Euro 2016 Surprises and Dissappointments

Published 10/14/2015, 6:07 AM EDT

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20 of the 24 teams (including hosts France) have qualified for the 2016 European Championships in the Summer of 2016. While there have been a few major upsets , most of the traditional powerhouses have qualified for the tournament. So, a look at the top 3 teams that achieved more than what was expected out of them and 3 teams that failed to live up to their expectations.

Top 3 teams that exceeded expectations

A team where we only really know their talisman midfielder, Gylfi Sigguardson, few would have seen Iceland make even the playoffs in a group containing Netherlands, Turkey and the Czech Republic. However, the minnows, who played as a team surprised the world by booking their tickets to the Euro 2016 after finishing 2nd in the group with a record of 6 wins, 2 draws and 2 defeats.

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After narrowly missing out in the World Cup 2014 qualifications (they lost to Croatia in the playoffs), Iceland will now be participating in the country’s first ever major tournament.

What really helped is their team spirit and chemistry, as they performed for the full 90 minutes as a team and not a collection of individuals. Their youthful squad will now have around 6-8 matches from now till the tournament begins to really prepare mentally and for the coaches to choose the correct squad.

They may not make it past the group stage there, but its football where minnows can cause major major upsets and surprises. Nonetheless, its a proud moment for the tiny nation.

Germany were not at their best during the qualification campaign. However, Poland gave them a run for their money and its the 3rd successive European Championship they are in.

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Their success in this qualification run is due to their team work and unity and the goals and assists of Robert Lewandowski. The Bayern Munich striker has scored 13 goals and set up 5 goals for his team mates (18 of the 33 goals).

Given the rich vein of form both Lewandowski and the rest of the team is on, and they will be boosted by the fact, they finished just a point adrift of Germany (while taking their first win in many years against the country during the qualifiers), they can really make it to the knockout stages of the tournament.

It was a shock to see Albania finish second in the group behind Portugual, but they did it. Especially with Serbia and Denmark also in the group.

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Hardly any Albanian player is in the top European leagues with the exception of a few who play in the Serie A for Lazio and Napoli.  They claimed wins against Portugual and a controversial win against Serbia.

This is their first major tournament, and they will be sure to look forward to this experience in France.

The 3 teams that failed to live up to their expectations

As a former European Champion and Runners up in the World Cup, the Netherlands were expected to qualify directly from their group, as winners more than runners up. Given their phenomenal form when Qualifying for the 2012 edition (and subsequent disastrous performance in the group of death), a successful 2010 and 2014 World Cup campaigns, few would have seen Netherlands collapse as they did.

5 of their 10 matches ended up as defeats, and they took no points against Iceland and the Czech Republic as Turkey managed to successfully take 3rd and qualify for the tournament as the best placed, 3rd placed team in the groups.

Granted that the Dutch were in transition, they still retained a core nucleus of hardened veterans of the game and rising youngsters. Their squad should have been able to easily win this group, but reports of training ground bust ups, improper managerial decisions regarding use of players by Guus Hiddink and Danny Blind did not help. The transition of managers, mid-way through their campaign did not help either.

Blind, should he keep his job better use the friendlies to develop a new young core if the Netherlands want to show the world, they are still a global powerhouse of the sport.

As one of the European Championship winners in the 21st Century,  Greece would have wanted to at least challenge for a play off spot. However, they finish rock bottom of their group, even behind the Faore Islands. It seems that the Greek Crisis that is currently plaguing their country is affecting the performances of the national team.

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1 win and 3 draws, 6 defeats is not acceptable and questions need to be asked over the selection of players not in form. There was no team work and little to no drive from the players. The side did not have the spirit of the team that won in 2004 of the team that qualified and played their hearts out in 2012.

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Serbia faced on the pitch and off the pitch trouble. The squad struggled to get into a groove. With the group they were placed in, and with members of their team commanding regular places in some of the finest clubs in the continent, it was supposed to be a second place at the very least. Yet, this was not the case.

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Their squad members are struggling to maintain form, none more so than Branislav Ivanovic who has struggled for club and country in recent times and Adem Lilejic who is linked to many European powerhouses. Their off-field trouble did not help when Serbian fans invaded the pitch and attacked Albanian players which resulted in Albania getting a 3-0 win and Serbia getting a 3 point deduction.

Whatever be the case, Serbia really have on-field and off-field problems to address before they start their World Cup 2018 qualification campaign.

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