The round of 16 of this European Championship has all been produced, and then the teams will fight each other, whether there is a dark horse to go further, or which dark horse can go further, which is also a major attraction. Among them, 5 teams originally belonged to the third-rate in Europe, but unexpectedly eliminated the 5 European second-rate such as the Czech Republic, Croatia, and Ukraine, which were stronger than them on paper, and one of them is expected to become the biggest dark horse in this European Cup.
After the preliminary screening of the group stage, all 5 dark horses showed their original shapes. They are: Romania, Georgia, Slovenia, Slovakia and Austria. What is very interesting to Chinese fans is that 2 of these 5 teams are led by former Chinese Super League stars, and they are also the captains of the team, and they are all pivotal figures.
They are Romania's Stanciu and Austria's Arnautovic. The former used to play for Wuhan Three Towns, and the latter came to the Chinese Super League earlier, playing for Shanghai Port, and also caused a public opinion storm because no club did not pay the adjustment fee.
These 5 dark horses are from 4 groups, of which 2 teams won the group and 3 teams advanced to the third place in the group. Slovenia in Group C, Slovakia in Group E and Georgia in Group F are all third in the group, while Romania in Group E and Austria in Group D are both top of the group.
Do you see it? The two teams with former Chinese Super League stars are even more impressive, and both are capable of beating the world's top teams to top the group. Austria left France and the Netherlands behind, and Romania overtook Belgium.
Which of these 5 dark horses is stronger? The answer is self-evident.
Looking at the group stage, the two strongest dark horses are obviously Romania and Austria, as they both qualified as top of the group. Who is stronger of these two teams? The answer is also obvious - Austria.
In the three games in the group, Austria won six points, one point more than France, who finished second in the group. Although Romania is also the top team in the group, he only has 4 points, and like the other three teams in the same group, he is only on goal difference to top the table.
It can be seen that Austria led by Rangnick is the biggest dark horse in this European Cup.
After entering the knockout round, who of these 5 teams can go further? Judging from the (below) matchup, Georgia takes on Spain, Slovenia takes on Portugal, and Slovakia plays England, and the European Championship for these three dark horses is estimated to be over.
Looking at Romania against the Netherlands, it seems that Romania has the possibility of an upset. In the group stage, the Netherlands had a mediocre finish, finishing third in the group with just four points, along with Romania with four points. The Netherlands are stronger on paper, and once they get their form right, Romania are clearly no match. Romania has a 30% chance of advancing to the last eight.
Finally, Austria will face Turkey for a place in the quarter-finals. Turkey are second in Group F, with six points alongside Austria, and it is a very close contest. From the perspective of playing stability, Austria is a little better, so it is relatively optimistic that Austria will advance.
In other words, although there are five dark horses to reach the round of 16, very few can finally reach the top 8, and at most Austria may be the only one. Once in the quarter-finals, they will play the winners of Romania and the Netherlands to determine a place in the semi-finals. This is already the farthest distance they can go.