Will Booth 
Cristiano Ronaldo Portugal. Photo: Flickr - Karsten Stalpaert (CC BY 2.0)
With plenty left to be decided coming into the final matches of the group stages, a surprise result has shaken up the standings and consequently altered the path that teams seemed to be set on.
Here is a roundup of each groups’ action as match day three came to a finish.
Group A
Germany topped their group convincingly, getting the tournament underway with a dominant 5-1 thrashing of Scotland and caused some reshuffling of many people’s pre-tournament predictions.
Julian Nagelsmann has managed to introduce a system that had his best talents firing in Florian Wirtz and Jamal Musiala, however performances did drop slightly in the later match days.
Germany will take on Demark in their first knockout match, while second placed finishers from Group A Switzerland face up against Italy in a tough draw.
Switzerland, who had a similarly strong start with a convincing win over Hungary, ended the group stage with two draws; one they would be happy with against Germany, and one they would be less content with against Scotland.
Hungary bow out of the tournament in third place by virtue of goal difference, with Slovenia edging through just ahead. A last-minute winner against Scotland was not enough to advance them to the knockout stages.
An under performing Dominic Szoboszlai could not match the high hopes placed on him and his team as potential dark horses as they struggled to reach their potential and, in the end, meekly exited the competition.
Scotland were largely disappointing in their group stage, which was in stark contrast to their qualifying campaign that saw them beat Spain and begin to score goals for fun while playing some exciting football.
Their Euro campaign was anything but exciting, coming into games with a negative set-up tactically and rarely looking like they were playing for the win.
Group B
Much in the way that Germany had people second guessing themselves over the potential tournament favourites, Spain lit up their group and came away with three wins from three, with the impressive record of being the only team in the tournament not to concede a goal in the group stage.
They have added versatility to their arsenal, and do not necessarily need the lions share of possession to be a danger to opposing sides. The addition of two young and exciting wingers in Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal has propelled Spain to the next level as a team and has cemented them as serious contenders.
Italy managed to finish second in Group B, although performances have been underwhelming from the defending champions. They survived an early shock against Albania, fighting back for the win after a sluggish start, but it was a late equaliser against Croatia that saw them safely through in second spot.
Luciano Spaletti still has plenty of decisions to make, as it seems that we have not seen Italy’s best XI lineup together yet.
Croatia scraped third place with two draws in games that were marked as winnable, and a straightforward loss against Spain. This Euro campaign seemed to be one tournament cycle too many for most of the ageing core of their squad and lacked any real speed and energy to trouble opponents.
They finish as bottom of the third-place standings with their meager haul of two points, a disappointing send off for one of the greats in Luka Modric.
Albania slumped to last place; however, they will leave with fond memories of a last grasp equaliser against Croatia that briefly kept their hopes alive. A narrow loss to a rotated Spain side sealed their fate on the last match day, but the table does make things appear more dire than they were.
Albania fought hard in their encounters, with their two losses only coming by one goal. Positive signs for a nation with plenty of talent.
Group C
Cheekily nicknamed the “Group of bored to death” by some unhappy fans, Group C was a disappointing affair for all parties involved. The group equaled the record for lowest scoring group stage in a European Championship with just seven scored and conceded across the three match days.
England were uninspiring if not solid, and other than an attacking first half against Serbia in their opening fixture, looked content to sit back and circulate possession aimlessly. Their attacking firepower was not utilised, and the star players we have seen light up their respective leagues were nowhere to be seen.
Despite having La Liga’s Most Valuable Player in Jude Bellingham, Europe’s Golden Shoe winner in Harry Kane, and some of the Premier League’s most exciting talent, Gareth Southgate has still been unable to get the team firing as a cohesive unit.
Denmark and Slovenia both managed three draws in their three games, finishing with identical records including goals for, goals against, and yellow cards shown to players. The decisive factor in their finishing positions came from a pivotal moment as Milivoje Novakovic, Slovenia’s assistant coach, received a yellow card from the dugout.
This meant that Denmark edged Slovenia to second place via disciplinary record. Sparing Novakovic’s blushes, Slovenia fortunately finished as the fourth best third-placed side meaning they sneak into the knockout stages.
Serbia were chaotic and tough to play against, however leaned too far into this at some points and were erratic in the way they approached games. Aleksandar Mitrovic and Dusan Vlahovic were unable to take their chances in front of goal, missing gilt-edged chances against Slovenia in particular, and finish bottom with two points.
Group D
The team most deserving of the dark horse nickname, Austria, topped a tough group that many saw as a foregone conclusion with two standout sides in the Netherlands and France. Ralf Rangnick’s men proved this wrong and powered through the group stage with two wins from three and impressive performances to go along with their results.
His core of players that have come through various Red Bull systems proved Rangnick’s decision to turn down the Bayern Munich job to be a smart one, as they will look to go deep into this tournament. A narrow loss to France was to be expected in the opening round, however the side bounced back against Poland and the Dutch, winning with intent in both encounters.
France had a spanner thrown in the works when Kylian Mbappe had to leave the field with a broken nose in their game against Austria. He was missing for their 0-0 draw with the Netherlands but returned to score in the final fixture against Poland that saw France take second spot.
Les Bleus looked like a different proposition without their star man in the draw against the Dutch, toothless in attack with it seeming like Didier Deschamps had not planned for life without their captain.
The Netherlands are an exciting team to watch for neutrals; they create chances, have players that love to go one-on-one with their markers, but fail to finish off their moves without a clinical finisher in the side. This was evident in their opening game against Poland, with Wout Weghorst coming on to eventually seal a late win.
They advance as they highest ranked third-placed side, but their tournament run will be dependent on what sort of team turns up on the day. Ronald Koeman has been unable to instill any consistency in the side as they run hot and cold constantly.
Poland were unfortunately held back by an injury to Robert Lewandowski in a warmup friendly against Turkey. They were close to a result against the Netherlands without him in the side but dropped points in that encounter in the end.
Whilst Lewandowski was deemed fit enough to return in the match against Austria, he was nowhere near his best and lacked match-sharpness, which rendered him unable to affect the game in any meaningful way.
They sauntered to last place in the group, but things might have gone differently if Poland had a fully fit Lewandowski from the outset.
Group E
A group of excitement that many would not have expected, Group E ended up as close as you could get in a group stage, with all teams finishing with the record of one win, one draw, and one loss.
Romania finished top thanks to their superior goal difference, which came in their opening game against Ukraine where they stunned to run out 3-0 winners. Solid performances in their other battles guaranteed their passage to the knockout phase.
An unimpressive Belgium finished second, but it is the same scenario that has plagues over recent tournament cycles. Domenico Tedesco was the man charged with fixing Belgium’s woes this time around, but not much progress has been made as they managed just two goals in their group stage, which came against Romania.
Slovakia claimed third place and will progress as one of the top four third-placed sides. They scored one more goal than Belgium, however a leaky defensive display across their fixtures cost them in the end with a worse goal difference.
Ukraine’s story of qualification was heralded as a great feat, however more was expected of them once they had secured their ticket into the competition. Proceedings got underway poorly as they were comprehensively beaten by Romania and failed to make an impact in their pivotal draw with Belgium.
Group F
Portugal were the dominant force as to be expected in this group, with routine wins against Turkey and Czechia on the first two match days. After securing qualification, they took their foot off the gas and suffered a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Georgia.
Roberto Martinez will still be toiling with the idea of Cristiano Ronaldo as his go-to target man, with the Al-Nassr man failing to score in the group stages of yet another major tournament. He is in the side as the clinical goal scorer, much to the detriment of the team’s defensive capabilities, and if he is unable put the ball in the back of the net, then the question marks will certainly remain over his head.
Turkey found victory in the two matches they needed to and find themselves heading to the knockouts in second spot on equal points with Portugal. Cohesion is yet to be found, and with the attacking flair in the players in their ranks, they are yet to hit top gear.
Georgia were the surprise package in Group F, seeing themselves through to the latter stages of their first major tournament thanks to a shocking win against Portugal. An early blow from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and a penalty from Georges Mikautadze was enough to seal advancement in a huge achievement for the underdogs of the group.
Czechia rounded out fourth place with one draw and two close losses. A strong core of talent was not enough to see them past superior sides, although they will be ruing their chances after seeing Georgia take down Portugal and overtake them for third place.