Aside from all the off-field shenanigans and the relatively low-scoring games, I have truly enjoyed the first round. Every game had a compelling storyline, with all the game close and engaging. Can't wait for Round 2 of matches to start, but what would your favourite game of the first 12 be? Italy-Belgium was my favourite for obvious reasons. As an Italian fan, the tournament truly comes to life when Italy plays the first game and this one I was very skeptical for given the strength of the Belgian squad and the relatively weak Italian counterparts. The game itself was almost perfect, from an Italian fan's viewpoint it leads one to dream....
Italy-Belgium was very satisfying to watch. I was the only one from all my friends who actually predicted Italy's victory. Everybody's was like: Belgium has got the star names, potential, skills bla bla bla. I think they are the most overrated team from them all. And I won't be surprised if they don't make it out of the group. All the other games I spent more time scrolling the tweets on my cell phone than actually watching. Disappointing round for me (except my Polish team victory but the game itself not to thrilling )
I have two favorite games. Belgium vs Italy and Germany vs Ukraine. Germany vs Ukraine: Best game of the whole tournament so far. Honestly so much drama. First Mustafi heading in a goal from a free kick which was the first shot on target from Germany. Then Ukraine millimeters away from scoring, after catching Neuer off his line, but Boateng cleared a second before it was about to cross the line. Then Ukraine's offside goal which correctly did not count but it just showed how much the Ukrainians were pushing for the equalizer. Then the funniest part of the whole game, when Hector pretty much destroyed the corner flag and the way he kicked it made it fly into the second floor of the stands. Then Muller shouting at Ozil trying to look for him to pass the ball, while Ozil was out of position. Another funny part when Neuer was being stupid getting out of his goal, and Mustafi almost scored an own goal trying to head back to Neuer but Boateng was there to clear it, and then finally Schweinsteiger's late goal to double the lead of the Germans. I will probably be talking about this game for many years to come. Belgium vs Italy: Second best game. I must say though part of it was because Italy is my team and I have been dying to prove everyone wrong that Belgium was better than us and would beat us. I knew Italy was the better team. Also though seeing Conte tactically outclass Belgium NT was amazing. Despite our win, I think many people seem to forget that Belgium actually did play well for some parts, and there were times they scared me to death, like Lukaku's counterattack that he almost scored. Belgium are no pushovers and are a good team, but Italy is probably third to fourth best in this tournament. Italy were just exceptional that day, and THE best team in Round 1 of the group stage. No team started this tournament better than us. Let's hope we can do the same thing tomorrow against Sweden. I am super confident but we can't underestimate them, which is something I have a feeling we might do.
1) Croatia v Turkey 1b) Portugal v Iceland But I missed a bunch of games including 3 out of the 5 listed in this poll (that's the problem with the expanded tournament - who can watch 3 games per day?)