EURO 2016 - Quarter Finals Preview 1
After 3 weeks of great action, Euro 2016 has arrived at the Quarter Final stage, with 8 teams still left in the competition vying to be crowned champions of Europe next Sunday.
With one quarter final taking place each night between tonight and Sunday evening, fans across the world will be glued to their television screens to see who can make it through to the final four and get a step closer to lifting the Henri Delauney Trophy in Saint-Denis on Sunday 10th July.
To get you ready for the games, Direct Soccer previews the Quarter Finals and reviews how each team got to this round in the tournament.
QUARTER FINAL 1 - POLAND vs PORTUGAL - Thursday 30th June - Marseille
How they got here: Poland were in Group C, taking on World Champions Germany (who incidentally were in their qualifying group as well), Ukraine and newcomers to the competition, Northern Ireland. The Poles kicked off their Euro 2016 campaign with a narrow 1-0 win over the Northern Irish, the goal coming from Ajax striker Arkadiusz Milik in the 51st minute.
A great defensive display saw Poland earn an impressive 0-0 draw with Germany to almost book their 2nd round place, and this was guaranteed in the last game with a 1-0 win over bottom side Ukraine thanks to a 54th minute goal from substitute Jakub Blaszczykowski. As group runners-up, Poland's prize in the 2nd Round was a tie against Group A runners-up Switzerland in Saint-Etienne.
Poland took the lead on the 39th minute with Blaszczykowski's 2nd strike of the tournament, but this was cancelled out by a great overhead kick from Xherdan Shaqiri in the 82nd minute to send the game into extra time. With no further goals a shootout was required to separate the sides and Poland were victorious 5-4 after Granit Xhaka missed his spot-kick.
Portugal were the favourites to win Group F and took the lead against Iceland from a Nani goal. Iceland managed to level the game in the 50th minute and held on for a vital draw, much to Portugal skipper Cristiano Ronaldo's disgust. The pressure was on the Portuguese to qualify after they stumbled to a 0-0 draw in the Parc des Princes against Austria.
In one of the games of the tournament so far, group winners Hungary and Portugal played out a 3-3 draw. 3 times Hungary took the lead only for Portugal to fight back and level, with Nani scoring his 2nd of the campaign and Ronaldo finally hitting the goal trail with a brace of his own.
It looked like Portugal were going through to meet England in the last 16, only for a late Iceland winner relegating them to 3rd place where they managed to claim one of the best 3rd place spots for a place in the 2nd Round. One of the worst games of the tournament saw the Portuguese edge Croatia 1-0 with Ricardo Quaresma heading in the winner in the 117th minute.
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Poland vs Portugal - the head to head stats for Euro 2016 so far.[/caption]
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Wales vs Belgium - Two of the best players in the world will go head to head, Gareth Bale of Wales lining up against Belgium's Eden Hazard. Who will prevail, the Red Dragon or the Red Devils? One thing is certain, adidas will celebrate as they supply both teams with their team kit.[/caption]