Euro 2016 Group Stage: First Round Summary

What an exciting week of European soccer. If you were able to watch all of the games you would not have been disappointed, as the action from France has been top-notch. We saw it all, underdogs beating the odds, world-class goals, amazing goalies and even some controversy. If the second week is anything like the first, we are in for treat. 

Group A – The Home Team

The tournament began with a match between home country team France taking on Romania. France were outright favorites to win, listed by famed sportsbooks like bet365 Sports and Real Deal Bet Sports as five-point favorites. They did not disappoint and played to victory 2-1 over the Romanian side. France sits atop Group A, above the second place Swiss team that beat Albania 1-0 in their opener. Due to France scoring a pair of goals, they lead the group.

France are close to being outright favorites to win the group and to fair very well in the tournament, but they will need to win their big match against Switzerland in Week 3 of the Group Stage.

Group B – Controversy

An award for sportsmanship will definitely not be going to a couple of the teams in this group.  The Russian team has now been warned that if they do not get a handle on their hooligan fans, they will be disqualified from the tournament. England was held to a 1-1 draw with a last second goal by the Russians to draw with the three lions.

Wales has the honors of holding onto first position in Group B after winning an excellent match against Slovakia 2-1. The Welsh team is playing incredibly well, but how long can they continue to do so against better teams.

Group C – The Germans

The outright favorites in this year's Euro is the German team. They are constantly a quality team that prides itself on crushing their opposition. They have so much talent and depth in their roster that it is rare to see them as underdogs. Germany was able to beat the Ukraine 2-0 and utterly control the 90 minutes of action. Expect Germany to win the group, without allowing many goals.

The Polish side also won their first round match against Northern Ireland, in an action-packed first match. Both teams were amazing to watch, but the Polish team got a goal and were able to stop the pressure from the Norther Irish players.

Group D – Interesting Group

Before the tournament, I would have said that Spain would definitely win their group, and that might very well be the case, but there is something to be said about the play of Croatia, tied for first with the Spanish side. Both Spain and Croatia won their first round matches against the Czech Republic and Turkey respectively. This group will still be full of surprises in the coming matches.

Group E – The Italians out in Front

If you put money on Italy to beat Belgium in the first round match at bet365 Sports, you would have beat the odds and won some major cash. The Italian team looks excellent and they are out in front of what I believe to be the most dangerous group in the tournament with Sweden, Belgium and the Republic of Ireland.

Group F – The Upset

When you have the best player in the tournament on your side and you are playing against a team in its first ever tournament, you are expected to win big. Portugal controlled the game against Iceland, but they still came up short, as the Iceland team was able to beat the odds and draw 1-1. By far the biggest upset of the first round and that leaves Portugal behind Hungary, after they beat Austria 2-0 in their opener.

Online Euro 2016 Betting

Punters have thousands of chances to strike in rich during the Euro and already in the first round there were odds and upsets that would have made betting very profitable. For Bitcoin punters, Sportsbet.io accepts only Bitcoin transactions and they offer some competitive lines for all the action.