Today I'm going back six years to 2016 and the EURO2016 European Championships Group Stage match between Italy and Sweden played at the Stadium de Toulouse. Official programmes weren't issued for individual Group Stage matches at EURO2016 but there were official tournament programmes in both French and English. This game was the first one of three for which I secured tickets and we travelled to France from Portsmouth on the overnight ferry to Santander in Northern Spain before driving the five or so hours to Toulouse. The crossing of the Bay of Biscay was, shall we say, a little lively and Shannon couldn't face the full English breakfast on board. No such problems for yours truly and the breakfast set me up for the day!
The Stadium de Toulouse has a capacity of 33,150 and accommodated 29,600 for the featured game. The Stadium is home to Toulouse FC and also hosts Rugby League and Union matches and was used at both the 1998 World Cup and the 2007 Rugby Union World Cup. At EURO2016, the Stadium hosted four matches including the featured game. The 2016 tournament represented an expansion from the 16 team format used between 1996-2012 and encompassed 24 teams for the first time. I guess that that makes for a dilution in quality overall but I approve of the additional qualification opportunities that arise for the smaller countries. Only Scotland of the home nations failed to reach the 2016 Finals and Northern Ireland and Wales in particular did themselves proud.
The featured game was the second game for each side in Group E. Italy had, rather surprisingly, beaten the seeds and Group favourites Belgium 2-0 in their opening fixture whilst Sweden and the Republic of Ireland had played out a 1-1 draw in their first game. This game gave me another chance to admire the craft of Zlatan Ibrahimovic but, in a tight game of relatively few chances, even he was unable to convert an opportunity. The game remained goalless until the 88th minute when Italy's Brazilian Eder created a chance for himself and then drilled the ball home to win the game for his adopted country. Eder holds dual nationality and was named after the 1982 Brazilian World Cup star of the same name. In total he managed 26 appearances for Italy scoring 6 goals and now plays for Sao Paolo back in Brazil.
The victory for Italy ensured their qualification for the knockout phase and they could afford to lose their last Group game against the Republic of Ireland 1-0 (a game that I also attended). Italy ended up as Group winners nevertheless, level on points with second placed Belgium but placed ahead by virtue of the head-to-head result between the two. Third placed Ireland also qualified as one of the third placed teams with the best record in their Group. Sweden finished last in the Group and were eliminated. Italy went on to defeat Spain in the Round of 16 by 2-0 before succumbing to Germany in Bordeaux on penalties after a 1-1 draw. Portugal were the tournament's overall winners beating hosts France 1-0 after extra time in the Final.
CRB Match No. 2106
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