It's all down to four teams – three of them not entirely surprising, with the other, led by a superstar, lighting up Euro 2016. Portugal, Germany, France and Wales can taste that European Championship glory now, but the final two steps are always the most difficult, beginning with the semifinals.
Two of the four semifinalists put on outstanding attacking shows in their respective quarterfinals, while the other two had to come through the dreaded penalty shootout to stay alive in Euro 2016.
There will be, no doubt, plenty more drama in the next two matches of the tournament, and here is a look at the games, with a quick preview, schedule, date, time and venue of each of the semifinals.
Semifinal 1: Portugal vs Wales: This match will be tagged as the clash between two of Real Madrid's global stars – Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale. While Ronaldo has flattered to deceive more often than not in Euro 2016, Bale has, plain and simple, been inspirational, driving his team to a scarcely-believable semifinal berth in their first ever European Championships.
On form alone, Wales will start as the favourites; on paper, Portugal might just shade it; in reality, it might just come down to Ronaldo and Bale's performances. With Wales set to miss the services of Aaron Ramsey, the onus is, even more than usual, on Bale to showcase his talent. Ronaldo has not quite been at his best in Euro 2016, and maybe the semifinal is when he will step up, bring those goalscoring boots to show and power Portugal into the final of Euro 2016.
Date: Wednesday, July 6.
Time: 9 p.m. local time (3 p.m. ET, 8 p.m. BST, 12.30 a.m. IST).
Venue: Stade de Lyon, Lyon.
Semifinal 2: Germany vs Italy: This could prove to be the best match of Euro 2016. Both teams are all for the attack, and that too with varied styles. With France turning on the style against Iceland, while showing their ruthless streak in the process as well, the world champions Germany will know this might end up being a stiffer test than the one they faced against Italy, when they had to hold their nerves in a penalty shootout.
France's attackers are in great form at the moment, with Antoine Griezmann and Olivier Giroud leading the way, while Dimtri Payet has been quite brilliant. France might not see that much of the ball in the semifinal against Germany, but with plenty of pace in their attack and a wonderful understanding between the front two of Giroud and Griezmann, that might just work in their favour.
Germany need to figure out their best starting XI for this Euro 2016 knockout match, after key injuries have left Joachim Low with a few difficult choices to make. The key, though, will be the midfielder Toni Kroos and playmaker Mesut Ozil, while Thomas Muller will be desperate to break his European Championship finals duck.
Date: Thursday, July 7.
Time: 9 p.m. local time (3 p.m. ET, 8 p.m. BST, 12.30 a.m. IST).
Venue: Stade Velodrome, Marseille.
TV listings: India: Sony Six/HD and Sony ESPN/HD. France: TF1 and Bein Sports 1. Germany: SRF, ARD and ORF1. UK and Ireland: BBC One, S4C and ITV1. Portugal: Sport TV1 and RTP 1. Australia: Bein Sports Australia 1. USA: ESPN. Canada: TSN and RDS. Latin America: DirecTV. Middle East and North Africa: Bein Max 1, 2 and 3. Singapore: Eleven Singapore, ABS-CBN and Singtel. Malaysia: Astro SuperSport. China and Hong Kong: CCTV and LeTV. Thailand: Channel 3 and CTH. South Africa and Sub Saharan Africa: SuperSport.
