Arn Does Euro 2024 QF Recap 

 

It wasn’t the most thrilling of rounds. I fell asleep during two of the games. Let’s run through what happened and what’s likely to happen when we hit the semi-finals in a few days time.  

 

QF #1 

SPAIN 2 GERMANY 1 (AET) 

The two best teams in the Euros clashed here and I felt bad for Germany…for about 15 seconds or so. Julian Nagelsman is has done a good job in this tournament. The team has looked good. I think he had a few selection boners in this one, starting Can and Sane, who both got subbed off early. Their replacements were miles better. Wirtz, in particular, as he scored the crucial late equaliser.  

 

Spain, after they went 1-0 up, took their foot off the accelerator, which could have cost them big. Germany also were guilty of not taking advantage of their opportunities. Scoring late in the 90 minutes should have given them an extra time boost but they didn’t push on for the win.  

 

Spain’s Pedri suffered an unfortunate early injury, which has ended his tournament, but his replacement, Dani Olmo, was arguably POTM. He won the UEFA award, and it was either him or Lamine Yamal, who was stunning off the right flank. For Germany it was a sad end and Toni Kroos finishes his international career with an early exit but overall, Germany can be happy with their campaign.  

 

Individual errors certainly cost them in this game and Antonio Rudiger, one of their more reliable players, lost Merino for the late winner. Germany feels like an ongoing project (now without Kroos, Mueller and maybe Neuer). The likes of Gundogan and Kimmich are aging too. Is this a false dawn? Only time will tell but Jamal Musiala has been one of the players of the tournament. 

 

Team of the Tournament (QF edition) 

GK: Simon  

RB: Kimmich 

LB: Cucurella 

CB: Laporte 

CB: Le Normand 

MF: Ruiz 

MF: Rodri 

MF: Olmo  

LW: Williams 

RW: Yamal 

ST: Morata 

 

QF #2 

PORTUGAL 0 FRANCE 0 (FRANCE WINS ON PENS) 

Holy shit this game was fucking boring. I legitimately fell asleep for 10 minutes in the first half and when I looked at the stats, I had missed nothing. They had a combined first half xG of 0.10. Pathetic. Portuguese player-manager Cristiano Ronaldo was once again dreadful. He’s legitimately been one of the worst players of the tournament. The worst player in this game by a mile and the main reason why Portugal lost. Subbing off Vitinha and Bruno before him boggles the mind. Ronaldo has managed to ruin this entire tournament, for Portugal, with his massive ego and obsession with his own numbers. I’m glad Portugal lost for that reason alone. 

 

Over on the French team, they looked good defensively. Both teams did, to be fair. The keeper and his back line were all excellent. France going forwards though…was a different story. When Mbappe wasn’t involved, they looked very poor. Griezmann had a stinker. Kolo Muani was bad. They did improve when Dembele came on and I thought he was highly effective but, as usual, had no end product.  

 

Over on Portugal’s defence, there have to be shout-outs for Nuno Mendes, who’s one of the best attacking full backs in the world and Pepe. In his 40s, Pepe has occasionally looked in trouble in this tournament. Especially when dealing with pace but his recovery tackles and positional play have been exemplary.  

 

Team of the Tournament (QF edition) 

GK: Maignan 

RB: Kounde 

LB: Mendes 

CB: Pepe  

CB: Upamecano  

MF: Ruiz 

MF: Rodri 

MF: Olmo  

LW: Williams 

RW: Yamal 

ST: Morata 

 

QF #3 

ENGLAND 1 SWITZERLAND 1 (ENGLAND WINS ON PENS) 

The second most boring of the quarter finals and yet probably the best England game so far. They’ve been a chore to watch. Lots of boring sideways passing. Everything is painfully slow. I was watching the BBC’s coverage and they thought there was a big improvement. Let’s get this straight; there was a slight improvement off the ball. There was a slight improvement on the ball, but they still needed a wonder goal from Bukayo Saka and were still shit for huge chunks of the match. This wasn’t the mega-England performance everyone was hoping for in Blighty. They were quite bad.  

 

Switzerland were organised and solid in all areas. They’ve had a very good tournament and are just missing that one special player to take them to a higher level. The likes of Vargas and Ndoye try hard and cause some problems but not consistently. Their main issue during the game came from an insistence that Aebischer, a midfielder, should track back and deal with Saka on the wing. Maybe initially but as soon as Saka starting beating him, you need Rodriguez to take more of an interest in those runs. Saka went past Aebischer three times before Switzerland did anything. That could have been a disaster for them. 

 

If we are looking for positives for England, it does seem that they’ve learned to take penalties since Euro 2022. If I was them, I’d be practising them every day now because they’re likely to need them again before this is all over and done with.  

 

Team of the Tournament (QF edition) 

GK: Maignan 

RB: Kounde 

LB: Mendes 

CB: Pepe  

CB: Upamecano  

MF: Ruiz 

MF: Rodri 

MF: Olmo  

LW: Saka 

RW: Yamal 

ST: Embolo  

 

THE DREADED ENGLAND PLAYER RATINGS: 

 

Jordan Pickford. His distribution still makes me scream. Why are England so incapable of finding a goalie who can pass the ball? His ‘long passes’ in this tournament far exceed all other keepers. ** 

 

Esri Konsa. Playing three central defenders against Switzerland was pretty cowardly but Konsa did a good job defensively all game and put himself in the window for more minutes. *** 

 

John Stones. Same as usual for Johnny Bones. Not particularly good. Not moving the ball quickly enough. No real options for him either but poor on the ball. **½ 

 

Kyle Walker. Wildly inconsistent. Good on rare forward forays and arguably should have played further up the pitch. Southgate still frightened of any, and all, pace. **½ 

 

Bukayo Saka. POTM by a distance. Caused problems down the flanks and then cut inside with a curling effort for the desperation equaliser. Also scored a redemption pen for the Wembley miss. **** 

 

Kieran Trippier. Sent out there to play on the left wing to my initial amusement and then continued frustration. Was fucking useless out of position, again. Has been played out position all tournament but has sucked in the positions he’s been played in. * 

 

Kobbie Mainoo. Inconsistent but at least he was prepared to go at defenders and cause problems on the ball. Fell into the sideways, slow midfield passing of his buddies for a lot of the game. **½ 

 

Declan Rice. Has honestly had a terrible tournament. His lack of progressive passing, movement and general play is one of the reasons why England look so bad all the time. * 

 

Phil Foden. Looked slightly more comfortable as part of Gareth’s 3-4-2-1 formation but rarely had any runners to pass to. ** 

 

Jude Bellingham. Did try to make things happen but only Saka looked lively around him, and he struggled to impact the game. **½ 

 

Harry Kane. His worst game yet. Annoymous. No support. No threat. * 

 

Subs: 

Luke Shaw. Finally passed fit. Has a working left foot and is therefore immediately better than Trippier. **½ 

 

Eberechi Eze. I had no idea what position he was playing in. He seemed to have a free role. Did OK. **½ 

 

Cole Palmer. Tried hard off the right side but again frustrated by a lack of movement from his colleagues and lack of passing urgency from midfield. **½ 

 

Ivan Toney. Did absolutely nothing but also did a no-look penalty where he gave Sommer a death stare. ** 

 

Trent Alexnander-Arnold. Took a pen but it did go in, so we’ll call that a win.  

 

QF #4 

NETHERLANDS 2 TURKEY 1  

Easily the best game of the round. Turkey forced the game, forced the pace and tried to batter Netherlands in the first half. It didn’t always work but they went 1-0 up and kept forcing the issue. Turkey have been one of the most entertaining teams in the tournament and when I come to assess how each side has fared, they’re getting a very high rating.  

 

Arda Guler had another good game. His cross for the goal was magic. Yilmaz caused all kinds of problems just by running at the back line. He had van Dijk struggling a few times. Kadioglu was again effective on the ball and running down the left side. Turkey will feel hard done by that a late chance didn’t go in and they didn’t, at least, force extra time.  

 

The Dutch used the space Turkey gave them. The movement of the forward players was good and again Xavi Simons had a solid game in central midfield. Depay did miss chances but also made clever runs and caused problems. Cody Gakpo also caused problems by coming off the left side and he’s unlucky not to be the tournament’s sole leading scorer, having barely missed on the contact for Holland’s second goal.  

 

Overall, I just wish more games were like this with clear underdogs who want to win. Far too often in this tournament we’ve been stuck with boring, pragmatic managers like Didier Deschamps and Gareth Southgate. Their turgid ‘defence first’ form of football terrorism has plagued the tournament. Turkey (and Spain tbf) were not that at all. The last bastion of attack-first football tumbles out.  

 

Team of the Tournament (QF edition) 

GK: Maignan 

RB: Kounde 

LB: Mendes 

CB: Pepe  

CB: Upamecano  

MF: Ruiz 

MF: Rodri 

MF: Olmo  

LW: Saka 

RW: Yamal 

ST: Depay 

 

SEMI-FINAL PREVIEW 

 

SPAIN vs. FRANCE 

I was not expecting Spain to be able to brush aside Germany, but they almost did exactly that before letting them back into the game. It would be delightful if they could do the same thing to this French team, which has not yet scored a goal from open play. The prospect of a France vs. England final does nothing for me and I’m English! At least let Spain be the opponent for whoever wins that other semi, so we have a shot at a good final.  

 

The last time they clashed was in the Nation’s League in 2022, where France won, but this isn’t that Spain team. Gone are Alonso, Azpilicueta, Busquets and Sarabia. The likes of Williams, Ruiz and Yamal have come in. It’s a far more exciting Spain team. France are also missing Benzema and Pogba from that line up. Not to mention Varane. The France that have dominated recent tournaments have barely showed up to this one.  

 

Spain may face defensive issues in this game with Le Normand and Carvajal suspended. With Pedri also missing, they’re facing a crisis of selection. France meanwhile, have all their players available. That’s the one thing that makes me think France might win. Mbappe has yet to light up this tournament and he may be waiting for the sharp end to turn it on. I’m going with the result that I WANT though. Prediction: 1-0  

 

NETHERLANDS vs. ENGLAND 

If you told me, pre-tournament, that England’s knock out path would be Slovakia, Switzerland and the Netherlands to get to the final…I would have taken that. Netherlands have improved since they got caught out by Austria, but they’ve beaten teams that were tasty going forward in Romania and Turkey and less defensively capable. England have grinded their way into the semis by comparison.  

 

For those Dutch fans looking for good news; they won the last clash between these two nations back in 2019 in the Nation’s League. That game did go to extra time though and England played FABIAN DELPH in central midfield. The Dutch are missing de Jong and de Roon from that team and England should boss the game in midfield. I expect lots of England possession with no end product, which has been the pattern of every one of their games. 

 

As with the French, England have been putting the defence first. When France and Netherlands clashed in the group stages, it was 0-0. I’m expecting more of the same here, honestly. Prediction: 0-0. 

 

Which, I’m aware, means I’m not sticking my neck and saying England will make the final. You can’t make me say that. Let’s see what happens and I’ll be back on Thursday to share my thoughts.