TPO - Ukraine was eliminated early from EURO 2024 despite winning 4 points after 3 matches in the group stage, more than many other teams in the tournament.
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Ukraine team disappointed after being eliminated |
Yesterday, Group E ended in the scenario that many people predicted before, with the teams playing out draws. Slovakia held Romania to a 1-1 draw, while Belgium drew 0-0 with Ukraine. These results made Group E end in an extremely unique way: All four teams earned 4 points, forcing the rankings to be determined by goal difference.
Since all four teams are level on points, head-to-head results are meaningless when comparing. In terms of goal difference, Ukraine is at the bottom of the table (-2), while Romania is at the top (+1). This is the result of Ukraine's shocking 0-3 loss to Romania in their opening match.
Meanwhile, Belgium is second in the table. Belgium has the same goal difference as Romania (+1) but has scored fewer goals (2 compared to 4). Slovakia is third with a goal difference of 0.
Thus, Ukraine was eliminated despite having 4 points, because they were at the bottom of the group and did not have a chance to compete for a play-off ticket through 3rd place. According to statistics, Ukraine became the bottom team with the highest number of points in EURO history.
This is also the first time at EURO that there has been a group with 4 teams equal on points at the end of the group stage. Since EURO expanded to 24 teams in 2016, Ukraine is also the first team to be eliminated after winning 4 points in the group stage.
Comparing EURO 2024 alone, Ukraine has won more points than 2 teams in groups A and B, 3 teams in group C, 1 team in group D and 1 team in group F. In other words, if they were in another group, Ukraine would definitely have a ticket to the round of 16 with the points they have.
However, Ukraine is still not the team with the highest number of points to be eliminated in the group stage in the history of EURO. Remember in 2004, Italy had to leave early despite having won 5 points with an unbeaten record (won 1, drew 2).
Source: https://tienphong.vn/ukraine-bi-loai-voi-ky-luc-kho-tin-o-euro-2024-post1649812.tpo
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