LYON, France -- After making a strong statement with his second-half performance in the 2-1 win over the Republic of Ireland, France's match-winner Antoine Griezmann revealed that strong words were spoken just before that.

"We didn't play well in the first half," he said. "We said things in the changing room at half-time. Our coach said things. But we were playing for France so we gave everything."

France

Republic of Ireland

2

1

FT

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It might mean that everything has changed for the hosts and especially their star forward. Griezmann...

LYON, France -- Three thoughts from France's 2-1 comeback victory over Ireland on Sunday afternoon in Lyon.

1. France recover from early scare

It took three and a half games, but the real France have finally arrived at the European Championship. Rattled and trailing Ireland thanks to a second-minute Robbie Brady penalty, they were booed from the field at half-time. When France returned for the second half, they were a different team. They were a better team. And they made the Irish pay for their...

The phony war at the European Championship is over. Let the games begin. Playing 36 matches for the expedient of reducing 24 teams to a final 16 proved as bad an idea on grass as it always looked on paper.

UEFA have essentially come up with a scheme to reward failure as four third-place teams sail into the knockout rounds.

A return of fewer than two goals per game is not good entertainment, and it's hard to believe the new format had nothing to do with that. France's tepid goalless draw with Switzerland...

The Group A match between France and Switzerland was stopped for an unusual reason just after the start of the second half: The football burst.

With Antoine Griezmann breaking toward the Swiss goal, Valon Behrami came in to clear the ball away from the French striker, only for his boot to apparently puncture the ball and render it useless.

First time I've ever seen that in a football match...the ball has burst ��#FRASUI #EURO2016 pic.twitter.com/zNy0ug11kr

- Carl Mullan (@CarlMullan)...

You can make a case for several potential winners of the expanded European Championships, which now features 24 teams instead of 16. But there are question marks about all the leading contenders.

Remember, too, that in fairly recent history, this tournament has produced huge upset winners in Denmark (1992) and Greece (2004).

For that reason, impressive qualifiers Austria might be dangerous outsiders, inspired by Bayern Munich's David Alaba and Leicester's title-winning left-back Christian Fuchs.

Belgium...