EURO 2016 Day 2: Same old England

By Tobi Nifesi

The grand competition continued with some beautiful football on Saturday. The day began with Albania going against Switzerland in a tight game that saw Arsenal’s new boy, and Swizz international, Granit Xhaka team up against his elder brother, Taulant Xhaka. The game was decided in the fifth minute as Switzerland’s Fabian Schar took advantage of some poor goalkeeping from Albania’s Berisha and headed in a goal. Albania fought hard to get back in the game but their efforts were futile; and now they sit at the bottom of Group A after the first round of games.

For Gareth Bale’s Wales, it was a different story as the Real Madrid man kicked off their opener with a brilliantly curled free kick within the first ten minutes of the game. Slovakia didn’t despair or relent. They forced their way through and earned themselves an equalizing goal from Ondrej Duda. Ultimately, it was a late decent effort from Wales’ Robson Kanu – who had just come off the bench – that mattered. With the win, Wales began their competition on a high. As a team, they look very vibrant and will definitely be looking to take that energy to England on Thursday.

England, however, will be looking to show more passion and resilience in their next game as they opened up their competition with a draw against Russia. They were decent at best,  played well, got a goal via Eric Dier’s free kick but ultimately they should have seen the game off. The young squad showed some promise but missed too many chances and their energy withered towards the end of the match. The draw marks another Euro opener in which England has failed win.