5 Things We Learned From Day 16: Wales advance while Portugal and Croatia serve up borefest

The break was finally over for Euro 2016 as the last 16 matches got underway. Poland were first up against Switzerland in the early kick off. The second ‘Battle of Britain’ would see Wales take on Northern Ireland, guaranteeing at least one British side in the quarter final stage. And the last one saw two heavyweights, Portugal and Croatia, go head-to-head.

Poland are fearsome penalty takers

The unenviable task of getting Euro 2016 underway again fell to Poland and Switzerland. Poland got off to the better start and controlled proceedings but Arkadiusz Milik lacked the composure his teammate Robert Lewandowski possesses. The youngster has had a fine tournament but still looks a little raw to me. His blushes were spared by teammate Jakub Blaszczykowski who got the goal Poland’s dominance deserved.

Going back to Lewandowski for a minute, he still hasn’t found his place in this Poland side - which is even stranger when you consider he scored 13 goals in qualifying. The Bayern Munich hitman kept dropping deep to collect the ball but that isn’t what you want/expect from him. If Poland are to trouble better sides later on they need Lewandowski to influence matters further up the pitch.

The Poles produced five perfect penalties against Switzerland in the shootout to make the quarter finals. No one will fancy their chances against them from 12 yards.

Shaqiri magic can’t save the Swiss

Switzerland have been a strange team to watch throughout the Euros. You sense there’s more to come but it never seems to materialise. I mean, it’s not like those type of performances are limited to just the Swiss but they seem to huff and puff but not really get anywhere. That was until the second half against Poland.

It appeared the shackles were finally off. Switzerland took advantage of Poland sitting further and further back, trying to protect their lead, and it made for an exciting contest. The moment of magic from Xherdan Shaqiri, a beautifully executed bicycle kick, was special and it forced the tie to extra time.

Granit Xhaka was the villain in the penalty shootout - there’s always (at least) one - but it shouldn’t take away from what a fine tournament he’s had. His penalty was awful though.

Not pretty but Wales march on

The knockout rounds haven’t shown a great swing from the style adopted in the group stage: the fear of losing being more important than taking the risk to win. Wales were comfortable favourites against a Northern Ireland side that were just happy to have reached this stage but struggled for large periods to break down their opponents.

However as much as we’d like to see end-to-end goalfests, for the likes of Wales and Northern Ireland, it’s about getting through and nothing else. In Gareth Bale the Welsh have a major advantage in these tight, rigid games and he once again made the difference as his wonderful cross was turned in his own goal by the unfortunate Gareth McAuley. “Bit boring,” some might suggest. But Welsh fans will rightly point to the fact they’re into the next round and that’s all that matters.

Will Gregg’s fire was unfairly extinguished

The one thing Euro 2016 has achieved is getting everyone to sing the Will Grigg song. Some have done it about the player himself, others about their own stars but it’s literally everywhere. However one of the most disappointing things has been the lack of action Will Grigg has seen on the pitch. Michael O’Neill said this on the matter: “I don’t pick my team around what supporters sing at games.” Fair enough, I guess?

But if you delve deeper it makes even less sense as to why Grigg didn’t feature at least once from the bench. He scored 25 goals in League One last season, 10 more than Conor Washington who did get on against Wales. The other two substitutes, both attacking changes, have a combined 20 goals in the Scottish Premiership between them. It feels like O’Neill didn’t pick him to spite the fans when, if he had put his side’s interests first, Will Grigg fully deserved a chance.

Defences are no longer terrified.

Croatia and Portugal torture us for nearly 120 minutes

Well, that was uninspiring. Many had tipped this to be the game of the tournament and it was a game to remember - but for all the wrong reasons. We had one of the best teams of the competition against the best player in Europe but it ended up producing one of the worst 90 minutes of football I’ve seen in a long time. No ambition, no creativity and no shots on target.

Sometimes two sides can cancel each other out but this was so bad people were hoping a late goal would save us from extra time - and during extra time hoping a goal would avoid penalties. Ricardo Quaresma kindly obliged as he tapped home a rebound in the 117th minute after Cristiano Ronaldo’s shot - the first on target of the entire game - had been saved. Croatia didn’t take their chances, simple as that. Portugal march on to face Poland in the quarter finals and we’re all glad that match is over.