United Beyond Manchester

Ukraine and Austria provided fans with exceptional football, as the former came from behind to win, and the latter dominated Poland. Unfortunately, the most anticipated match of the day, France vs the Netherlands, was disappointing. Below, we dive into today’s action.

Ukraine 2 Slovakia 1

After a shock win over Belgium that was spearheaded by an early Ivan Schranz goal, Slovakia looked set to do it again. Ivan Schranz scored his second goal of the tournament with a 17th-minute finish that put Slovakia up 1-0. The scoreline stayed 1-0 heading into halftime, as Ukraine was poor and failed to create any real opportunities.

That all changed in the second half, and Ukraine got one back in the 54th minute through Mykola Shaparenko. The comeback was complete in the 80th minute, as substitute Roman Yaremchuk latched onto a Shaparenko ball and deftly finished past Martin Dubravka.

This win by Ukraine tightens the group, as everyone has three points except for Belgium.

Austria 3 Poland 1

Former Manchester United interim manager Ralf Rangnick knows football. While he was unable to establish it at Old Trafford, his gegenpressing style suits Austria perfectly, and they have looked fantastic in the tournament so far. Even their loss to France was tight, and they played well.

Today, it all came together, and while they conceded, they were on top for most of the match. Gernot Trauner got the game going with a 6th-minute header to put the Austrians ahead. Krzysztof Piatek got the goal back for Poland in the 30th minute, but second-half goals from Christoph Baumgartner and Marko Arnautovic put the match to bed.

Austria finishes the group against the Netherlands, with a result needed to advance.

France 0 Netherlands 0

No Mbappe, no party. France superstar Kylian Mbappe broke his nose against Austria and was held out of the match. Despite creating chances, France was unable to score with him not in the lineup. In three tournament matches without Mbappe, France have failed to score.

Neither team played particularly well, nor deserved to win the match. Wonderkid Xavi Simons thought he had the breakthrough and winning goal, but it was called back after a VAR check for an offsides.

The draw is a decent result for both teams, though, as it likely secures a 3rd-place knockout round spot with four points.