Euro 2016: Blues Top Albania To Advance To Round Of 16; Swiss Gain Draw With Romania, On Cusp Of Advancing As Well

Three games were played on Wednesday in France as the second cycle of group-stage contests in the European Championship commenced.

GROUP A:

At Paris:

Admir Mehmedi's equalizer in the 57th minute carried Switzerland to a 1-1 draw with Romania.  Bogdan Stancu successfully converted a penalty kick in the 18th minute for the Dacians.  In this photo, we have no idea what the Swiss' Haris Seferovic saw.

Associated Press photo

At Marseille:

Antoine Griezmann (90', that's him celebrating) and Dimitri Payet (90'+6) each scored a goal in the final minutes as France became the first country whose team advanced to the knockout stage following their 2-0 blanking of Albania.

Getty Images photo by Alex Livesey

Group A Standings:

1. x-France (GP: 2; GD: +3; PTS: 6)
2.    Switzerland (GP: 2; GD: +1; PTS: 4)
3.    Romania (GP: 2; GD: -1; PTS: 1)
4.    Albania (GP: 2; GD: -3; PTS: 0)

x-Clinched berth in knockout stage



GROUP B:

At Villeneuve-d'Ascq:

Vladimir Weiss (32') and Marek Hamsik (45', that's him celebrating here) produced the goals as Slovakia knocked off Russia 2-1.

AFP/Getty Images photo by Philippe Huguen