The second matchday of the European Championship in France is over. All participating countries now have two group games behind them and all three of the Werder trio, László Kleinheisler, Zlatko Junuzovic and Theo Gebre Selassie, still have the chance to progress to the round of 16 on their countries’ final matchday.
17/06/2016, 15.00 CEST: Czech Republic 2-2 Croatia
The Czech Republic national team secured a point in their match against Croatia thanks to two late goals. Theodore Gebre Selassie watched his team’s comeback from the dugout, as head coach Pavel Vrba decided to make a change on the right flank, replacing Selassie with Jiri Skalak. The favourites, Croatia, went ahead in the 37th minute through Ivan Perisic and the lead was doubled by Ivan Rakitic shortly before the hour mark. The match looked destined for a Croatian victory until Malan Skoda headed the Czechs back into contention. The Czech Republic threw everything forwards after an interruption due to the Croatian fans, which led to a large amount of added time. The comeback was completed by substitute Tomas Necid as he scored to make it 2-2 in the fourth minute of added time. ‘Theo’ will be hoping for another European Championship appearance in the last group match against Turkey on Tuesday, 21st June (21:00 CEST).
18/06/2016, 18.00 CEST: Iceland 1-1 Hungary
László Kleinheisler was in the starting XI for Hungary as they continued their unbeaten start to EURO 2016 against Iceland with a 1-1 draw in their second group match, following their 2-0 surprise win against Austria. Gylfi Sigurdsson converted from the penalty spot to give the ‘Vikings’ the lead just before the break. The Hungarian’s needed the help of the northern Europeans, in order to finally break through their defence in the 87th minute. László Kleinheisler initiated the attack for his team’s equaliser which ended with Bikir Saevarsson turning the ball into his own goal from Nemanja Nikolic’s low cross. Kleinheisler, who was once again Hungary’s most notable player, was on the pitch for the whole match and picked up a yellow card in the 83rd minute. Hungary will face off against group leaders Portugal in their final group fixture on Wednesday, 22nd June (21:00 CEST) and will be looking to secure a place in the round of 16.
18/06/2016, 21.00 CEST: Portugal 0-0 Austria
A clearly superior Portugal side failed to overcome a courageous and determined Austria team in their second match of the European Championship. The Austrians showed a lot of fight against the group favourites and managed to secure a fortunate 0-0. The Austrians were forced to make a change to their line-up following the 2-0 loss to Hungary, as Zlatko Junuzovic was unavailable after picking up a partial ligament tear in their tournament opener. Goalkeeper Robert Almer denied Portugal and Cristiano Ronaldo time and time again to be rated as the best player in the Austrian ranks. The lowlight for Portugal was three-time World Footballer of the Year Ronaldo’s penalty that came back off the woodwork. Marcel Koller’s team managed to get over the line and secure an important point and still have the possibility of making the last 16 in their final match of the group stage against Iceland on Wednesday, 22nd June (18:00 CEST). They will be hoping that Zlatko Junuzovic will recover in time to play a role in the crunch game.
