Euro 2024 – Thoughts on the Quarter Finals

 

Euro 2024 – Quarter Finals    
Sunday 7th July 2024    

Friday and Saturday evenings saw me plonk myself in front of the TV for what looked like four fairly close matchups to determine the Euro semi-finalists. Here are my thoughts on the four games…

 

Germany 1 Spain 2 (Stuttgart)

On paper tasty – arguably the two most impressive sides in the tournament. Plenty of cards, and the Spanish deserved to go ahead. Mind you, after that it was like Gareth Southgate was managing them as they seemed reluctant to get bodies forward and double their lead. And what do you know, a late German equaliser, which was also deserved. Mind you, that was after Havertz failure to chip the ball over the keeper into the goal. Where’s Robert Pires when you need him? If Wirtz hadn’t scored, Havertz would have been the scapegoat for the host nation’s exit. As it was we had extra time and the game settled by a Spanish winner rather than the lottery of penalties. I prefer that. I know you get drama from the shoot-out, but I prefer ties to be won on the pitch rather than in what is a form of lottery in which often one poor soul shoulders all the blame. So Tony Kroos has played his final game, and surely Thomas Muller has played his final international. Spain see a number of key players suspended for their semi-final and Antony Taylor will need a new pencil. And the three minutes of injury time at the end seemed to turn into about six for some reason. An entertaining game and the host nation are out. Not sure about how Spain will do in the semi-final, but they do seem to have some decent depth in the squad, as demonstrated by their two goalscorers, neither of whom started the game.

 

France 0 Portugal 0 (Hamburg)

Well, at least it picked up a bit in the second half. The fear was that these two teams would be ultra-cautious, and so it proved. Both should really have scored with excellent chances in normal time, but it didn’t happen. For once it was not the Ronaldo show, with the first free kick within range of the French goal being taken by Bruno Fernandez. Whatever next? His effort was about as good as one of his captain’s. Normal service was resumed in the second half as CR7 blasted one into the wall. Extra time came and Ronaldo remained on, as apparently Roberto Martinez is just the coach and not the manager – that’s the panto dame himself. He continued to be ineffective, firing a very decent chance to score high and wide. Who is going to tell him he’s not going to the next World Cup? If Messi is going to be there, you can bet your bottom dollar CR7 will demand to be involved. After Antony Taylor, we had Michael Oliver in the middle for this one, far more reluctant to issue cards. In fairness it was nowhere near as dirty a game. There were some vintage French and Portuguese legends in the posh seats, including the aforementioned Robert Pires. How ironic. I couldn’t help but feel it would make things more entertaining to put some of those guys on as subs. Extra time saw M’Bappe going off after 15 minutes and a very decent chance for Portugal at the death but it evaporated with hesitancy. Someone has to fail at the shootout to decide the winner and on this occasion it was Joao Felix. Portugal go home, and I’d argue were more entertaining than France over the five games each played, but Deschamps’ team know how to avoid defeat until penalty shoot-outs, and aren’t too worried about entertaining anyone as they progress through the rounds. Can M’Bappe’s nose hold up? Can he find his shooting boots? So far France haven’t needed them. Saliba in UEFA’s team of the tournament feels nailed on.

 

England 1 Switzerland 1 (Dusseldorf)

My mind went back to dear old Graham Taylor before the 1992 European Championships in Sweden for some reason, about three hours before kick-off, as I was cracking open a bottle of beer to help me get through the tedium of my VAT return. “Get your feet up in front of the telly, get a few beers in and have a good time.” What followed was painful at the time, but 32 years on, I reflect on it like a scene from ‘Spinal Tap’. One thing about Gareth Southgate, he’s not an entertainer. England managers mostly aren’t. Terry Venables I’ll give you, but the rest? If only they gave Brian Clough a crack of the whip. Ah well. Generally the FA go for a safe appointment that isn’t going to rock the boat. Sam Allardyce won a single game then got sacked – he’d have been another Taylor given the chance, I suspect.

 

Still, on to the game in Dusseldorf and the face-off with Granit Xhaka and company. Talk was of Saka and Trippier as wing backs on their natural sides to give the team some balance and match Switzerland’s formation – however, Tripper remained on the left. It was laboured for the opening minutes, but there were at least some attacks worthy of the name and players were making more meaningful passes. Saka was excellent, although Jordan Pickford’s hoofed kicks to try and find Kane were a real throwback. At least he was passing short a bit more often than he has been. All a bit Portugal v France – not too many shots on target. Eventually, a goal, only at the wrong end. A bit fortunate but that’s football. At least the agony didn’t last as Saka scored a classic Saka goal. So extra time it was for the third quarter final in a row. Both sides came close, but in the end we had another penalty shoot-out. Well, if it’s good enough for France… Credit to the England spot kick takers – who held their nerve and gave the fans there reason to stick around for another few days to watch the semi-final in Dortmund. Shame it’s such a dull place, but hell, they serve alcohol. Saka and Rice’s return for pre-season is delayed along with William Saliba’s.
 
Netherlands 2 Turkey 1 (Berlin)
It’s not often, on neutral territory, that the Dutch support is outnumbered. But this is Germany and there are no shortage of Turks. So a very noisy Olympiastadion, and one way traffic for the early stages as Turkey struggled to get out of their own half. Still, they remained resilient enough to survive, went up the other end and took the lead. It was difficult to imagine they could hold out for 90 minutes and so it proved, with the Dutch eventually breaking through twice. That will hopefully save what would have been a major tear up in Dortmund on Wednesday, although the Dutch aren’t always saints either. Difficult to say how England will do against the Netherlands. In their two semi-finals under Southgate, they lost to Croatia and beat Denmark. I’d say the Dutch are better than Denmark. Anyway, a date with the armchair awaits on Wednesday, by which time I suspect France will have eliminated the best team in the tournament, in a game of few goals.

 

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