Euro 2016 Round of 16 Predictions: pt 1

One day and just a year ago was the last time I posted on this blog. Yes that was a long time ago and blah blah blah. But now, I'm back and one of the most exciting competitions in football has been going on this summer in France. Euro 2016 kicked off 13 days ago as the host nation took the pitch at the Stade de France to play Romania. Dimitri Payet gave les bleus all 3 points with a stunning strike in the 89th minute. That set the tone for the tournament and now it is almost time for the knock out rounds.


"The Easier Side"




Switzerland vs Poland
One side of the knockout round bracket appears much easier than the other side; one side of the bracket holds many major championship winners while one side holds underdogs that could make a deep run into the tournament. The first game on the "easier" side is Poland vs Switzerland. This should actually be a pretty good game as both teams have some star power, and a good supporting cast to go along with players like Xhaka (who's having a great tournament) and Shaqiri for Switzerland, and Lewandowski and Blaszczykowski for Poland. Switzerland took Argentina deep into extra time two years ago in the World Cup before Di Maria broke Swiss hearts, and Poland could have beaten Germany in their group stage match this Euro tournament. This will be a close match and it could go deep into extra time; I have Poland pulling out a victory and advancing to the quarter finals.


Croatia vs Portugal
Portugal might be blessed that they finished third in their group and got thrown over to the easier side of the knockout bracket. The fact is, Portugal is not that great of team despite being ranked 8th in the world. Unfortunately for Ronaldo and Portugal, Croatia is no easy task. Croatia just beat Spain and that was without their star midfield man Luka Modric. Modric is not the only quality player Croatia has, Rakitic, the Barcelona midfielder, is no slouch and Perisic bagged the late winner against Spain. Mandzukic, the Juventus man, is another striking great striking option for Croatia. If Croatia has no distractions from their fans, Croatia should beat Portugal and move on to the next round.


Wales vs Northern Ireland
Wales was, and still is, my sleeper team to make deep run in the tournament. With the likes of Bale and Ramsey on their side with the supporting cast of Joe Allen (who played great against Russia), Neil Taylor and Joe Ledley, Wales is a great team. They play hard and finished first in their group, above England. After beating Russia convincingly, and pulling out a 2-1 win over Slovakia, Wales should handle Northern Ireland easily. Wales will advance to the quarter finals where they will either meet Belgium or Hungary.


Hungary vs Belgium
This is hard game to call. Hungary did not have many expectations, if any at all, coming into this tournament. They ended up winning Group F. They beat Austria handedly and played a great 3-3 draw with Portugal. Belgium, although being the 2nd ranked team in the world, did not convince me that they were a great team in the group stage. Belgium has always been a team, to me, that has great star power but doesn't play well together. For some reason I didn't catch as much action from Group E as I did the other groups. I just didn't watch as many minutes of Group E play, so I may not know enough about Belgium yet. Hungary vs Belgium should be an intriguing match, and for some reason I just have to go with my gut feeling: Hungary is going to win this match and advance to the quarter finals.


That wraps up my predictions for the so called "easier" side of bracket in the Euro 2016 knockout rounds. I'll try to have my predictions up for the other side as soon as I can! Thanks for reading and come back for more!