Ukraine 2 - 1 North Macedonia

"It ain't about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward" is a quote from the 2006 movie "Rocky Balboa" and if there is one team in Euro 2020 that sums up the Rocky mentality it's North Macedonia.

Officially the worst team in the tournament, North Macedonia still manage to keep causing their opponents a lot of trouble and, sometimes, feel on the verge of winning.

From the start, Andriy Shevchenko's fast, aggressive Ukraine side took control the possession and threw everything they had at their rivals, only to find themselves stymied time and time again. Either Macedonia's 3-4-2-1 would drop deep to make a back seven or, when they lost possession in the Ukraine half, would instantly start tracking back to get into position.

The talent of the yellow-and-blue squad was simply too much and they went 2-0 up in the space of five minutes: Andriy Yarmolenko in the 29th minute and Roman Yaremchuk in the 34th.

But Macedonia would not give up and moments after Yaremchuk scored, talisman Goran Pandev responded at the other end. It was ruled offside but it showed his team's tenacity and, even then, they didn't give up.

Early in the second half, Aleksandar Trajkovski blasted the ball at Ukraine goalkeeper Georgiy Bushchan - his save, knocking it into the corner of the post and crossbar, is one of the most sensational of the tournament so far - and in the response Pandev was fouled for a penalty.

Ezgjan Alioski took it, had it saved by Bushchan and drilled home the rebound to make it 2-1. Outclassed throughout and they never gave up, Macedonia's mentality had Ukraine on the back foot. This would doubled in the 80th minute when Ukraine got a penalty of their own and, this time, Stole Dimitrievski saved it properly.

It ended 2-1. Once again North Macedonia go home with nothing on the scoreboard but with plenty of heart and a position as Euro 2020's people's champions.

Denmark 1 - 2 Belgium

There was a tribute for Christian Eriksen planned for the 10th minute: Belgium would knock the ball out of play for a minute of applause. This was more than just symbolic as the hospital Eriksen is recuperating in is 500 meters away from the stadium.

Denmark, the team, decided that was too long to wait. In barely 90 seconds, Yussuf Poulsen darted up the pitch and scored; the fans went wild and the team, while melancholy in their own celebrations, used it to fire themselves up.

For the remainder of the first half, Denmark played like a team of banshees in offence and prevented everything Belgium had in store for them.

The worst thing that could happen for them was the half time whistle. When play resumed on the other side, the momentum had been stopped and Belgium coach Roberto Martinez had swapped Dries Mertens for Kevin de Bruyne.

He might be less than 100 percent due to recovering from the severe eye injury he suffered in the Champions League final but it's clear from his play that his biggest asset is his football IQ.

After only nine minutes on the pitch, he masterminded a team goal that started in their own half. Down the right with Romelu Lukaku then in to de Bruyne who took a step around a defender and cut back further across goal to Thorgan Hazard instead of shooting himself. Kasper Schmeichal had already set his feet for de Bruyne so Hazard could slot it in without effort.

De Bruyne got his own reward in the 70th minute. After Mikkel Damsgaard embarrassed himself and got a yellow card for diving, Belgium got a free kick that went long down the right from Thomas Munier to Lukaku, bypassing the entire Denmark squad.

Again they fed the ball across, this time over to Eden Hazard. With back to goal, he passed it into the path to a sprinting de Bruyne who slotted it in to the near post.

As excellent as Belgium were, it's sad to see that Denmark are on zero points after two games and, with Russia and Finland sharing wins, they will struggle to get through to the knockouts even with a win over Russia. Truly the Euro 92 winners have been the unluckiest team of the tournament.

The Netherlands 2 - 0 Austria

Without question the biggest surprise of Euro 2020 have been the Netherlands. Before the tournament - in fact, even now - they've been involved in the ongoing "dark horse" discussion. What's been missed is how truly insane this squad is.

Italy may be more aggressive than the sides of old but they still maintain the usual Azzuri flair and fondness for controlling the tempo. This Netherlands totally eschews the lineage of Johan Cruyff and instead of playing anything that resembles a highly technical 4-3-3, they are a 3-4-1-2 - and even then, only in theory.

It's more a case of Liverpool's Georginio Wijnaldum acting as the "1" and everyone else in a loop around him. Instead of controlling the midfield, there is no midfield.

They took the lead in the first 10 minutes from a penalty that was created out of the chaos of an all-winger-and-forwards team: David Alaba stood on the foot of Denzel Dumfries as he dashed into the box to claim a loose ball and Memphis Depay slotted it away without a problem.

Alaba, a left back by trade, a floating left winger by nature, was that far upfront because Franco Foda seemingly has no idea how to structure his squad. It's the only explanation for how a team full of Bundesliga stars can be so ineffective.

The smoking gun is that, in this game, Michael Gregoritsch was playing up front with Christoph Baumgartner. Gregoritsch scored the second in Austria's first game so Foda obviously thought he deserved to start instead of treating him as an impact player. Likewise, without Marko Arnautovic, Austria were desperate for someone who could come on and make a difference, someone who could reboot their toothless offense.

It didn't take much for the Netherlands to sit deep and prevent the simple crosses coming in from Stefan Lainer and Konrad Laimer. Once they had the ball, it was all systems go and in the 67th minute Dumfries got the second for his side.

Donyell Malen, who had been on the pitch for barely three minutes, broke the offside trap and received the ball from Depay. He sprinted unguarded to the Austrian box then, selflessly, crossed it to Dumfries. Maarten Stekelenburg was smart enough to see what would happen, but too slow to act.

If he continues like this, Dumfries will leave this tournament a superstar.

(Cover: Ezgjan Alioski takes a penalty for North Macedonia. /Getty)