Switzerland play Poland, Croatia face Portugal, Wales come up against Northern Ireland while Hungry play Belgium in the first round of Euro knockouts.
The battle of second place in group A and second place in group C kick off the sudden death rounds.
Both Switzerland and Poland will favour their chances in this match, having both gone unbeaten in the groups.
Switzerland, with the group arguably the easier to qualify from, opened with a 1-0 win over Albania, followed by 1-1 and 0-0 draws to Romania and France respectively.
Poland opened with a 1-0 win over Northern Ireland following a 0-0 draw with Germany and a 1-0 win over Ukraine.
Their average of 57 per cent possession over their three games, including a dominant 56 per cent share of possession against host France, show the patient, passing game that Switzerland play.
Poland in comparison, who prefer to move the ball quickly and counterattack, have averaged 10 per cent less possession across their first three matches, managing only 40 per cent against Germany. This makes it obvious how the run of play will pan out.
For all their dominance in possession, both of Switzerland’s goals, and one of Poland’s two have come from set pieces, highlighting them as key to both sides’ attacking play.
In what’ll be a hotly contested match, expect a 1-1 score line at the end of 90 minutes with Robert Lewandowski standing up and showing his worth, banging home Poland’s winner in extra time.
After shocking the reigning champions Spain and topping group D, Croatia will face group F third-place getters Portugal, who scrapped through by the skin of their teeth.
After beating Turkey in their first match, Croatia’s campaign was almost derailed by their own fans in their second game when crowd disturbances led to the Czech Republic winning and converting a match drawing penalty.
Putting off-field distractions aside, they came out and beat a near full strength Spanish outfit to complete the shock of the group.
After three mediocre performances, Portugal almost snuck into second place but it wasn’t to be.
Having avoided the ‘side of death,’ Portugal will be pleased with this draw and confident of their chance in progressing.
A Croatian side heavily reliant on their midfield stars have failed to dominate matches and possession with their Czech Republic draw the only game they had over 50 per cent possession.
In a debatably weak group, Portugal dominated possession in all three groups, but failed to convert possession and chances into goals until the final game.
Having gone some of the way to silencing his critics with an all-important brace against Hungary, Cristiano Ronaldo will be looking to continue his goal scoring exploits against Croatia.
The winning side in this match will confirm their status as the tournament dark horse, with the open drawing leaving an achievable path to the semi-finals and beyond. Both sides lack defensive composure so expect goals, with Ronaldo seeing Portugal through 3-1 victors.
The battle of the Euro debutants, both sides will be extremely proud of their performances to get this far. Wales will head into this clash as favourites, topping their group, being the highest scoring team on six goals and boasting the equal leading goal scorer in Gareth Bale (3).
Northern Ireland over achieved in their group, qualifying third thanks to their gritty performances.
Conceding only two goals, one to Germany and Poland, Ireland will be confident of holding their own defensively.
Their problem will be in their attacking ability, having only scored two goals, both against Ukraine. On the back of their thumping 3-0 victory over Russia, Wales, themselves only conceding three goals, two in their loss to England, will be confident of seeing off Ireland and progressing to their first quarter final appearance.
With Aaron Ramsey and Joe Allen being key players in Wales’ midfield, expect another dominant performance from them, with their supreme quality all over the park going to be too much for a resilient Irish team. 2-0 to Wales.
Not expected to make much of a splash in group F, Hungary surprised everyone by going unbeaten in their group with one win and two draws. Shocking Austria with a first round win 2-0 win, they backed up the result with a lucky 1-1 draw with Iceland before letting the lead slip thrice to Portugal in a match ending 3-3.
Their performances on the pitch are proving to be far more effective than the statistics show.
Having 12 shots and 71 per cent of possession against Iceland, they failed to convert chances and luckily were spared blushed thanks to an 88th minute own goal.
Despite topping their group, there’s still much improvement needed if they are to match world number two Belgium.
Group E runners up, Belgium suffered a disappointing a 2-0 loss at the hands of the Italians, but bounced back to defeat Ireland 3-0 and left it late before defeating Sweden 1-0.
Having been embarrassed in their opening game, they’ve fought hard to finish second in the group, only behind on goal difference, reminding everyone of the quality they possess.
Eden Hazard, who leads tournament assists (2) and team passes completed, 138 passes with an 88 per cent accuracy, and Kevin De Bruyne, 18 chances created, for one assist, have emerged as the key men for this Belgium outfit.
Having deservedly earned their spot in the final 16, it would seem this is where Hungary’s European adventure will come to an end.
Belgium will feel confident of possibly going all the way to the final, having avoided drawing any of the tradition competition threats, and will send a warning message to the competition with a resounding 3-0 victory.
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