SoccerBy Jay Rigdon on

The 2020 Euros (taking place in 2021) have a Group of Death in Group F, with France, Germany, Portugal, and Hungary (okay mostly the first three) battling it out for just two spots.

France drew with Hungary earlier on Saturday, setting up a huge Portugal-Germany match; if Portugal could win, they would have clinched advancement. A draw would have also set them up nicely heading into their final match against France.

Germany, meanwhile, likely needed a win but certainly needed a draw. It was a recipe for a thrilling tournament game, though we don’t always get entertaining matches out of drama-filled setups. Today, though, we certainly did, with six goals scored, four by Portugal. They lost 4-2.

That’s not a misprint; Portugal scored two goals on Germany and put two goals in the back of their own net en route to a pretty crushing loss.

Cristiano Ronaldo opened the scoring, as is appropriate:

Things went downhill from there, with two first half own goals resulting in Portugal trailing 2-1 at halftime despite Germany not scoring on their own.

Things quickly got worse in the second half as well, with Germany finally scoring their own goals (but not their own own goals.)

So, yeah, that down 4-1 with half an hour left, things looked pretty bleak for Portugal. But they got one back quickly:

And then they almost got within one via one of the most impressive strikes I’ve ever seen that didn’t result in a goal, from Renato Sanches:

Honestly they should have just given him a goal for that anyway.

But in the end Germany hung on, setting up a tantalizing final match day for Group F. Germany has Hungary, which remains alive itself if they can beat Germany and France beats Portugal. The other three teams all have their fate in their own hands. That’s all you can hope for from a tournament group. It’s good to have international soccer back.

About Jay Rigdon

Jay is a columnist at Awful Announcing. He is not a strong swimmer. He is probably talking to a dog in a silly voice at this very moment.

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