2) Slovakia
After a decent performance at their maiden FIFA World Cup in 2010, Slovakia’s form dipped in the next few years as they couldn’t qualify for Euro 2012 or the 2014 World Cup. However, with the possibility of a third-placed team making it to at least the play-off rounds in the Euro 2016 qualifiers, Slovakia’s qualifying chances were given a huge boost.
Slovakia had a pretty good qualifying campaign for Euro 2016 where they beat Spain once and ended their group in second position which granted them automatic qualification. In the finals, Slovakia were handed a tricky group which included England, Wales and Russia. The side were considered to be outsiders in their group and did not have a good start to the tournament with a 2-1 loss at the hands of Wales.
They bounced back by beating Russia by the same scoreline in their second game before holding England to a goalless draw in their final group game. Slovakia ended third in their group and had the best record amongst all third-placed teams in the group stages which helped them qualify for the round of 16 where they were beaten 3-0 by Germany.
Had this been the earlier format of the competition, Slovakia would have been dumped out in the group stages due to their third placed finish and even though they were knocked out by Germany, there is no shame in losing to the World champions.
