Highlights of the Euro 2024 group stage
The Euro 2024 group stage matches are over, and the 16 teams that have qualified for the Round of 16 have been determined. So, what are the highlights of the group stage?
The best team
Placed in what was considered a "group of death," Spain easily advanced through the group stage with three consecutive wins. The most impressive victory was the 3-0 win against Croatia, a result that demonstrated the effectiveness of coach Luis de la Fuente's team.
Furthermore, the Spanish national team also boasts the best defense in the Euro 2024 group stage, having not conceded a single goal. Therefore, Spain is one of the strongest contenders for the championship this year.
The most disappointing team
If we had to single out the most disappointing team, it would probably be the Czech Republic. After a respectable performance against Portugal, their two matches against Georgia and Turkey only brought immense disappointment to the fans.
The wasteful finishing against Georgia and the excessive roughness against Türkiye led to Ivan Hašek's team being eliminated in the group stage. Furthermore, the Czech Republic was the dirtiest team at the Euro, receiving 12 yellow cards and 2 red cards in 3 matches.
Best player
The name of the best player of the group stage came as a surprise to many fans. It wasn't Toni Kroos of Germany or N'Golo Kanté of France. It was midfielder Fabián Ruiz of Spain.
Despite only playing two group stage matches, the Paris Saint-Germain midfielder boasted impressive statistics: one goal, one assist, two passes that created scoring opportunities for his teammates, a passing accuracy rate of 94%, and 21 ball recoveries. With these performances, Fabián Ruiz was rated 8.9 and 8.3 points by Sofascore in the two Group B matches. The Spanish national team midfielder was therefore one of the best players of the group stage.
In contrast to Fabián Ruiz, Romelu Lukaku of the Belgian national team was the most disappointing player. The Chelsea striker played all three group stage matches, but scored zero goals.
The striker, born in 1993, has missed six clear-cut chances this season, contributing to Belgium finishing second in Group E and facing France in the Round of 16. If Lukaku doesn't improve his goalscoring record, he could cause Belgium to be eliminated early from this year's European Championship.
Best Goalkeeper
The Euro group stage featured quite a few outstanding goalkeepers, which significantly reduced the number of goals scored. These included Gianluigi Donnarumma of Italy, Mike Maignan of France, and Jan Oblak of Slovenia.
However, the best goalkeeper in the group stage was probably Giorgi Mamardashvili of the Georgian national team. 21 saves and an average rating of 8.17 are testament to the excellence of this goalkeeper who plays for Valencia. This outstanding performance contributed significantly to Georgia's advancement through the group stage in their first appearance at a major tournament.
Top scorer and top assist provider.
The race for the top scorer title in this year's tournament hasn't seen any significant breakthroughs in the group stage. The leader, Georges Mikautadze, is only one goal ahead of those behind him (3 compared to 2). Therefore, the winner of this year's Euro Golden Boot could change in the following rounds. However, there has been considerable disappointment as top strikers like Cristiano Ronaldo, Lukaku, Harry Kane, and Kylian Mbappe have performed poorly in the group stage.
Meanwhile, leading the assist charts are also some relatively unknown names. Dennis Man, Remo Freuler, and Orkun Kökçü all have two assists after three group stage matches.
It's fair to say that the low number of goals (81 goals in 36 matches) has made the race for top scorer and top assist less exciting. Hopefully, the knockout rounds will be more explosive, creating more captivating matches at this year's Euro.