Choosing the winner of the third group of the European football tournament can be tricky. All four teams can end up with the same number of points, so who would then advance to the playoffs?
13:00•Updated 13:48
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There is still plenty of tension in the European Football Championship in the last round of the group stage. Not a single team from the C group of the tournament is yet to advance.
Champion favorites Sweden and Holland played a draw in the opening round, as did final round underdogs Portugal and Switzerland.
In the second round, the champion favorites narrowly beat their own opposition, while the underdogs put the early favorites in a tight spot. Both underdogs had to defend in the matches, but they also had their own place.
Sports expert Timo Furuholm assesses in the commentary that Switzerland’s Sandrine Mauronia was violated in the closing moments of the match against Sweden. You can see the situation in the video at the beginning of the story.
Portugal, on the other hand, could have had a corner kick in the last minute of the Dutch match, but the match ended on time. Portugal protested wildly and the goalkeeper Inês Pereira even received a yellow card, which may be important for the continuation.
Will the group winner only be decided by disciplinary points?
There would be nothing left to think about with draws and wins by early favourites. If Sweden loses and the Netherlands wins – or vice versa – the winner of the group would be the underdog who won based on the result of the mutual match.
But if both Switzerland and Portugal win in the final round, all teams in Group C will be on four points.
In that case, those who advance from the group would have to be decided by tiebreak, i.e. handicapping criteria. First we would look at the goal difference and then the number of goals scored.
For example, with 1–0 wins, the underdogs would advance to the playoffs, while Sweden and the Netherlands would be out of the playoffs. With the aforementioned result, Switzerland and Holland would be tied on points with the same number of goals scored and conceded, but by winning the mutual match, Switzerland would grab the next place.
You only get into a more special situation with certain results. The group winner may be decided by disciplinary points or even by the ranking of the EC qualifiers if the teams end up with the same number of goals scored and conceded.
This would happen, for example, with the result Sweden 3–2 Portugal, Holland 2–1 Switzerland, in which case the champion favorites would have a 6–4 goal difference.
If the teams are tied, the handicap criteria will be applied in the following order:
1 ) Results of mutual matches.
2 ) Goal difference between mutual matches.
3 ) Goals scored in mutual matches.
4 ) If the previous points have separated, for example, one team out of three teams, points 1–3 are repeated only for the two remaining teams.
5 ) Goal difference in all matches.
6 ) Goals scored in all matches.
7 ) Number of wins in all matches.
8 ) If the teams that are still tied play against each other in the last round, a penalty shootout will be shot.
9 ) Lower “fair play” reading. You get points from yellow and red cards. (straight red = 3 points, yellow = 1 point and sending off with two yellow cards = 3 points)
10 ) EC qualifiers ranking.
If Sweden and Holland are tied with the same number of goals, our western neighbor would win the group because the team has not received a single card. Holland has four yellow cards, so only four disciplinary points would take Sweden to monitor the European Championship qualification ranking with Holland. In the ranking comparison, Holland would win the group.
With the victories of Switzerland and Portugal on equal points and with the same number of goals (e.g. 6–5 goal difference), the teams would end up observing the qualifying ranking. The underdogs both have three yellow cards.
There is also voltage on the final day of the block phase
France has secured victory in Group D, but the second place is still open. Currently second is Iceland with two draws, who will challenge France on Monday. In the second match, Italy and Belgium will meet, each with one point.
Iceland must beat France if the match between Italy and Belgium ends in any other result than 0-0 or 1-1. If Belgium wins or if the game ends in a draw other than the above-mentioned draws, it will advance to the next round. Italy can only qualify for the playoffs with a win.
Two blocks have already been played to their conclusion. England won the A group on Friday, Austria was the second runner-up. Germany had already secured the victory in Group B, but in the last round they defeated Helmarit with 3–0 goals. Spain also advanced to the playoffs on Saturday night.
Who will score the opening goal of the match and at what minute? Bet on the opening goalscorer of every European Championship match at Futistietäjä. The prize for the closest correct guess is a technical ball.