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The lopsided draw explains away the general bafflement about why England are favourites with the bookies. There are better teams on what we’ve seen so far but the odds on England’s main rivals are kept higher due to their more complicated paths to the final. England’s are artificially lower as they avoid most of the big guns and have less to beat.

Euro 2024 odds: 4/1 England, 9/2 Germany, Spain, 5/1 France, 6/1 Portugal, 14/1 Netherlands, 18/1 Belgium, Italy, 25/1 Austria, 40/1 Switzerland, 66/1 Denmark. The rest 100/1 or more.

Euro 2024’s lowest-ranked team have already made history – now Sagnol and Kvaratskhelia are dreaming of the last 16

“But, I mean, it’s Portugal,” came the typically frank and measured reply from the Georgia manager, Willy Sagnol. Minutes earlier, such was the giddiness surrounding the nation’s first point at a major tournament on Saturday, he had been given a standing ovation as he entered the press conference room in Hamburg from journalists who follow the team. The same went for Giorgi Mamardashvili, after his staggering goalkeeping display.

Conversation, however, soon flipped to the game in Gelsenkirchen on Wednesday night and it was a case of carefully dousing the flames of unfiltered excitement. The obvious thing to say at this juncture is Georgia won’t stop dreaming.

Plus: second-tier stadiums in the Euros; the player who was even younger than Lamine Yamal and more

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“When is the latest in a tournament a team has scored a goal and gone on to win it, or at least made the final?” asks John McDougall. “For example: qualifying for the knockouts with three 0-0 draws, then maybe winning on penalties after another 0-0 draw before finally in the quarter-final …”

We’ve been through every World Cup, European Championship, Copa América and Africa Cup of Nations where data is available, because what else is there to do in a heatwave. Alas there are no goalless runs to match John’s hypothetical scenario, but there are some decent tales nonetheless.

• Plastic beer cups thrown at manager after Slovenia draw
• Southgate: ‘I understand the narrative towards me’

Gareth Southgate talked about being in “an unusual environment” after having plastic beer cups thrown at him by England fans and hearing his team booed off after their 0-0 draw with Slovenia on Tuesday night.

Although a point was enough for England to go through to last 16 as winners of Group C, the reaction in the stands at the Cologne Stadium was hardly complimentary after another ineffective attacking ­display against opponents ranked 57th in the world.

The captain is too good a passer to be left up front, too good a poacher to be a No 10 and not fit enough to do both

Around 48 minutes into this musty, vaguely icky game – a game that felt like it was a few weeks past its sell-by date, a game that came coated in a thin, unidentifiable layer of mildew – Bukayo Saka got the ball in England’s right channel and played a simple short pass into Harry Kane.

For all his current travails, the vagaries of form and fitness, Kane is nothing if not a fearsome striker of a football. When he really connects, as he did here, the ball simply explodes off his boot: all gunpowder and venom and pure, coiled power. Two problems. First, Kane was facing away from goal. Second, he wasn’t actually attempting a shot but, in fact, trying to bring the ball under control.

• Austria top Group D ahead of France after win
• Rangnick: ‘The lads want to go as far as possible’

Ralf Rangnick praised a “­courageous and energetic” performance from his Austria team that brought a 3-2 victory against the Netherlands and has thrown them into the discussion around contenders for this European Championship.

Austria unexpectedly finished top of Group D, their win arriving in tandem with France’s surprise draw against Poland, and Rangnick would not completely discount a run all the way to the final for his high-intensity dark horses.

It had been universally accepted that England needed a performance to reinvigorate their fans here in ­Germany after the toil of their ­opening Euro 2024 ties against Serbia and Denmark. One of the principal takeaways from a claustrophobic and emotional night was that the fans were certainly connected.

Moved to boo at the interval after a display that lacked bite, they raised the intensity in the second period, belting out their songs for almost the duration of it. There was something faintly heroic about their efforts. They got louder and louder because they believed that a goal was coming. And if they did not believe, they sang anyway, ­losing themselves in the moment, the occasion. Call it blind faith.

Any thesis on why 24 teams should never have been permitted in the European Championship finals must feature this game.

On a stiflingly hot evening in Bavaria, Denmark and Serbia did absolutely nothing to prove the expansion of this tournament has enhanced entertainment levels. The occasion was notable for Christian Eriksen winning his 133rd cap, a record for a male Danish player, and … that was about it.

• France finish second after 1-1 draw with Poland
• ‘We will be ready for the round of 16,’ says manager

Didier Deschamps has conceded France have made life difficult for themselves after failing to top Group D but said he is optimistic his team will fully click in the last 16 and that they should treat the knockout stage as “a new competition”. France, two-time European champions, finished second after recording a single victory and failing to score a goal themselves in open play.

Kylian Mbappé’s penalty on his return was not enough to secured victory against the eliminated Poland, with the former Borussia Dortmund striker Robert Lewandowski equalising from the spot in the 79th minute.

• Group C match in Cologne kicks off at 8pm (BST)
• Denmark v Serbia – live with John Brewin

Conor presses really well and his forward running is an important asset. We think he can stretch them defensively and also win second balls in midfield.

We’ve spoken to the players about trying to win the ball higher, and then use it with more composure. We’ve been very honest about our assessment of our performances; we know there’s more to come. But we can talk all we like, we have to go and do it.

#ConnorGallagher is already trending. Come on England fans: if you’re gonna slag him off, at least show your support by spelling his name correctly.

• Group C match in Munich kicks off at 8pm (BST)
• England v Slovenia – live with Rob Smyth
• Share your thoughts with John via email

Mac Millings gets in touch: “John dearest,. Well, here i am, at the Allianz Munich Football Arena. Consider me your inside man (I mean, apart from the proper journalist your Super Soaraway Guardian actually has on the inside -- I’m seated under the media centre, by the way, and am waving in the direction of...I don’t know...Jonathan Wilson?) Anyway, great atmosphere already, Danes outnumbering Serbs by a wide margin, but all very convivial, and a joyous reaction from all concerned when the PA announced that Austria had beaten the Dutch. Updates as I get them.”

Anders Van Bruun gets in touch: “The Guardian’s coverage of Denmark’s first game mistook Victor Kristiansen (“VK”) and Rasmus Nissen Kristensen (“RK”). It was VK who played and gave the goal away, RK has yet to play a minute in Germany, despite the player rating attributed to him. In the hope of a resounding Danish win (but realistically a nervy 2-1).”

There was the moment of unbridled joy Kylian Mbappé had presumably visualised in recent days: whipping off his black mask and celebrating before thousands of France supporters in the imposing, iconic steep Sudtribune. He struck a second-half penalty to relieve France’s goalscoring frustrations but by the end of a stodgy team performance he cut a contrasting figure, fidgeting with the mechanics of his mask in sticky heat. Mbappé was easily France’s best player but the bad news for France was there was another returning forward in the shape of Robert Lewandowski, who earned an unlikely point, also scoring from the spot.

It was a damaging goal with ramifications in Group D, Austria beating France to top spot. Lewandowski, Poland’s all-time record goalscorer and captain who scored 74 goals for Borussia Dortmund, had to retake his penalty after the France goalkeeper Mike Maignan jumped off his line prematurely to save his effort from 12 yards. Lewandowski kept his cool to repeat the same staggered run-up, waiting for Maignan to blink first, and he squeezed his shot into the same corner down to the goalkeeper’s right. Mbappé moved towards the touchline to ask questions of the fourth official, Rade Obrenovic, about the validity of Lewandowski’s second effort. There would be no reprieve.

Should Austria be taken seriously as European Championship-winning material? They emerged from one of the group stage’s most entertaining games with three points and, firmly against the odds, top spot in a fiendish Group D. They were handed a head start by Donyell Malen’s own goal but perhaps the most impressive aspect of another high-octane performance was the way Ralf Rangnick’s team just kept coming.

They were pegged back by Cody Gakpo and then, after Romano Schmid’s response, again by Memphis Delay. But Marcel Sabitzer’s winner, which could change the shape of this competition, means they will probably face Turkey or Czech Republic in Leipzig on Saturday. For the third-placed Netherlands, creative but wide open in defence, a meeting with England is not out of the question.

Luis de la Fuente is excited by his squad’s variety and says his 16-year-old forward was ‘touched by God’s wand’

Luis de la Fuente is losing sleep and it’s only getting worse, yet it isn’t panic, it is preparation. Spain have known for five days where and when they are going to play their last-16 tie – Cologne on Sunday night – but not who they are going to play against, only that it will be someone who finished third in Group A, D, E or F. By the time they find out, a week will have passed since they secured their passage. When they reached the dressing room in Düsseldorf after their final group game, 11 teams could still be their next opponents; the reward for excellence is uncertainty.

“If we’ve only slept two, three hours a night so far, we’re going to have to go a few with almost no sleep at all because we’ll have to study more opponents and be ready for anything until we know for sure,” Spain’s coach said. “It will be Wednesday night before we do but there’s no other choice. In any case, we’ll be prepared, mentally ready to try to go through.”

Veteran midfielder Taras Stepanenko knows his team carry a responsibility beyond the pitch as they face Belgium

Taras Stepanenko used to be the great hope of Ukrainian football. Perhaps he lacked a little pace, but he read the game superbly and was a fine passer of the ball. Most of all, he had an assurance, an aura of quality that made him stand out. When he joined Shakhtar Donetsk from ­Metalurh Zaporizhzhya shortly before his 21st birthday, the route to a major ­western European club seemed clear. ­Fourteen years later, a lot has happened, but he is still there.

He has won 11 Ukrainian league titles and eight cups, but he has only ever played 262 minutes in the knockout stage of the Champions League. There used to be a sense of Stepanenko as an unfulfilled ­talent, but loyalty has an additional value in Ukraine these days. It may be his achievements with Ukraine at this Euros have a significance that ­reverberate far beyond anything he has achieved at club level.

The Lazio winger scored a late equaliser against Croatia reminiscent of legend’s goal against Germany in 2006

Mattia Zaccagni grew up wanting to be like Alessandro Del Piero. How could he not, as an Italian aspiring No 10 who celebrated his 11th birthday in the summer of 2006?

He watched as Del Piero helped the Azzurri to a World Cup final, scoring the second of two goals in the dying moments of extra-time to defeat the hosts Germany. Italy went on to lift the trophy after beating France on penalties.

Our cartoonist on a predictably Scottish outcome, England being England and Ronaldo finding his benevolent side

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