Euro 2016: Just 8 Remain in Title Hunt; Poland Downs Switzerland on Penalty Kicks;

BALTIMORE, Maryland, Monday, June 27, 2016 - Upset-minded Wales and Poland have marched into the Final Eight of the Euro 2016 Championship Tournament, being contested over the last month throughout France.  Meanwhile, Chile has beaten back Argentina on penalty kicks to win the "Copa América Centenario" Tournament, contested in These United States in recent weeks, with the title match played at the Meadowlands on Sunday in front of some 82,000 fans.  Team USA performed admirably in the tournament, coming through the Group Stage and winning its Quarterfinal Match over a good Eduador team, 2-1.  That put the USA in the tournament semi-final against Argentina on June 21 in Houston.  The magic ended there, with the South American side beating the USA, 4-0.  

In France, the Knockout Phase, or Finals, began over the weekend.  In the first match at St. Etienne, the Swiss and Poland battled for 90 minutes and through extra time and overtime, only to end up tied, 1-1.  The New York Times reported that Jakub Blaszczykowski scored his second goal of the tournament to give Poland the lead in the 39th minute with a low shot past Swiss goalkeeper Yann Sommer.  But, according to the AP and the New York Times, a bicycle kick by Xherdan Shaqiri in the 82nd minute sent the match into extra time.  In the penalty kick phase, the New York Times said that Grzegorz Krychowiak stepped up to score the shootout winner. But Krychowiak only got his moment in the limelight after Shaqiri missed his penalty kick for Switzerland.  It was the only missed penalty kick of the ten taken in that final part of the match.  Poland will now take on erratic Portugal in the quarter-finals.

Wales, which has its own national soccer team even though it is part of the United Kingdom, claims an underdog role even though a player deemed one of the world's very best plays for the Welsh Side.  Gareth Bale, who plays professionally for Barcelona, in Spain, is a prolific scorer with one of the nastiest shots to be seen anywhere.  When Wales lost to England in the Group Stage - do you think that game was played with some passion? - Bale gave Wales a 1-0 lead at the half on a long free kick that seemed to change directions before settling into the net.  The Welsh made the Finals nonetheless, and in its first game it turned back another underdog side, the team from Northern Ireland.  The final score was 1-0, with the match's only score coming when Northern Ireland's Gareth McAuley inadvertently poked a nasty Bale cross into the Irish net.  A UEFA reporter at the match said that McAuley was forced to risk the result because Bale's cross was coming onto the foot of Wales'.