It's been an interesting Euro so far with teams such as Northern Ireland making it past the group stages in third to only be narrowly beaten by Wales in the Round of 16. I admit, the Euro was a bit dull in the group stages, but thankfully Will Grigg was there to save it, he didn't play one minute in the Euro but he sure was on fire on the bench.
The famous chant/song made Northern Ireland the most fun group of the whole tournament, their football was decent too, only being beaten 1-0 by Germany in the group stages. Even Matt Hummels loved the Will Grigg song and you can't blame him, it's a catchy tune "Will Grigg's on fire, your defense is terrified".
Iceland
Iceland came with a plan, with Gylfi Sigurðsson, the Swansea City player, as their main man. They've been calm and collected in their play style, almost looking like it wasn't their debut in this tournament. A lot of credit to their fans too, they've been the 12th man in the games, leading the team with their Viking "war cry" to show how dedicated they are with the national team. They've gone very far in this tournament, it's an amazing achievement to be in the Quarter-Final facing France, the hosts of the Euro. If they win, it'll be another chapter to their "fairy tale" story, and if they lose, it'll still be a great story to tell. It's a win-win situation for the Icelandic fans and they're just happy to be participating. Fair play to them.
It would be criminal to say Wales are the Cinderella of the tournament, they've shown they're the Dark Horses of the Euro and not Belgium. With Gareth Bale as their provider, they've gone far in their debut. Top of the group over England and beating Northern Ireland and Belgium to reach the Semi-Finals, it surely is incredible that this team might even reach the Final. Luckily, they don't only depend on Bale, they've had top players such as Ashley Williams, Aaron Ramsey and Joe Allen being instrumental in the team to ease the pressure on Bale performing.
Most fans say it's the dragon on the shirt that make the team play well and maybe they're actually right. Also, fair play to Bale, he did what Ryan Giggs and Gary Speed failed to do and that was to lead Wales to success and fortunately this squad has made it as a team, all together.
Finally, A Selecção, Portugal. Many pundits said that this team wouldn't get far and that they we're going to play badly, and that's certainly true. They haven't played up to par, the team hasn't surprised anyone with their performances. Only passing the group stages in third place with the "most easy" group of the Euro, beating Croatia in the 117th minute with a Quaresma goal in the Round of 16. A tired performance against Poland, ending in penalties, Rui Patricio saves Błaszczykowski's shot for the team to reach the Semi-Finals. Lackluster performances by Ronaldo, only playing well against Hungary in which he scored 2 goals. There's not been a good performance by this team in the Euro, but that doesn't quite matter being that they've reached the Semi-Finals and might even get to Finals if they beat Wales.
Thankfully, there's been glimpses of the team that Portugal can be, and they could've reached the Semi-Finals playing well, not struggling. The brilliance of Renato Sanches, the 18-year-old boy has shown to be the future for Portugal success.
To say the least, this Portugal team has been a let down, but they're in the Semi-Finals and I doubt they care if they haven't played great. At the end, it's about winning, it doesn't matter if it's playing bad or not, they're winning and that's what matters to them.
