Finland 0 - 1 Russia

In the third minute, Russia clumsily tried to play out from the back and ended up having the ball intercepted by Jukka Raitala. He crossed it in from the right to the scorer from the game against Denmark, Joel Pohjanpalo, who muscled through three Russian players to head it in.

He was, unfortunately, a half-step over eager and it was ruled offside. This blast of energy, this early success, was for nothing and the instant disappointment sucked the life out of Finland. 10 minutes hadn't even elapsed before they seemed about as lifeless and plain as Russia.

At one point, the ball landed at the feet of Artem Dzyuba. He took a moment, readjusted and shot at the Finnish goal; Lukas Hradecky didn't even react and thankfully, it both hit the post and was ruled offside.

This set the tone for the rest of the game: midfield was fairly active, yet neither side could finish cleanly.

In an effort to force a goal, Mario Fernandes tangled with a Finland player and ended up landing hard on his neck. He was taken off with a stretcher and replaced by Vyacheslav Karavaev. Fernandes had been Russia's most active player, so now they were even stodgier end-to-end.

The deadlock was broken two minutes into the six of added time at the end of the half. Dzyuba and Aleksey Miranchuk played a one-two while running at the Finland defense, sitting way too deep in their own penalty box. Miranchuk juked right, flicked the ball left, and it sailed into the top corner.

It was the game's only highlight, but it was a real one.

Turkey 0 - 2 Wales

A fantastic advertisement for the Group Stage concept: Wales on one point and Turkey on zero both needed the full three points from this game, so neither team could hang back.

This was far more important for Turkey: famed for their defense, they were slaughtered by Italy on the opening night, so had to rejig their 4-1-4-1 formation from acting like a layered defense and instead play it vertically and use it as a way to move the ball quickly upfield.

As for Wales, their only change was the natural growth that comes from increased play time. They were exactly the same as in the Switzerland game, only their passing was crisper, and the team movements lined up better - and it was all aided by Turkey leaving plenty of space during their attempts to press.

The key for Wales was the link-up play between Gareth Bale and Aaron "Rambo" Ramsay. It started in the opening five minutes, and each time came closer and closer to finding the net until they did in the 42nd minute.

Bale fired in a diagonal long ball from 40 years out. Ramsay sprinted right through the Turkey back line, smashed the offside trap, took it on the chest then aimed it into the bottom corner. It was fantastic and shook the momentum of the game; not only did it force the Turks to now change from attacking to aggressive, the Baku crowd, which was 100 percent behind Turkey, got much quieter.

Turkey have the youngest squad at the tournament but they are reliant on 35-year-old Burak Yilmaz and getting him into shooting positions was difficult against a fired up, already winning Wales side. The Turkish aggression, over the course of the second half, warped into desperation; in the 60th minute, they gave way a penalty (that Gareth Bale missed) and in the 74th minute Caglar Soyuncu elbowed Kieffer Moore hard in the face, bloodying his nose.

The Turkish side totally lost it in the 90+1st minute when Joe Rodon hit the ground after a hard clearance. Yilmaz tried to wake him up with a slap on the chin prompting a mass confrontation. Even though the Turks were the aggressors, as both sides were involved, the referee gave out cards to both sides to keep the peace.

Wales, however, got the last laugh when Bale tricked the Turkish players twice by looking to hold the ball at the corner flag, then run it in along the touchline and make a shot. The first time it got saved; the second time he passed to Connor Roberts who pinged it in, making it 2-0 in 90+5, eliminating Turkey from the tournament in the process.

Italy 3 - 0 Switzerland

Forget everything that's been said about "dark horses" in Euro 2020. For all the talk about Ukraine, Turkey and even the Netherlands, it's Italy who have caught everyone off guard - and that includes their opponents.

Unlike former opponents, Wales who showed they can go out and fight for a win, Switzerland's second game showed that Vladimir Petkovic's side is designed to do nothing but obstruct, play for draws and maybe nick a goal here and there.

It might have worked on an old school Italy team, not Roberto Mancini's. As with their first game, it was less than 10 minutes before they established control and thought they took the lead with a Giorgio Chiellini goal in the 18th minute.

The Italian legend's goal was scrubbed off for handball, dampening the mood. This was made worse when Chiellini was subbed off with an injury four minutes later.

Losing a leader like Chiellini would have been a problem for a lesser side. Instead, two minutes later, Domenico Berardi set it up for 23-year-old Manuel Locatelli, who smashed it in through a gap in the Switzerland defense.

He made it 2-0 in the 52nd minute. Switzerland were so limp that Locatelli decided to go for it from outside the box, and it paid off. It went between two defenders, and goalkeeper Yann Sommer didn't even move to save it.

Switzerland were done with over 30 minutes remaining; Italy weren't. They want to impose themselves on this tournament and got their second successive 3-0 win, with Ciro Immobile finishing the game off in style in the 89th minute.

(Cover: Aaron Ramsay celebrates scoring for Wales. /Getty)