Euro 2020 Daily Report: Germany leave it late to sneak through

Low's Germany are lucky to fight another day

On Wednesday morning, Germany were 22/1 to fail to qualify from Group F, and with six minutes remaining of their clash with Hungary, that bet looked like paying out. But a late equaliser from substitute Leon Goretzka rescued the Germans in Munich.

Leon Goretzka scored the 18th and final goal on Wednesday which is the most goals in a single day in the history of the European Championships.

The 2-2 draw was their sixth match in a row in which Joachim Low's side failed to keep a clean sheet. Hungary scored two headers which will encourage England who the Germans will face on Tuesday at Wembley in a game that will go a long way to determine whether football is coming home, or not.

There are plenty of flaws in this German squad and they can consider themselves fortunate not to be on their way home. Can they make the most of their reprieve? Not if they can't find a way to defend better.

The Three Lions might not have been setting the world on fire in terms of goals scored this summer, but they will fancy their chances of scoring and gaining revenge for their agonising semi-final defeat to Germany 25 years ago at the same location.

If the Germans continue to switch off at the back, Low could be out of a job on Wednesday morning. This will be the 61-year-old's final tournament as manager and while he would love for it to be a winning one, this side does not look capable of mounting a challenge for the title.

Germany are 13/2 to go on and win the tournament which would be their fourth and the first since 1996. Reaching the quarter-finals would be a good achievement for this squad of players and they can be backed at 2.0621/20 to do that. However, they are 11/10 to lose to England in the Round of 16.

Read Mike Norman's early analysis of England v Germany here.

France remain on course for historic double

France started the evening top of Group F, and after a crazy couple of hours, they ended it top of the table after claiming a point in a 2-2 draw with Portugal. Both their goals came from Karim Benzema, his first goals for Les Bleus in almost six years which will fill the Real Madrid forward with confidence for the remainder of the tournament.

A concern though for manager Didier Deschamps will be the goal drought currently experienced by Kylian Mbappe who is without a goal in Euro 2020. Surely Mbappe has to make his mark on this tournament sooner rather than later. But his chances of winning the Golden Boot award look over.

On another night France might have got through this game with a clean sheet with both Portugal goals coming from penalties. The French came from a goal down to lead 2-1 before a second equaliser came from the spot with half an hour to play.

France will be confident of reaching the final after securing top spot in their group for the fourth successive tournament under Deschamps. The side of the draw France find themselves on looks favourable enough to reach the final which can be backed at 3.185/40. In the Round of 16, Les Bleus face Switzerland, then possibly Spain or Croatia in the quarter-finals.

Deschamps has come a long way since being called a water-carrier by Eric Cantona during their time together in the French team in the early 1990s. Deschamps is a step closer to becoming the first person to win the World Cup and the European Championships both as a player and a manager. With Mbappe yet to shine, France look good to win Euro 2020 at 5.59/2 and be the holders of both trophies.

Portugal through after nervous night

Watching Portugal in their final group game with France, was like watching someone play roulette as the wheel began to slow down. Needing to avoid the ball dropping on four to win, it hovered perilously close to dropping into four before finally settling in the number three bed.

During a dramatic couple of hours, Portugal occupied first, second, third and fourth spot in Group F before their fate was finally determined. Ironically, after nine different combinations, the group positions remained the same as they were at the start of play. A third place finish on four points turned out to be enough for Portugal to set up a clash with Belgium in the Round of 16.

20:01: 1 - France, 2 - Germany, 3 - Portugal, 4 - Hungary
20:14: 1 - France, 2 - Portugal, 3 - Hungary, 4 - Germany
20:33: 1 - Portugal, 2 - France, 3 - Hungary, 4 - Germany
20:48: 1 - France, 2 - Portugal, 3 - Hungary, 4 - Germany
21:11: 1 - France, 2 - Hungary, 3 - Germany, 4 - Portugal
21:23: 1 - France, 2 - Portugal, 3 - Hungary, 4 - Germany
21:27: 1 - France, 2 - Germany, 3 - Portugal, 4 - Hungary
21:28: 1 - France, 2 - Portugal, 3 - Hungary, 4 - Germany
21:44: 1 - France, 2 - Germany, 3 - Portugal, 4 - Hungary

Third place was where Portugal finished in their group five years ago, before going on to win the tournament. Can history repeat itself? Portugal were 11/1 to win Euro 2020 before the first ball was kicked, but now they can be backed at 14.527/2 after picking up just one point from their final two matches.

Cristiano Ronaldo is now tied with Ali Daei as the all-time leading scorer in international football with 109 goals.

Two Cristiano Ronaldo penalties moved CR7 on to five goals for the tournament and puts him in the lead to win the Golden Boot award. Ronaldo needs just one more goal to become the all-time leading scorer in men's international football and you wouldn't put it past him to do it before the Euros finish.

Anyone who backed Ronaldo before the tournament started at 13/1 to be the leading scorer will be feeling happy with themselves. He now leads the market at 1.910/11 on the exchange to win the Golden Boot. The race is far from over though.

Three of Ronaldo's five goals have been penalties and the holders have yet to shine other than a 10-minute spell at the end of their opening game against Hungary. If Portugal lose to Belgium, the Juventus star could be overtaken, so it might not be done and dusted just yet.

Spain hit five as Slovakia crumble

Crisis? What crisis? Spain answered their critics, of which there were many, with a resounding 5-0 drubbing of Slovakia in their final Group E game. However, Luis Enrique's side missed out on top spot courtesy of Sweden's late winner against Poland in the other group game.

Spain, who had drawn their last four matches at the 2018 World Cup and these Euros, now face Croatia in the Round of 16 which will be a much tougher proposition than the resistance, or lack of it, Slovakia showed in Seville.

When a team wins 5-0 at a major tournament, you have to ask if the winners were wonderful or the losers were lousy. In this case, it was the latter. Slovakia were shocking right from the moment goalkeeper Martin Dubravka gifted Spain their opener with a bizarre own goal. Dubravka had earlier saved Alvaro Morata's penalty before being beaten by Aymeric Laporte to give Spain a 2-0 lead at the break.

Martin Dubravka's own goal was the seventh at Euro 2020 which is as many as the previous four Euros combined.

Second half goals from Pablo Sarabia and Ferran Torres put Spain in cruise control before a Juraj Kucka own goal wrapped up the scoring. The win and the return of their skipper Sergio Busquets might convince some that the Spanish are back to their best and they can be backed at 1.364/11 to reach the quarter-finals at the very least.

Others will see this win as papering over some worrying cracks and against a stronger opposition and they might not make it past the next round. The Spaniards are 11/5 to be eliminated in the Round of 16. Whether Morata features against Croatia remains to be seen as his place is in doubt after another poor display.

Sweden show character to finish group winners

Before Euro 2020 began, Sweden were 6/1 outsiders to win Group E. With seven points from a possible nine, Sweden emerged as the top dogs in the group and they can look forward to clash with Ukraine in the Round of 16. Sweden odds to win the Euros were 90/1 on the eve of the competition and they can be backed at 65.064/1 on the exchange.

Leading Poland 2-0 with half an hour to go, they were knocked off their perch at the top of the table when two Robert Lewandowski goals drew the Poles level. But Sweden showed great character to win the game in stoppage time through Viktor Claesson's strike.

Emil Forsberg's goal after 81 seconds is the fastest of Euro 2020 and the second fastest in the history of the Euros.

That character will be needed when they take on Ukraine. Three of the four goals the Swedes have scored have come from Emil Forsberg who was one of the best players in the group stage. Forsberg is one of four players on three goals and still involved in the tournament and the Swede can be backed at 110.0109/1 to win the Golden Boot award. It might be a long shot, but being on penalty duties will certainly help.

Poland will spend the summer thinking, 'what if?'. What if they had played the whole tournament the way they did for the final 30 minutes of their tournament. Lewandowski deserved better, but he left his mark on the tournament with three goals.