We are after the whole first round, so I thought let’s do fun experiment and confront stereotypes we all know about the teams with the reality and how they played in the first round. Shall we?

DISCLAIMER: By using stereotypes I don’t mean to offend any nation. I know that stereotypes in many cases are unfair.

***

Stereotype:
Turkey is always underestimated in big tournaments. Can play great offensive football. Hakan Sukur was a great player.

Italy is always defending its 1:0 lead. Plays boring football called catenaccio.

The Match:
Turkey 0
Italy 3
Turkey played blandly. Italy plays offensive football. Both stereotypes proved wrong.

***

Stereotype:
Wales has one good player. His name is Gareth Bale. He can win a match alone.

Switzerland has one good player. His name is Xherdan Shaqiri. He cannot win a match alone.

The Match:
Wales 1
Switzerland 1
I have no clue why Bale is still playing football if he clearly doesn’t enjoy it anymore. Shaqiri haven’t won the match for Swiss, though. 50% of stereotype accuracy!

***

Stereotypes:
Denmark means energy and always does a good performance.
Finland. No clue.

The Match:
Denmark 0
Finland 1
Till the moment Eriksen fell on the field, the stereotypes were on point. The rest is history.

***

Stereotypes:
Belgium is called Red Devils. Is playing offensive football, always are considered pretenders to win tournament. Rarely do, though.

Russia is unknown. You never know how they play. They have potential due to the size of the country and the amount of talent, but did they win anything in history?

The Match:
Belgium 3
Russia 0
Belgium confirmed the pretender position. Russian confirmed being an unknown. Both stereotypes on point!

***

Stereotypes:
England (and the football) are always going home… far before the final. Generation after generation, all those Scholes, Beckhams, Gerrards, always great players, always going home.

Croatia has heart. Never gives up. Team that leaves heart on the pitch. The team that wins your heart on the pitch.

The Match:
England 1
Croatia 0
Where is my Croatia? What happened? What the hell happened?!

***

Stereotypes:
Austria wishes they play like Germany.
Northern Macedonia… sorry your data transfer is suspended. No stereotype found.

The Match:
Austria 3
Northern Macedonia 1
In the end, I think Germany wishes they play like Austria.

***

Stereotypes:
The Netherlands is like Belgium but actually with some spectacular successes. They play beautifully for the eye. Always had players we loved, Berkamp, Overmars, Van Basten. Everybody loves The Netherlands.

Ukraine is Shevchenko. Yes, I know he doesn’t play anymore. He is a coach now. As I said, Ukraine is Shevchenko.

The Match:
The Netherlands 3
Ukraine 2
We still love The Netherlands. And we always will love Shevchenko.

***

Stereotypes:
Scotland! Place to live, place to love! Kilts, red hair, castles, rain, bagpipe, and… what? Ah, football. Sorry, no data.

Czech is the team to respect. Always good, always solid team. Not as strong as France, England, Germany, but among the medium strength teams Czech excels.

The Match:
Scotland 0
Czech 2
Love to Scotland confirmed. Czech class confirmed. Stereotypes have never been more accurate!

***

Stereotypes:
Poland means boring, chaotic football and Lewandowski. Noone in Europe believes Lewandowski really is Polish. Neither do I.
Slovakia means no data. No stereotypes. Sorry Slovakia.

The Match:
Poland 1
Slovakia 2
It’s your fault. You should know better before you turned TV. Wasted 90 minutes of your life. Stereotypes fully confirmed.

***

Stereotypes:
Spain plays tiki taka and we all hate it.
Sweden has Ibrahimović. They don’t? Oh, so I don’t watch.

The Match:
Spain 0
Sweden 0
Spain had 85% possession. Scored 0 goals. We all hate tiki taka.

***

Stereotypes:
Hungary used to play a great football. Like 100 years ago or so.
Portugal has Ronaldo. Portugal can do anything with this card in hand.

The Match:
Hungary 0
Portugal 3
Apparently every 100 years Hungary has a new injection of talent. They played pretty awesome. Portugal had Ronaldo, but decided not to play this card. Stereotypes missed this time.

***

Stereotypes:
When Zidane ended career, France won’t win anything for the next 20 years.
Germany always wins at the last minute of the match.

The Match:
France 1
Germany 0
Sometimes, my friends, stereotypes are wrong.

WHAT STEREOTYPES I GOT WRONG? WHICH ONES I MISSED? 

Thomas Jansen is the designer of Eleven: the football manager game. Ignacy Trzewiczek is the developer of the game. They both will share their thoughts about EuroCup 2021 and also talk about the design or development of Eleven. Be with them every day during Euro! If you like football and board games, please, share the news about Eleven!

You can learn more about Eleven HERE!