UEFA 2020 Euro Championship – Day 19
Yesterday’s games were just something out of a comic book, you really couldn’t make it up. Watching both I was left exhausted by the twists and turns. Oh for a calmer day today! Some chance with England playing!
Croatia (1) 3 – 5 (1) Spain AET (3-3 at FT)
Goalscorers: Croatia – González (20′ og), Orsic (85′), Pasalic (90’+2’). Spain – Sarabia (38′), Azpilicueta (57′), Torres (77′), Morata (100′), Oyarzabal (103′)
No one could have predicated the drama that unfolded in Copenhagen. It all started with a bizarre OG to add to the list for the tournament. On twenty minutes Pedro Gonzalez from just inside his own-half knocked the ball back to ‘keeper Unai Simon, pretty standard stuff, however the Athletic Bilbao No:1 was unable to control it and watched helplessly as it rolled into the corner to give Croatia the lead. Spain responded and were level seven minutes before the break, Livakovic made an excellent save only for Pablo Sarabia to smash home the rebound to send the teams in at the break at 1-1. The Spanish went on to dominate the early part of the second-half with a header from Azpilicueta twelve minutes after the restart and then Torres with a neat finish scored with just thirteen minutes to go to sent Spain 3-1 up and seemingly on their way to the Quarter-Finals. But as England found in the 2018 World Cup, Croatia just keep coming and with five minutes remaining, after some Modric Magic and a goalmouth scramble, Orsic gave the Croats a life-line. Incredibly they found time for the equaliser two minutes into time-added on as Pasalic rose majestically to head in to take the game into extra-time. It looked like Croatia had the initiative, with another driving attack seeing Andrej Kramaric have a chance in the box which seemed destined for the net until Simon made up for his earlier howler with an outstanding save. It’s significance, was that moments later Spain broke up the other end and Morata with a brilliant piece of control made it 4-3 with five minutes of the first period of extra-time left. It was 5-3 just a few minutes later as Oyarzabal collected a cross, did well to hold off the defenders and finish. This time there was no coming back for Croatia and as the game wound down, Dani Olmo had a chance to make it six for Spain, but his effort struck the post. Spain through but what a game. Surely nothing could top that…
France (0) 3 – 3 (1) Switzerland AET (Switzerland won 5-4 on penalties)
Goalscorers: France – Benzema (57′, 59′), Pogba (75′). Switzerland – Seferovic (15’minutes, 81’minutes), Gavranovic (90’minutes)
Arena Na?ionala, Bucharest
…Well, just a few hours later it was another simply startling game of football in Bucharest. The World Champions France were strangely quiet in the first-half and trailed as early as the fifteenth minute. Lenglet lost his bearings at the heart of the French defence as a cross came in leaving Seferovic to head past Lloris. 1-0 Switzerland at the break. Ten minutes into the second-half the game went into its first phase of crazy mode. After a VAR review of an incident in which Zuber was brought down by Benjamin Pavard a penalty was awarded. Up stepped Ricardo Rodriguez. Lloris guessed right and saved. Two minutes later (57’), Benzema squeezed through with a little bit of fortune to level it at 1-1. Then another two minutes passed, and it was 2-1 France, Griezmann having his chip pushed onto the bar by Sommer, leaving Benzema with an easy header virtually on the goal-line. From having the chance to go 2-0, the Swiss founds themselves 2-1 behind within four minutes. Madness. As in the Spain game, France stretched their lead to 3-1 after a sublime curling effort from Pogba from just outside the box with fifteen minutes remaining. The Swiss like Croatia looked down and out as France held a two-goal cushion with just nine minutes remaining. However, the second phase of craziness was upon us, as Seferovic got his and Switzerland’s second to push the door ajar on eight-one minutes. With the Swiss pouring forward they thought they had levelled minutes later but substitute Mario Gavranovic was clearly offside. However, the door was fully kicked open on ninety-minutes. Pogba lost possession in midfield and a through ball saw Gavranovic slip inside his marker and fire low past Lloris. Another seemingly impossible comeback complete. In extra-time Coman produced the two best moments for France, first his shot skimmed the crossbar in the first-period of extra-time and in the second, he set up a chance for Pavard, which Sommer somehow turned over the bar. The final chance before penalties also fell to the French, but Mbappé who has endured a wretched Finals, screwed wildly past the post when well placed. And it was the unfortunate PSG forward who was to be the fall guy for France. With the Swiss converting all five and France four from four, it was down to Mbappé to keep the World Champions in the competition. Sommer though produced a stunning save and it was au revoir for Les Bleus. A stunning, dramatic match, memorable not just for the unfancied Swiss going through, but for their character, the vital saves from Sommer and for Granit Xhaka who was outstanding and not just because of his dyed blonde hair! The Swiss now take on Spain in St Petersburg and maybe on a roll (sorry couldn’t resist it!).
England v Germany (Wembley Stadium, London)
England Expects! Well, amongst all the hype and frenzy, It’s Coming Home etc. etc. We all know the history with the Germans down the years, and this will be the third meeting at the Euro Finals. The first of course was back in 1996 and the Semi-Final defeat 6-5 on penalties at the ‘old’ Wembley – no need to remind Gareth Southgate about that one! The second was a pretty lacklustre affair at the Finals in 2000 where an Alan Shearer goal was enough to earn a 1-0 win in the group stage.
The Three Lions came through their group top, and were functional rather than spectacular, with 1-0 victories against Croatia and the Czech Republic and a 0-0 draw with Scotland. No goals conceded but only two scored – a worry for tonight’s encounter. The Germans in their final group game against Hungary were six minutes from being eliminated, but an equaliser to make it 2-2 ensured progress as runners-up.
England have been criticised for three pretty uninspiring group games, but have done what was required, i.e. they qualified for the last sixteen. Will Gareth Southgate send his team out to play the same way? The Germans feel like a team in transition especially with coach Joachim Löw stepping down at the end of this competition. Germany are undoubtedly dangerous as they showed in the dismantling of Portugal, but then looked vulnerable against Hungary. Of course I’d love to see England go through, but just can’t see it. It’s the hope that kills us.
Sweden v Ukraine (Hampden Park, Glasgow)
These two last met at Euro 2012, when Ukraine won 2-1 with current boss Andriy Shevchenko getting both goals.
Sweden topped their group and were quietly efficient in wins over Slovakia (1-0) Poland (3-2), having opened their group games with a 0-0 against Spain. The Ukraine grabbed the last of the four best third placed finishers, courtesy of a 2-1 victory over Macedonia having lost to Netherlands (3-2) and Austria (1-0).
I’ve liked what I’ve seen of the Swedes, but in a topsy-turvy few days, who knows what will happen. I’ll stick my neck out though and go with Sweden to make it to the last eight.
Netherlands (0) 0 – 2 (0) Czech Republic
Belgium (1) 1 – 0 (0) Portugal
Group D: England (1) 1 – 0 (0) Czech Republic
Group D: Scotland (1) 1 – 3 (1) Croatia
Group B: Russia (0) 1 – 4 (1) Denmark
Group B: Finland (0) 0 – 2 (0) Belgium
Group C: North Macedonia (0) 0 – 3 (1) Netherlands
Group C: Ukraine (0) 0 – 1 (1) Austria
Group E: Sweden (0) 1 – 0 (0) Slovakia
Group D: Croatia (0) 1 – 1 (1) Czech Republic
Group D: England (0) 0 – 0 (0) Scotland
Group C: Ukraine (2) 2 – 1 (0) North Macedonia
Group B: Denmark (1) 1 – 2 (0) Belgium
Group C: Netherlands (0) 0 – 0 (0) Austria
Eriksen impact: Firstly, having witnessed the horrific events in the Denmark v Finland game the previous day, I imagine twenty-four hours on, the football world’s thoughts were very much on Christian Eriksen and his recovery. The immediate and continued reaction showed once more the incredible and special unity possible in football. Regardless of nationality, club allegiance, interest, at moments like this, football unites in worry, hope and mostly support and it’s a poignant and powerful thing. Naturally, whilst the Danish and Finnish players were obviously those most closely affected, every team has players who will have crossed paths to varying degrees with Eriksen – past teammates, like Harry Kane and Jan Vertonghen, current teammates like Romelu Lukaku and Ivan Perisic, and myriad opposition players – and even for those who haven’t, I can’t imagine there was any player, fan or human being not affected. And even as the tournament continues, for the players involved what happened will surely play on their minds. Fortunately, a rapid and experienced medical response and the noble reaction of teammates, opposition and officials had a huge impact, but it also perhaps served as a reminder of the importance of first aid and emergency support at all levels of the game. Christian Eriksen will remain at the forefront of the thoughts and best wishes of everyone and although there is still a tournament being played, Eriksen’s recovery is the greatest victory that there can be.
Home advantage?: As part of its 60th anniversary celebrations, UEFA opted to move away from its traditional approach of a single or two countries hosting the event to a fully pan-European tournament, which is a nice idea in principle, but in reality isn’t perhaps the most sensible, not least in these COVID times, but there we have it. Sadly, I’m not party to UEFA’s machinations so am unsure as to why it was 11 cities that were chosen, but each of the qualifying host nations are granted the opportunity to play at least two groups matches at home, whilst six nations, including Italy, Denmark, Netherlands, Spain, Germany and, crucially, England will play all three group games at home venues. Contrast this to Belgium who are flitting between St Petersburg and Copenhagen and Wales who find themselves manoeuvred between Azerbaijan and Rome, and you have to feel that there is a home advantage for England. More so than any other tournament, when teams would be based in a country and travel would be limited within that nation, or nations, travel and moving camps has to be more of a factor than ever. The group stages and knockout rounds will see the competition similarly spread across various destinations, but notably with the semi-finals and finals scheduled for Wembley, there is a real incentive and motivation for England to thrive. However, given that home nations have only won the Euros three times, perhaps we should give one of the other nations the title of home nation.
Kalvin Phillips: There was much talk going into the tournament around attacking players – Should Sancho be included? Would Grealish be fit? How on earth can we fit in all of these attacking options? – and then when the squad announcement was made attention turned to Harry Maguire and the four right-backs, whilst one man went largely under the radar – Kalvin Phillips. After an excellent couple of seasons with Leeds, Phillips got a much-deserved first England call-up in August last year and hasn’t looked back. Indeed, perhaps most notably, there was never any question of him making Gareth Southgate’s final 26 – his name never came up for discussion. But as the tournament neared and a lot of focus turned to Jordan Henderson’s fitness and possible return, the question of midfield partnerships suddenly arose. Phillips found himself named alongside Rice, but with Jordan Henderson continuing to build towards his return, the spotlight was on, and Phillips didn’t disappoint, putting in a superb performance, both breaking up play and pushing forward, crucially for England’s goal. He took his chance with both hands and surely deserves his spot against Scotland. Tyrone Mings who was similarly under the microscope in what has been deemed a problem area for England with the injury to Harry Maguire put in a solid performance, whilst Foden was, as ever, a shining light. Had Euro 2020 not been delayed, Phillips and Foden, neither of whom made their debuts until August 2020, and Mings, who was still breaking through, may not have featured. What a difference twelve months makes!
Hey, Jude: Can you remember what you were doing at 17? Learning to drive, perhaps; maybe taking exams, or even something a little less virtuous. Whatever it was, it wouldn’t have been representing your country in the Euros. In fact, only one person in history can claim that achievement in the men’s Euros – Jude Bellingham. When he was brought on as a sub against Croatia, at the age of 17 years and 349 days, Bellingham broke the previous record held by Jetro Willems of the Netherlands, who was 18 years and 71 days when he featured in Euro 2012. Bellingham is also some 23 years younger than the oldest ever player at the Euros – Gabor Kiraly of Hungary, who was 40 years and 86 days – and 22 years younger than the oldest ever outfield player – Germany’s Lothar Matthaus, who was 39 years and 91 days. The teenager joins an illustrious group of players who hold the honour of being the youngest players for their nations at the Euros, including Ivan Rakitic (Croatia), Tomas Rosicky (Czech Republic), Michael Laudrup (Denmark), Lukas Podolski (Germany) and Paolo Mancini (Italy) to name a few. In terms of the youngest goalscorer at the Euros, Johan Vonlanthen of Switzerland currently holds that title, aged 18 years and 141 days, so Bellingham could feasibly take that one too. Oh, and one other record of note, the youngest player to feature in a Euros final was Renato Sanches of Portugal, aged 18 years and 327 days. Jude Bellingham only turns 18 twelve days before the final, just saying…
Tough test: England’s 1-0 victory over Croatia ensured England’s best ever start to a Euros; indeed, they had never won their first game at the tournament before. Whilst there were a lot of positives to take from the match, there is, naturally, room for improvement. It is difficult to be at your best in the first game, nor, quite honestly, would you want to be, hoping to build into the competition, so a victory and three points was the most important thing, and against a Croatia side who have been known to cause the odd England upset, it was a solid enough start, but the next game against Scotland may be an even bigger challenge. It is, after all, the oldest rivalry in football, dating back to 1872, and has seen some 113 matches, of which England hold a slight advantage, including in recent years, although the most recent result was a 2-2 draw. Whilst England’s biggest victory was 9-3 in 1961 and Scotland’s 7-2 in 1878, which would make for entertaining affairs, I suspect it will be a much-closer and harder-fought contest when the two sides meet on Friday. England will be looking to build momentum, whilst Scotland will be wanting to make the most of their first major tournament in 23 years. With the likes of Andy Robertson, Scott McTominay and John McGinn, Scotland will be familiar but formidable opponents and surely buoyed by a match against England. The Three Lions will face a tough test and will certainly need to raise their game to keep their 100% start in the tournament.
Group A: Wales (0) 1 – 1 (0) Switzerland
Final Reflections.
Belgium (1) 2 [Meunier (4′), E Hazard (82′)]