UEFA 2020 Euro Championship – Day 4

Group D: England (0) 1 – 0 (0) Croatia

Goal-scorer: Sterling (57′)

Wembley Stadium, London

When the England team was announced there were more than a few people scratching their heads as to the side Gareth Southgate selected. However, he was totally justified in his selection as England came through without too many nerves to take a 1-0 win through Raheem Sterling who continued his impressive scoring record for the Three Lions. England started brightly with Phil Foden curling an effort onto the post early on, with Sterling also dangerous and Declan Rice and Kalvin Phillips impressive in midfield. The Croats settled into the first-half as Modric saw more of the ball, but it was all square at the break. The Three Lions got their breakthrough on fifty-seven minutes as Phillips drove at the Croatian defence and slipped a ball into the box, where Sterling fired in as ‘keeper Livakovic advanced. Chances were at a premium for both sides in the Wembley sunshine, with Harry Kane just not getting onto a cross and a Mason Mount free-kick which just went over bar, the best England had in search of a second goal. A good start for England, with Scotland next up, with Croatia facing the Czech Republic on the same day up at Hampden.

 

Group C: Austria (1) 3 – 1 (1) North Macedonia

Goal-scorers: Austria – Lainer (18’), Gregoritsch (78′), Arnautovic (89′) North Macedonia – Pandev (28′)

Arena Na?ionala, Bucharest

Gave this one a miss after the exertions of watching England. My only observation was on watching the highlights was who put together that shirt and short combination for the Austrians???!!! Black shirts, with light blue shorts and socks…wow. Result wise, no surprise that the Austrians took the three points.

 

Group C: Netherlands (0) 3 – 2 (0) Ukraine

Goal-scorers: Netherlands – Wijnaldum (52′), Weghorst (58′), Dumfries (85′). Ukraine – Yarmolenko (75′), Yaremchuk (79′)

Johan Cruyff Arena, Amsterdam

Will Group C come to be remembered as ‘GoG’, the ‘Group of Goals’ as following on from the earlier game in Bucharest and the four goals served up by Austria and North Macedonia, we were treated to another five in this see-saw encounter. Despite a scoreless first-half there were genuine chances for the Dutch in the opening forty-five minutes. Within thirteen minutes of the restart though the Netherlands were two-up through Wijnaldum and Weghorst and seemingly cruising. Then as the game entered the last fifteen minutes Ukraine hit back with two goals inside four minutes. First, Yarmolenko curled one in from distance (goal of the tournament so far) and then Yaremchuk had a free header as the Dutch switched off at the back. The game though had one last twist, as with five minutes remaining Dumfries jumped highest to head home, although Ukraine ‘keeper Bushchan will look back on it and know he should have done better.

 

Group D continues today with Scotland hosting the Czech Republic at Hampden Park. It’s a game I had a ticket before the capacity was reduced but lost out in the ballot. Gutted. In addition Group E gets underway with Poland against Slovakia at the Krestovsky Stadium in Saint Petersburg and Spain hosting Sweden at La Cartuja in Seville.

Scotland qualified after coming through the Play-Offs, winning ties against Israel and Serbia on penalties, to make it to the Euros for the first time since 1996. The Czech Republic were runners-up to England in the qualifiers and inflicted the Three Lions only defeat in that campaign. The Czechs won only once on the road in the qualifiers in Montenegro, losing against England, Kosovo and Bulgaria, so Scotland with home advantage may fancy their chances to get three points on the board.

Poland were group winners in their qualifiers, losing just the once away to Slovenia and conceded just five goals in their ten group games. Slovakia made it through the Play-Offs, beating both Irish teams. The Republic were seen off on penalties in Bratislava, and then ousted Northern Ireland in Belfast 2-1 AET. Poland will be favourites with the dangerous Robert Lewandowski looking to get amongst the goals early in the tournament.

The last of Monday’s games sees Spain host Sweden in a repeat of the qualifiers. Spain topped the group with 26 points, five ahead of Sweden. The margin created by Spain’s 3-0 win over the Swedes in Madrid and a 1-1 draw in the return game in Solna. Home advantage could be crucial here which might be enough to see the Spanish get off to a winning start.

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World Cup diary 2018 – Friday 29 June

So that’s that. The final round of group games were completed yesterday and the final sixteen teams are now all known.

The action began in Group H, and with Poland already out, it was left to Colombia, Japan and Senegal for fight for the top-two spots. It was to prove a controversial afternoon as with Colombia ahead 1-0 against Sengal through Mina (74′) and Japan losing 1-0 to Poland through a Bednarek (59′) goal, the Japanese knew that if the scores remained the same that was enough to send them through. With Senegal and Japan having the same points and goals scored it came down to the number of bookings. It produced a final ten minutes of the game that caused such outcry in 1982 between Austria and West Germany when they effectively played-out time without any intend of going forward, that FIFA made final round games kick-off at the same time. The reaction some 36 years later is no less vociferous, but let’s consider a couple of things. Firstly, Japan did nothing wrong, what they did was within the laws of the competition and whilst some might argue it’s not in the spirit of the game, they were perfectly within their rights to finish the game as they did. Secondly, it was a risky strategy from Japan, as Senegal only needed to equalise and the Blue Samurai would have been eliminated. Something for FIFA to ponder once this World Cup finishes.

That just left Group G to be completed with England and Belgium competing for top-spot and Tunisia and Panama vying to avoid finishing bottom. Tunisia won the game 2-1 thanks to a second-half strike from Sunderland’s Wahbi Khazri, condemning Panama to the bottom slot in the group. In the battle at the top, both sides rested players with England making eight changes and Belgium nine, so it was no surprise that it felt a somewhat disjointed game, that was ultimately won by a superb Adnan Januzaj strike six minutes into the second-half. Much of the debate wasn’t around the game itself, but which looked a better route to progression, which to me is all pretty academic if you don’t win your last sixteen game.

It left the final pairings as follows:

July 02 Belgium v Japan                 July 03 Colombia v England.

Today there are no games with the knockout phase beginning on Saturday with two Europe v South America clashes as France play Argentina in Kazan and later in the day, Uruguay play Portugal in Sochi. Both very difficult to call. Like the teams I’m resting for today and will pick up with previews tomorrow.

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World Cup diary 2018 – Monday 25 June

Yesterday I asked the footballing gods for a calm afternoon watching England and boy did they deliver. Yes, of course Panama were a limited side and their antics in the first-half were nothing short of embarrassing at times. However, you can only beat what is in front of you and there have been too many occasions down the years when the Three Lions have struggled to overcome stubborn opposition. England blazed their way to a 5-0 half-time lead thanks to a John Stones brace (8′ and 40’), a pair of Harry Kane penalties (22′ and 45’+1) and a sublime strike from Jesse Lingard (36′), with their set-pieces causing havoc for the Panama defence on every occasion. Understandably the second-half was a quieter affair, with Panama thankfully leaving their rough-house tactics in the changing room. Still there was enough time for captain Kane to claim a hat-trick and a consolation for Panama from a smart Defoy finish. Qualification sorted and the Belgium game becomes merely a top-spot battle.

Elsewhere in Group H, Poland were surprisingly dispatched 3-0 by Colombia, meaning the European team were out. With Japan and Senegal playing out a 2-2 draw, it means that the two teams going through won’t be sorted until the final round of games. One talking point for me though and highlighted in the Japan game, was the continuing modern trend for goalkeepers to punch the ball rather than catch it, for both crosses and increasingly shots. Take Senegal’s opening goal – Kawashima the Japanese ‘keeper, attempted to punch away a shot that was perfectly catchable and in doing so knocked it against Sadio Mane and it rebounded in for a goal – totally avoidable. Is it that modern day balls move so much that ‘keepers can’t trust the flight so feel punching it away is the best option, or is it a modern coaching fad that will pass? It will be interesting to monitor the men better between the sticks in the rest of the tournament.

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World Cup diary 2018 – Wednesday 20 June

The three games from yesterday continued to defy what many ‘experts’ had predicted pre-tournament. Tuesday opened with Columbia taking on a Japan side that was derided as very ordinary even by its own fans. Yet at the whistle in the Mordovia Arena, it was the Blue Samurai who had put the South American team to the sword. Japan were greatly helped by the third-minute dismissal of Carlos Sanchez for handling Shinji Kagawa’s shot at a goal, with the resultant penalty converted by Kagawa. Columbia though equalised through a low struck free-kick from Juan Quintero. Some parts of the media lauded it as a ‘clever free-kick’ as it passed under the leaping Japanese wall, for me though, ‘keeper Kawashima really should shoulder some of the blame for the goal. However, Japan were not to be denied victory and a header from Yuya Osako seventeen minutes from time, sealed an opening game win in Group H.

In the second game of the day, once again it was the unfancied team that came out on top. None of the African teams at the tournament had so far picked up a point and nobody gave Senegal much of a chance against a Poland side with Robert Lewandowski leading the Poles attack. However, eight minutes before the break, Everton’s Idrissa Gueye fired goal-ward, only for his shot to be deflected in by Polish substitute Thiago Cionek. Poalnd, the seeded team in the group, failed to cope with Senegal’s physicality throughout the game and as such it was no surprise when they scored on the hour mark to double their advantage. It was however, tinged with controversy. After receiving treatment on the sidelines, M’Baye Niang came back on to the field of play and instantly latched onto a Polish backpass, beating Juventus ‘keeper Wojciech Szczesny and Southampton defender Jan Bednarek to the ball, before slotting home into an empty net. Despite the protests of the Eastern European side, the goal stood. With four minutes remaining Grzegorz Krychowiak headed home for Poland, Senagal though held out for a 2-1 win, a victory they deserved.

Whilst the two earlier games saw the last of the first-round fixtures, the closing game on Tuesday night saw the second-round open in Group A with hosts Russia taking on Egypt. Prior to the start of the World Cup, this was a Russian side struggling badly with form and which wasn’t given any chance by its media and fans. However, this was a team rejuvenated by their 5-0 demolition of Saudi Arabia and they continued to grow into the competition with a 3-1 win over Egypt. Fathi (47′ og), Cheryshev (59′), and Dzyuba (62′) put Russia comfortably ahead just after the hour mark and even a Mo Salah penalty after seventy-three minutes couldn’t dent another moral boosting victory for the Sbornaya. The result all but ensured passage to the knock-out stages for Russia and almost certain exit for Egypt.

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