Euro Championship: France, Germany, and Belgium Advance

In the continuation of the Round of 16 of the Euro Championship, the national teams of France, Germany, and Belgium advanced to the quarter-finals with victories over their opponents. France, the host of the matches, endured 58 minutes of agony against the Republic of Ireland, and its fans experienced anxious moments. Ireland was awarded a penalty in the 50th second, and Robbie Brady put his team ahead. Brady had also opened the scoring against Italy in the group stage, leading to Italy's defeat. In the second half, Antoine Griezmann of Atletico Madrid and the French national team managed to score twice against Darren Randolph. Griezmann had opportunities for a hat-trick but missed them. In the 66th minute, Shane Duffy was sent off with a red card, easing the French's concerns about maintaining their lead against Ireland. Griezmann now stands with three goals alongside Gareth Bale and Alvaro Morata. France must wait for the winner of the England vs. Iceland match to know their opponent in the semi-finals. Didier Deschamps stated after the game, "I knew we had a difficult match, and with an early goal, it became even harder! I admit that not everything went well today, but we managed to establish a good emotional connection with the fans." Germany, in a dominant display, won 3-0 against Slovakia, avenging their 3-1 defeat in a friendly before the Euro Championship. Germany is now the only team in Euro 2016 that has not conceded a goal. Jerome Boateng, Mario Gomez, and Julian Draxler scored Germany's three goals in this match. Joachim Low's players missed at least twice as many chances as they scored, including a penalty by Mesut Ozil that was saved by Matous Kozacik. Low said after the game, "We really performed excellently. I had asked Draxler to play boldly and go into empty spaces. He set up the second goal excellently and scored the third. We did not allow Slovakia to play their game at all and were flawless in defense." In the final match on Sunday night, Belgium defeated Hungary 4-0. The Belgians started the tournament with a loss to Italy but have improved match by match and now appear as strong contenders for the championship title. Toby Alderweireld of Tottenham scored Belgium's only goal in the first half. For a few minutes in the second half, Hungary applied enough pressure that it seemed they might equalize, but that did not happen. In the last 12 minutes, Wilmots' boys stormed and scored three times. Michy Batshuayi from Marseille, Eden Hazard from Chelsea, and Yannick Carrasco from Atletico Madrid scored consecutive goals, inflicting a heavy defeat on the hardworking Hungarian team and their 40-year-old goalkeeper. Thus, Belgium and Wales will face each other in the quarter-finals. These two teams were also in the same group in the qualifiers, where Belgium could only manage a goalless draw in Brussels. In the return match hosted in Cardiff, Wales won 1-0 with a goal from Gareth Bale. On the last day of the Round of 16 of Euro 2016, Italy will play against Spain, and England will face Iceland.