spain had won the possession battle in 136 competitive fixtures in a row entering this match, a streak spanning 16 years, but Croatia snapped it by controlling the ball for 53 percent of the match.
You wouldn't know it from the result, though. This was a rout from Spain, with a three-goal blitz in the last 15 minutes of the first half putting the game to bed. Croatia manager Zlatko Dalic pulled the plug on his veteran players around the hour mark, looking to preserve their legs for the more winnable fixtures in the group, a practical move if a harrowing one. Then again, an hour is probably all Luka Modric can offer now even on his best day, and with Ivan Rakitic already retired, Croatia is in desperate need for a new creative engine to emerge as a consistent presence in midfield.
Fabian Ruiz has the early contender for goal of the tournament, with his silky dribbling dismissing Modric and Marcelo Brozovic before he unfurled a shot past Croatia keeper Dominik Livakovic. Ruiz and Pedri looked good in midfield for Spain, trading gaudy touch totals for more incisive involvements. And the one consistent element for this new Spain squad, Alvaro Morata, nabbed his seventh Euro goal, making him the highest scorer Spaniard in this competition and third all-time from any nation.
As for Croatia, well, the captain's checkered kit still bears the names of the hero from the golden generation, but those legs are tired and their race has already been run.
Group B: Italy 2 - Albania 1
We have an early contender for breakout star of the tournament: Italian defender Riccardo Calafiori. The silky smooth left-footed center back was a massive reason why Bologna was able to secure Champions League football for the first time since 1964, and the 22-year-old looks, literally, like the dominant defensive forces Italy is famed for.
But it Calafiori's comfortability on the ball that really caught the eye in this match. He had a very fluid position in Luciano Spalletti's progressive setup, a breath of fresh air for a nation that has often tried to hard to play into its iron grip roots. Calafiori was floating with the ball against Albania, dribbling and whipping passes with ease, elegantly brushing the ball forward with the like the waves move the sand on the Amalfi coast.
After a strong club campaign and what looks to be a grand announcement of his talent in this tournament, Calafiori is certain to be poached from Bologna this summer, just as its burgeoning manager Thiago Motta was. Perhaps we will see Calafiori join Motta at Juventus to help bolster the Bianconeri defense, but there will be dozens of clubs lining up for Calafiori's services if he has other desires.
Italy recovered well from what will almost certainly be the most hilarious goal of the tournament, with the fastest goal in Euros history coming 23 seconds into the match thanks to an errant throw-in toward his own box by Federico Dimarco. Italy's other center back, the towering talent Alessandro Bastoni, equalized with a header in the eleventh minute and Nico Barella unleashed a pearl of a shot a few minutes later to put the Italians ahead.
Barella was clearly the man of the match, completing 105 of his 108 passes, winning all of his tackles and scoring the game-winning goal. It is fair to say that Italy should have made more out of their massive possession advantage (68-32), and things did look a lot smoother in the buildup phases than in the final third. That said, I thought Lorenzo Pellegrini and Federico Chiesa in wide areas, and the defending champions will go into their matchup with Spain on Match Day 2 feeling like a victory wouldn't much of an upset.
