Poland, Wales, Iceland Battle Into Final 8 in Euro 2016; Wales Team Believes It Is One of Destiny; Chile Wins Copa Title After USA Falls in Semi-Final

BALTIMORE, Maryland, Tuesday, June 28, 2016 - No fewer than three decided underdogs have marched, battled, scratched and scrambled their way into the Final Eight of an increasingly wonderful Euro 2016 Tournament.  Upset-minded Wales, Absolutely Determined Poland, and Stunning Iceland scored major victories in their first games of the final stage of this mythical European Championship, setting the stage for a breathtaking quarterfinal round.  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.  Portugal defeated Croatia, 1-0, to advance to Thursday's game.  Other quarterfinal games pit Germany against Italy and France against Iceland.  Germany routed Slovakia, 3-0, while Italy beat back Spain, 2-0.  France, the host of the tournament, defeated Ireland, 2-1, while Iceland stunned England, 2-1, after falling behind the heavily favored English, 1-0, on a penalty shot by Wayne Rooney.  Iceland struck back only minutes after Rooney's score.  Defender Ragnar Sigurdsson tied the game in the fifth minute after Rooney had put England ahead in the fourth minute.  And about twelve minutes after Sigurdsson scored, Iceland scored again.  It was the last score of the game - a Sigurdsson tackle late in the second half helped prevent England was drawing even - as Iceland played the way England used to and put their hearts and minds into playing technically perfect soccer at the highest level.  For England, it was errors everywhere.  Joe Hart, the English keeper, could have saved both goals he allowed, and he will have nightmares about the second goal.  Hart put a strong hand on the shot as he dove to the post to his right.  But instead of defelecting the shot wide, he deflected it into the back of the net. There are over 539 million people living in England.  Just 330,000 live on the Icelandic Isle.  Amazing.

So, in summary, the final eight will be Poland v. Portugal, Wales v. Belgium, Italy v. Germany and France v. Iceland.

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 Real Madrid, in Spain, is a prolific scorer and spectacular all-around performer with one of the nastiest shots to be seen anywhere.  When Wales lost to England in the Group Stage of this Euro 2016 - 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 eluding the English Keeper and settling into the net.  The Welsh have 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'.Hal Ronson-Kanu, who was charging the net like his life depended on it.  They take soccer very seriously here..  


The Wales Squad believes in its heart that it is one of destiny.  They have been playing soccer in this relatively obscure corner of the British Isles as long as the game itself has been played; the Welsh Football Association was organized in 1876, about the same time that baseball was getting organized on the other side of the Atlantic pond  And Wales has played independent of the English National Team for almost as long.  Yet, because they are so small, they have only had enough quality players at the same time to put together one other team that made a serious run at an important international tournament title.  That was in 1958, when Wales made it to the quarter-finals of the World Cup, played that year in Sweden.  In that legendary quarter-final match, against eventual World Cup Champion Brazil, the Welsh side fell, 1-0, on a goal by a young Pelé.  For the uninformed, Pele is regarded as the greatest soccer player ever.  The Wales side that year had a player, John Charles, who is mentioned in the same breath as Pelé, at least in the Welsh countryside.  As it was, even Wikipedia says that Wales gave Brazil the best game it was to get in the 1958 World Cup.  And John Charles couldn't play because of an injury.  Even today, the "what if" moniker is applied to that match.

Now, Wales is back in the quarter-finals of a major tournament.  The wait for such an opportunity to come to Wales has been 58 years.  On Thursday night, Wales will take the pitch at Stade Pierre Mauroy in Lille Métropole against powerful Belgium.  Ironically, it will be the third meeting between the two sides in the tournament.  On November 18, 2014 the two sides battled to a scoreless draw in Brussels.  Then, on June 12, 2015 in Cardiff, Wales, the Welsh got a goal from Bale to win, 1-0.  It virtually assured that Wales would play in the finals in France, this summer.