Spain won all three consecutive wins in the group stage to advance, and it has become the team with the highest call to win the championship, but is this situation good or bad?
At least the historical data shows that teams with three consecutive wins in the group stage will have a tough time going forward, not even past the first knockout round.
Here are some examples of recent European Championships
The three teams that won the group stage of Euro 2008 were three in a row: the Netherlands, Croatia and Spain
In the first round of the knockout round, the Netherlands lost to Russia 1-3
Croatia 1-1 and Turkey 1-3 on penalties
Spain 0-0, Italy 4-2 on penalties to win the championship
Germany, who won three consecutive Euro 2012 group stage games, lost 4-2 to Greece in the first round and 1-2 to Italy in the semi-finals (that game was Balotelli's best moment)
In 2016, there were no teams with three consecutive group stage wins
In 2020, they won three consecutive group stage teams: Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands
In the first round of the knockout round, Italy 1-1 Austria advanced in extra time and finally won the championship
Netherlands 0-2 Czech Republic
Belgium's defending champions Portugal, who had Cristiano Ronaldo, advanced 1-0 before losing 2-1 to Italy in the next round
Very interesting statistic, only two teams in the history of the European Championship have won the group stage three times in a row, that is Spain in 08 and Italy in 2020, but both teams were winless in the first round of the knockout stage and played a draw in extra time. As for the other teams that have won three consecutive group games, they will generally stop at the first round of the knockout round, and even after the first round, they will not go far.
Why is this happening? This data is completely different from the World Cup, where there are many teams that have won three consecutive games in the group stage of the World Cup, and they have gone further.
Aside from the so-called capital control of football, the World Cup is mixed, and the big difference in strength in the group stage also makes it easier for strong teams to play, and there are many opponents in the knockout round, and Europe is the center of football after all.
As a result, we saw that three consecutive wins in the group stage were never a glorious thing for the strong teams participating in the European Cup, but a pain that they did not want to recall.
Italy, who won all the group stage of the last European Championship, won the championship in the end, and I think there is a high probability that this will not be the case this time. It's a bit difficult for Spain to win this year.
Will there be an upset in this game against fish belly Georgia?
Then I have to say the aura of the dark horse, since the expansion of the European Cup, 16 years have allowed us to see the Icelandic miracle, the Viking war song from Northern Europe. Witnessed Wales Bale carrying the team on his shoulders.
20 years have seen Denmark go all the way to the last four, and football is more important than life and death (Eriksen fainted at the stadium).
Such a dark horse is still fresh in our memory, and we will never forget it, who is the dark horse that we can remember the most this year?
The topic is important, the promotion of football is even more important, Georgia is a new army, not a European team in the traditional sense, and a strange country (most fans don't even know where it is).
Personally, I feel that the upset promotion of the new army Georgia may play a role in doubling the result with half the effort and making the topic traffic overwhelming.
Optimistic that Georgia is undefeated in regular time, it is still a bit difficult to win directly, maybe it is another 1-1 draw, and the penalty kick advances.
And for the Spanish national team, three consecutive wins in the group stage may be something they don't want to do again.
In a few days, we will see many people begin to popularize the country of Georgia, and I will share with you in advance that Georgia is the place where Prometheus, who stole the heavenly fire, was tortured in ancient Greek myths and legends. People who like Greek mythology can go there to check in.