The Three Lions played host to Ukraine earlier today at Wembley Stadium in their second qualifier for Euro 2024 in Germany. Having already gotten off to a fantastic start against Italy, England would be looking to do the same against a potentially tricky Ukrainian team. There is no single group of players who have more team unity and collective spirit than Ukraine right now. They know that most of the Western world, aside from their immediate opponents of course, would be hoping that they do well during qualification so that their people could have something to celebrate. The pre-match festivities were centered on the struggle of Ukraine in their war against Russia, and the English FA was also hosting a charity drive to help the victims of the war. When you pair that “bunker” mentality and spirit with talents like striker Mykhailo Mudryk and winger Oleksandr Zinchenko, this match could easily turn into a long day at the office for England. Managers Andriy Shevchenko and Gareth Southgate would have expected both their teams to put up a strong fight.
Unfortunately, the one word that sums up most of this match was “tepid”. This is the first game I have watched in ages between any two teams where not much really happened. There was so much inaction for the opening 35 minutes or so that the camera operators were more frequently showing the joyous Ukraine supporters dancing around than anything happening on the pitch. England were the better side in terms of possession and pushing forward, but they were only creating half-chances at best. Ukraine was doing even less, as they were often struggling to get out of their own half.
England pushed themselves into the lead however on 37 minutes when the newly-crowned all time leader in England goals, Harry Kane, rose over the head of his marker to poke home a cross from winger/forward Bukayo Saka. England had been threatening for a few minutes prior to the goal, but they finally got the ball over the line via Kane. Not a super remarkable goal, but a good cross from Saka and good positioning and strength from Kane. He now has 55 goals in an England shirt, and that tally will only continue to rise. The only question people have about Kane now is how many he’s going to have by the time he retires.
England capitalized on their dominance again just three minutes later, and it seemed the Ukrainians were mentally rattled a little bit. Saka did most of the work by himself this time. He collected a short pass from midfielder Jordan Henderson on the right wing just outside the box, then shrugged off his marker with relative ease. After taking a touch or two, he unleashed a beautiful curling shot from about 20 yards out that flew into the opposite top corner. Ukraine keeper Anatoliy Trubin could do nothing but pick it out of his own net afterwards. His defenders let him down by allowing Saka to have so much space. It was a truly wonderful strike from a player in absolutely top form right now. Saka is having an amazing season at the club level, and his form has carried over to the national team. 2-0 to England, and they were feeling very comfortable indeed.
Shevchenko would have wanted a response from his men in the second half, but it never really materialized. Aside from some instances where England were forced into key defensive tackles, the Ukrainians never really got going at any point. It’s disappointing from their point of view. Talent-wise they should be challenging teams like England, but they looked very disjointed with their passing today. Not a lot of direction or purpose about them, and they weren’t communicating well at all. There were times when it looked like none of the Ukrainians had met one another before. As the clock ticked closer to full time, England looked much more likely to get a 3rd goal than the Ukrainians were to pulling one back. I don’t think they even registered a shot on Jordan Pickford’s goal. The second half was frankly boring, aside from a few England half-chances towards the end. Shevchenko has a lot of work to do with this group if they want to qualify for next summer’s tournament.
The final whistle blew without much fanfare, and the England lads celebrated an efficient victory. England have 6 out of 6 points from their first two matches, and that was objective number one for Southgate and his players. There weren’t a ton of goals scored in either match, but this one was an improvement over the Italy match on Thursday if only because the Three Lions were much more in control over the entirety of the match. Two very strong matches defensively. I would have liked to see one more scored against Ukraine today to really underline England’s superiority, but having sole possession of the lead in Group C with some easier matches coming up is certainly nothing to complain about. Southgate will be happy with the result, especially given he was without several normal starters who withdrew from the squad either due to injury or other reasons. He will be happy that he has the strength in depth necessary to get wins even without those star players. Good games from Kane, Saka, attacking midfielder James Maddison, and the England defense as a collective.
The international break is now over, which means that all the players return to their clubs for the final sprint to the finish of the season. England next play on June 16, 2023 away to Malta in another Euro 2024 qualifier. The next match I will be recapping is Manchester United away to Newcastle on April 2nd in the Premier League.
The government of Qatar is repressive and fascist. FIFA is corrupt and hypocritical. Simple as.
Neither match was a close one in the end today, but we have ourselves a serious showdown set in the quarterfinals here.
France vs. Poland
This was the early match of the day and defending champions France won fairly comfortably in the end 3-1, but there were undoubtedly a few moments of panic for them before and after they scored the opening goal on 43 minutes via Olivier Giroud. The Polish defense gave him far too much space and he was able to redirect a shot back across goal. Giroud actually hit the ball into the ground a bit first, which caused it to bounce over the hand of Polish keeper Wojciech Szczęsny and in for 1-0. It could be argued though that Poland should have already been ahead, and would have been if not for some goal line clearances by the French defense around the 35 minute mark. Szczęsny had been brilliant up until then, but his defense really let him down.
France were the better team on the day, as they were frequently the ones pressing the Polish and winning the ball high up the pitch to create chances. When the opposition’s front four contains Giroud, Kylian Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele, and Antoine Griezmann, giving the ball away to them is suicidal. The Polish were lucky to hold the French out for the first 40 minutes, and they were also fortunate to keep it at 1-0 until the 76 minute mark.
It was then that Mbappe decided to take over the game, and he did so by scoring two goals in quick succession, each of them powerful and precise finishes over Szczęsny that gave him absolutely no chance. Mbappe is one of, if not the, best players in the world right now and he showed why with those two goals. Everyone knows he’s a world-class sprinter, but he showed a real striker’s instinct and technique today too. Mbappe is the current top scorer at this World Cup with 5 goals.
Polish striker Robert Lewandowski got a goal back for his side from the penalty spot in the dying seconds of the match, and while it fooled French keeper Hugo Lloris it was nothing more than a consolation goal. Even Lewandowski knew it was just going to be one for the statistics, and of no other real significance.
France decisively move on to the quarterfinals. They look incredibly strong right now, even if it took them a while to score today. I was concerned about their injuries and team spirit coming into this tournament, but so far those worries have been unfounded. It helps that Mbappe is in absolutely scintillating form right now. Poland will be sad to be going home, but they lost to an extremely good team today.
England vs. Senegal
My stomach was turning itself inside out in anticipation of this match. England were favored coming in, probably in part due to the unavailability of Senegalese all-world winger Sadio Mané (injury) and industrious midfielder Idrissa Gueye (suspension). But the team known as the Lions of Teranga were not to be underestimated, as they are the reigning African champions.
And indeed, it was the Senegalese who were on the front foot almost from the off. They were using their pacey forwards to press England’s defense high up the pitch, knowing that England like to play the ball out from the back. This tactic employed by manager Aliou Cissé worked quite well for a bit, and they almost caught England out several times. Their best chance came around half an hour into the match, when forward Boulaye Dia found some space in the box and lashed a powerful shot towards goal that required a rather magnificent save from England keeper Jordan Pickford. He stuck out his left arm and held it firm to deny Dia, and England cleared.
England had a lot of possession in the opening 35 minutes or so, but they weren’t really doing anything with it. The middle of the park was devoid of England shirts, so there was nowhere for the center backs to pass it to. However, England finally got a meaningful attack going down the left wing on 39 minutes, and it resulted in the first goal from midfielder Jordan Henderson. A neat backheel fell to striker Harry Kane, who spotted the run of midfielder Jude Bellingham ahead of him. His weighted pass made it through the defense, and Bellingham latched onto the ball just outside the box. He ran into the box as his marker was level with him, but his cutback cross found Henderson in space. Henderson hit it first time along the ground, and it rolled into the goal just past the reach of keeper Edouard Mendy. A massive relief for England and very much against the run of play, but we’ll take it! Henderson is the 8th different English player to score at this tournament.
Senegal pushed forward to try and find an equalizer, but it was England who got an important second goal on the very stroke of halftime. England won the ball back via Bellingham after a deflected cross fell into his path, and he carried the ball forward while riding challenges from the opposition. He found winger/forward Phil Foden ahead of him to his left in a one-on-one with a defender. Foden hit a return pass into the path of Kane, who was running forward in support and unmarked. The ball deflected off a defender before falling to Kane, who took a touch and then buried a powerful shot into the net from about 12 yards out, just to the right of the penalty spot. Mendy had no chance, and Kane is now just one goal behind Wayne Rooney’s all-time England scoring record. Kane has been a wonderful facilitator of play so far this tournament, but getting him on the scoresheet today was very important. He showed his striker’s instincts with that finish, and England will need those instincts going forward.
The England fans in the stadium and around the world went from anxious to buoyant in the span of about 8 minutes! Cissé was forced into making three changes at halftime, but they failed to make much of an impact as England got the next goal on 57 minutes from winger/forward Bukayo Saka. This time it was Senegal giving the ball away in a dangerous area, with it being brought forward by Kane. Kane was tackled though and the loose ball fell to Foden, who beat a defender on the left wing before spotting the diagonal run of Saka across his man. The cross from Foden was inch-perfect, and Saka deftly lifted it over Mendy with his first touch for 3-0. England were running rampant and well on their way to the quarterfinals.
The tempo of the game slowed down a bit from there, as both managers made changes. England boss Gareth Southgate was keen to get some of his key players off to save them for the next match, while letting the talents of the bench players shine as well. Although no more goals were scored, England were closer to finding a fourth than Senegal was to finding a first. In the end it was a very satisfactory day for the Three Lions, if a bit nervy to start off.
Credit to Southgate for sticking to his guns and going with the team he felt was right. I was surprised at the omission of forward Marcus Rashford and the inclusion of Henderson in the starting line-up today, but both of those worries were without merit. It turns out that Southgate might just know what he’s doing, although I certainly could do without the slow starts in the future. In the first half hour I feared this game would go the way the one against the Americans did, with it ending 0-0 and England generally looking lackluster. But once England moved the ball up the levels of the pitch with pace and purpose, there was little Senegal could do about it. The first goal today was a product of Southgate’s system, make no mistake about it. The players’ positioning on the wings and playing the ball out from the back led to the opening for Kane to find Bellingham. The system does not always work of course, but today it did.
A special shoutout to Bellingham, who was Man of the Match (among many fine candidates) for me today. The 19 year-old Borussia Dortmund midfielder showed a range of skills today I have not seen from an Englishman since maybe…ever? He can pass, he can dribble, he can head the ball, he can tackle, he has positional awareness, and while he did not score today he did so against Iran in the first match. This lad can do it all, and he can do it all at an extremely high level. If he keeps going like this, he can develop into the best midfielder in the world. Not being hyperbolic.
CAM ON INGERLAND!!!
Quarterfinals – England vs. France – Saturday, December 10th at 11 AM PST
The international break is on for the clubs across Europe, which means that not only are England back in action, I get to take a break from writing about the very negative atmosphere in the red portion of Manchester right now.
England played their last home match of their World Cup 2022 qualifying campaign yesterday afternoon at Wembley, taking on Albania. Albania came into this match 3rd in Group I, while England were sitting firmly atop. Albania needed three points to keep any hope of making the playoff alive, while England knew that a win could potentially qualify them. That would only happen if Poland lost to Andorra though, which was a very unlikely thing to happen.
In contrast to previous matches where England got off to a slow and/or laboring start, England were at full throttle almost from the get-go. It’s very difficult to get all 11 players up and going right away usually, so to see such a fast start was welcome. England, in a resplendent blue kit, were positively flying around and passing the ball extremely well, and they were rewarded with the opening goal on just 9 minutes via a set-piece. England won a foul on the edge of the area and the free kick was taken by Chelsea right-back (today playing as a right-wingback) Reece James. He played a sublime diagonal ball over the top of the Albanian defense, where Manchester United center back (and captain) Harry Maguire met the ball with his head. He drove the ball back across the goal and into the net with Albanian keeper Thomas Strakosha beaten. He wheeled away in a celebration that perhaps indicated he was trying to silence the critics of his recent play at United. It’s true he’s had some shockers recently, but I think a goal for England is going to be good for his confidence. Maguire seems to be a confidence-driven player, and if he can start believing in himself a bit again it will be good for country and club.
It should be noted that England and Everton keeper Jordan Pickford was forced into a fine save just after the England opener, after Manchester City right-back Kyle Walker played a very poor back pass straight into the path of an Albanian striker. It ended up being a fairly tame effort on goal, but it could have easily been 1-1. However, it probably would not have mattered in the end given the eventual England onslaught.
It was only the beginning of a dream day for England and a nightmare for Albania. About 9 minutes later, England got their second via a wonderfully-worked goal down the right hand flank. James and Liverpool midfielder Jordan Henderson played a lovely 1-2 around the Albanian defenders, with Henderson finding himself on the ball on the right side of the box near the end line. He spotted talismanic Tottenham striker Harry Kane in the middle largely unmarked, and played a delightful chipped cross to him. Kane rose highest to the ball and nodded it deftly past Strakosha for 2-0. A good goal, but Albania were completely lost defensively. The marking was so bad that England and Chelsea left-back Ben Chilwell would have also easily finished the cross had Kane not been in front of him. But a world-class striker like Kane does not miss from point-blank range. You expect a player like Kane to get into that position. Credit again though to James and Henderson for some very good build-up play.
The Three Lions smelled blood at that point and continued to pour on the pressure. It was Henderson’s turn to get on the score sheet, remarkably for only the second time in his England career. James was involved in the buildup again, with him winning a second ball from a poor Albanian defensive header in a dangerous area. He then played a short pass to Manchester City winger/forward Phil Foden, who then found Henderson about 20 yards from the box. Henderson played a sharp pass into Kane, and Kane controlled the ball beautifully. He played the ball with his heel back into the path of the onrushing Henderson, who took a very deft touch around an Albanian defender before pinging his shot into the bottom far corner of the goal. Henderson is normally a defensive midfielder, but England were dominating so well through the middle he was able to come forward and get involved with two goals. The floodgates were beginning to well and truly open and the only question was how many more England would get.
Then it was Kane time. He decided he wanted to score some more instead of providing assists. Albania gave the ball away very cheaply in midfield, and Manchester City winger/forward Raheem Sterling was allowed to run a good distance towards the goal. Kane was in front of him just off to his left. Sterling played an excellent through ball to Kane, who was being played onside by a defender fairly far away from him. He took a few touches into the left side of the box, before lashing a screamer into the far side-netting. Strakosha could do nothing about it. At 4-0 it was now over, just 33 minutes into the match.
Just for good measure, Kane secured England’s fifth and a first half hat-trick for himself a minute into stoppage time. England won a corner that was played into the box by Foden, and once again Kane was there to finish in spectacular fashion. He hit the ball on the volley with a scissor-kick, and Strakosha had no chance of keeping out a shot with such velocity on it. He saved his best finish on the day for last – falling away from the ball but still getting excellent contact with his right boot. Yes the marking was again by poor by Albania, but you can’t take anything away from Kane’s finish. It was 5-0 at halftime and if Albaia manager Edoardo Reja could have thrown in the proverbial towel, he would have.
The second half was dull in comparison, with England somewhat understandably in cruise control and not really trying all that hard to go and get another one. Albania had one or two shots on Pickford’s goal from long distance, but he was never really troubled. No more goals were scored, probably due to the substitutions, injuries, and fouls that created a very stuttered flow to the match. One notable moment was the debut of Arsenal midfielder Emile Smith Rowe, a very promising young talent that has had a great season so far for the Gunners in the middle of the park. Again, nothing much of note happened for him, but it’s always good for a young player to get time in a competitive match.
Speaking of, Kane is now England’s all time leading goal scorer in competitive football matches, overtaking Wayne Rooney. He still has not eclipsed Rooney’s overall goal scoring record for England (53), but it is almost inevitable now that he will. With his hat-trick today he is now tied with the legendary Jimmy Greaves on 44 goals. He only needs 9 to tie Rooney and 10 to overtake him, and that could happen at next winter’s World Cup in 2022. England have never had a dominant center forward such as Kane, and we have never had a man score so many important goals for us.
Southgate of course will be happy with this display, and he will be even happier that it happened without the services of players such as Declan Rice, Marcus Rashford, and Jadon Sancho. It’s again a testament to England’s strength in depth that we can put 5 goals past half-decent opposition without several extremely good players. I suppose as long as Kane is out there, that’s all we really need. When he is in the mood, I don’t think he can be stopped. Southgate promised that England would put on a show in his pre-match interviews, and his team very much delivered on that. A 6th goal in the second half would have been a nice ribbon on the gift, but not getting one is hardly grounds for complaint.
As expected, Poland did end up beating Andorra 4-1. That means England have a 3 point lead over Poland with one match left in qualifying, and therefore they only need a draw against bottom-dwellers San Marino to secure passage to World Cup 2022 as the winners of Group I. That match will happen on Monday at the Stadio Olimpico di Serravalle in San Marino. All I will say is that if we can put 5 past Albania, we should be putting 10 past San Marino. They are the lowest ranked country in FIFA’s world rankings, at 210th out of 210. They have a goal differential of -35 and have not registered a single point in 9 qualifying matches. To say that they are underdogs would be the understatement of the year. All England need is a point against the minnowest of minnows, but it would be embarrassing even to win by a small margin. Barring the miracle of all miracles, England should qualify for World Cup 2022 on Monday.
England wrapped up the current international break with a trip to Warsaw where they took on Poland in the 6th match of the World Cup 2022 qualifying campaign. England had maintained a 100% win record thus far in the campaign but the Three Lions knew they would be facing probably their toughest test so far.
Poland are very tough to play at home, plain and simple. Their fans always provide an intimidating and raucous atmosphere, and they are led by a talismanic striker who was probably the Ballon d’Or winner last season (had FIFA awarded one), Robert Lewandowski. The Bayern Munich man is their principal goal threat, and if England were to win they would need to neutralize him. It is fair to focus much of the defensive effort on one man in this case because, truthfully, Poland do not have much attacking quality outside of him. England had already beaten Poland 2-1 at Wembley earlier this summer, but Lewandowski did not play in that match due to injury.
The first half followed a familiar pattern for England these past few matches – tidy, but slow. We can pass the ball around nicely among the back four and even into midfield, but we seem to slow the ball down too much when we get into attacking areas. They looked unwilling to take chances, and I don’t know if that’s because of instructions from manager Gareth Southgate or because Poland simply weren’t giving them anything. Whenever England got on the ball they were quick to get back and defend, and it seemed that players like Raheem Sterling and Jack Grealish were unwilling to try and dribble directly at defenders. Both Sterling and Grealish are excellent dribblers and they need to be running at their markers more directly. England were not helped by several very questionable officiating decisions from referee Daniel Siebert. He was trying to let both sides play a bit which might be ok to a degree, but that is a dangerous prospect when it comes to the shithousers on the Polish national team.
Speaking of shithousery, at halftime it was a rather tepid 0-0 but the action really kicked off after the whistle had gone for the end of the half. There was some sort of scuffle between Polish center back Kamil Glik and England center back Harry Maguire that led to all 22 players plus some off the bench getting into a shoving match near the touchline. Cooler heads eventually prevailed and the incident resulted in bookings for both Glik and Maguire. It was tough to see how the altercation started from the broadcast, but you have to believe that Glik grabbing onto/pinching the face of England right back Kyle Walker a few minutes previous was part of the issue. Glik had been antagonizing several England players throughout the half and probably should have been booked previous to that. Again, letting the players play is generally applaudable, but there has to be a line drawn somewhere. Siebert almost let this match get out of control and he largely failed to stamp his authority down.
In the second half England were better but still struggled to create any real clear-cut chances. Poland had made some substitutions and seemed to have plenty of energy to defend and hold on for 0-0. But as he has done so often and consistently for England, Harry Kane arrived. He had been rather quiet in this match but he reminded everyone of what he can do on 72 minutes when he received the ball from Walker about 45 yards out from goal. He realized there was no pressure on him so he dribbled the ball about 10 yards before lashing the ball with his toe toward the Polish goal. It appeared to be going straight at Polish keeper Wojciech Szczesny at first, but then the ball began a vicious dip to the right that Szczesny had no chance of getting to. It was world-class from Kane and he has now moved into sole possession of 5th all time in goals scored for England (41). He won’t score many better than that one though!
I thought England were going to hold on, but the goal seemed only to galvanize the Poles and credit to them for keeping at it and playing for pride in front of their fans. Lewandowski had been quiet for most of the second half but saw a shot go just over the bar from the edge of the box, and England keeper Jordan Pickford was spared from a massive error when his goal-kick deflected off a Polish player and back towards the England goal. Pickford was able to scramble back in time to save it before the ball went over the line, but that had the potential to be really embarrassing. Curiously and somewhat frustratingly, England had failed to make any substitutions despite Poland’s growing presence in the match. More on that below.
Poland were rewarded for their tenacity in stoppage time when Lewandowski found himself on the ball on the left side of the penalty area, as a result of Poland’s siege on the England goal. He was allowed to take a few touches and hit a cross to the back post, where his compatriot Damian Szymanski was crashing towards the goal. Luke Shaw tried to get in the way but Szymanski got to it first and headed in from point-blank range with Pickford stranded. It was a very good goal and a stark reminder that Lewandowski can create just as well as he can score. The goal secured a vital point for Poland and they now sit in 3rd place in Group I.
From England’s point of view, there are worse things than an away draw to Poland. Yes we lost the 100% qualification record and yes it always sucks to have a lead and squander it, but those are minor blips on the radar. The truth is that we are one step closer to World Cup 2022 after today. England have a four point lead at the top of Group I with 4 games left to play in the campaign, with two of the remaining matches against minnows San Marino and Andorra. Qualification is not secured of course, but England will feel very good about their chances despite today’s minor setback.
The biggest negative by far today was that it seems that Southgate has not learnt his lessons about substitutions, tactical flexibility, and risk-taking that he should have learned from the Euro 2020(1) final. For some inexplicable reason, Southgate did not use a single substitution in today’s match. I do not understand that at all. He defended his decisions after the match by saying he didn’t want to “disrupt” anything due to the fact that things were going well. Was he watching the same match everyone else was? It was clear to see even to the most casual observer that England were tiring in the final 15 minutes or so. They wanted to just hold on and defend, and they were having issues maintaining possession due to being constantly harassed by the Poles. Some new and energetic legs in midfield or defense would have been just the remedy to potentially get Poland out of our half of the pitch. Poland were knocking on the door at the end there and it was obvious that the lead was in jeopardy, but Southgate did nothing about it.
To be clear, it’s not like he had to bring another forward on or an attacking midfielder. He just needed to bring on a defensive midfielder like Jordan Henderson and also maybe a replacement for Mason Mount or Grealish. All we needed was to be a little more solid in possession for the final few minutes and we’d have all three points. But no, he let obviously-tiring players stay out there and we were overran by Poland due to the simple fact that they made subs and we did not. So maddening. Sure, the penalty for it this time is minimal, and Southgate is still of course the most successful England manager of my lifetime. However, if we lose another big match this way by squandering a lead due to our own errors I’ll be calling for him to be sacked. This generation of England players is simply too talented to let them be wasted due to basic managerial errors like failing to make a substitution ins a close game, or making them too late for it to matter.
All of the players will be returning to their clubs now for the resumption of club football at the weekend. Manchester United will be hosting Newcastle at Old Trafford on Saturday, September 11th. This shall likely be a very notable match to watch because it will almost certainly mark the return of Cristiano Ronaldo. While he likely won’t start, he will likely come off the bench in the second half so the fans can give him a rousing reception. All I would like is a relatively stress-free 3 points, please.
I apologize for the tardiness of this blog but it’s been a very emotional 24-48 hours since the final penalty was taken in the match. The loss of course is one thing, but then there was the resulting fallout from it as well. I think it’s probably best to discuss the match itself first and then go over the shitstorm that happened afterwards.
The atmosphere at Wembley on Sunday pre-match was electric, and it must be said that the overall vibe was a positive one. There had been some skirmishes with some idiot England fans trying to get into Wembley without tickets, but again those were minor when compared with the overwhelming majority of fans who were there to have a good time. Choruses of “Sweet Caroline” rung out around the ground in the lead up to kick off, as England fans celebrated their first men’s final in 55 years.
And things went from a reserved frenzy to a raucous celebration just 2 minutes into the match when left wingback Luke Shaw was found in the box by a cross from fellow wingback Kieran Trippier the right hand side. He hit it towards the Italian goal and keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma could not get to it as it crept in just inside the left-hand post. It was clear from the outset that Italy’s initial tactical set up was all wrong. They had come out in their usual 4-3-3, while England manager Gareth Southgate had changed his formation again and set up England in a 3-4-3. Shaw and Trippier were overwhelming them in the space on the wings, and the Italians could not figure out how to mark them with a back 4. Declan Rice and Kalvin Phillips were also dictating the possession and tempo in the middle of the park, and for the entire rest of the first half Italy looked rather toothless. Italy forward Federico Chiesa put a shot just wide of Jordan Pickford’s goal after a long run with the ball, but that was Italy’s best chance. The one negative from the first half is that England did not score a second goal, but the way the match was going you figured there would be an opportunity for another one.
But Italy manager Roberto Mancini is no stranger to adversity, and he made some key changes that really swung things back in Italy’s favor. He took off ineffective striker Ciro Immobile and brought on attacking midfielder Federico Bernadeschi, which immediately gave the Italians more fluidity in attack. Along with the urgency of knowing they needed a goal and fresher legs in midfield, Italy really pressed England for about a 10-15 minute spell in the early second half. They were unfortunately rewarded for their efforts after they won a corner, which was tapped in to the back of the England net by center back Leonardo Bonucci after a mad scramble in the box. England failed to clear the ball and Bonucci was in the right place at the right time to make England pay. Sometimes, that’s all you need.
Italy continued their dominant spell for another 10 minutes or so but could not find a second goal. England had a little more possession in the final 10-15 minutes, but solid Italian defending and closing down in midfield prevented England from mounting a serious attack. Southgate had indeed brought on help in the forms of Jordan Henderson, Jack Grealish, and Bukayo Saka, but I felt that those subs were too little and too late (more on that below). In the end no more goals were scored and extra time would be needed.
Extra time in a major final is nothing new of course, but I was worried about our fatigue levels given the lack of substitutions. I thought that Mancini had done a better job of getting his tired players off the field, even if one or two of them were necessary changes due to injury. I was more than relieved to see Chiesa go off injured late in the second half. I don’t wish injury on any player, but he had been tormenting England all match and was Italy’s best attacking player on the day.
Italy dominated the first 15 minutes of extra time, but England fought back a little in the second 15 minutes with some better possession and movement around the box. Center back John Stones barely missed getting his head on a cross from Shaw, but there were no serious attempts on the goal. There was a moment where I thought defender Giorgio Chiellini would be sent off for a foul on Saka, but the referee only showed a yellow. I felt it probably should have been a red given the egregious manner in which Chiellini grabbed Saka’s shirt color and yanked it back, but I am not sure how much of a difference it would have made that late on in the match anyway. The referee definitely let a lot of contact go in this match and generally tried to let both teams play. That is fine when it helps your team and it’s what the neutrals would be happy to see, but it’s maddening when it cuts against your team.
Forwards Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho were indeed subbed on, but only with about two minutes to go in extra time. I was happy to see those two come on, but it was far too late for them to get involved in the match. Penalties loomed and a nation held it’s breath. Once penalties were confirmed, I was trying to be optimistic. This group of players beat Colombia in a World Cup elimination game on penalties in 2018, so they knew how to win one this way. Higher stakes this time of course and England do have a long history of penalty failures before that, but there was reason for a degree of optimism going into the pens.
I won’t go through it kick by kick because most people saw what happened and it’s too painful to type out anyway, but Italy won 3-2 after a save from Donnarumma on Saka with the fifth and final penalty. Rashford and Sancho missed penalties as well, with Harrys Kane and Maguire converting theirs. Pickford produced two fine saves to keep England in it, but Saka’s penalty was too low and lacked power. Donarumma was the hero on the day, and Italy were crowned European Champions. I turned the stream off and walked away for a bit. I was absolutely crushed, and you could tell Saka, Rashford, and Sancho all felt horribly too. I think it is fair to say that having a 19 year old take the fifth penalty, which is often a decisive one, was an error in judgment from Southgate.
But that was not his biggest error on the day. Saka and Sancho hitting a weak penalties and Rashford missing altogether were also not the main reasons for the loss. Penalties are a crap shoot and anything can happen when the match gets to that point. The principle reasons for the loss were not killing off Italy when we had them on the ropes in the first half, and then failing to respond quickly enough to their tactical changes in the second half. Mancini did not play a perfect match tactically, but his adaptability and willingness to take risks was what won his side their first European title since 1968. He saw that what he set out with wasn’t working, so he took a gamble or two and it paid off. Of course, it does become easier to gamble when you have the defense that Italy has. The center back pairing of Bonucci and Chiellini is world class, simple as. They were excellent at keeping Kane and Raheem Sterling at bay for all 120 minutes. Those two have been England’s best attacking players all tournament, but they were largely anonymous for most of the match.
If England are to win a trophy with this current crop of players, Southgate must be willing to be more adventurous when the time is right. Yes, the conservative approach got us through the first six games, but in a final sometimes you have to take risks and go for the goal. I do not trust England on penalties and we should never try to play for penalties. We were not explicitly doing that in the final, but Southgate was unwilling to change things despite conceding a goal that looked like it was coming for at least 7 or 8 minutes. Sancho and Rashford should have been brought on in normal time, not 2 minutes before penalties. Grealish should have been brought on before the 70th minute. There should have been some kind of tactical plan for more outlet passes from the back to relieve the pressure the Italians were pouring on the back line in the lead up to their goal. The goal may have still come anyway, but England would have been much more suited to getting a second one if he had been less rigid in his approach.
So yes, to lose a major final at home like that is heartbreaking. It’s not an enjoyable experience in any way. But what was even more heartbreaking was the response to it from fans, the media, and even the British government.
Within minutes of England being eliminated, hate speech and vile racist attacks came pouring in from supposed England “supporters” on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. I won’t repeat what was said but suffice it to say that it was just some of the nastiest things one could say to another person. Rashford, Sancho, and Saka got most of the attacks and many (false) correlations were made between the race of those players and their ability to take penalties. There was even an Australian newspaper that ran a later-retracted headline about England’s Black players missing while the white players scored. A mural of Rashford in south Manchester was also defaced with racist language and symbols.
It’s fucking disgusting. That’s all there is to it. You would have thought that by the year 2021 we would be done with the farcical concept of racism, but the reality is that it has only gotten worse in recent years. It definitely seems to be worse at the least, due to the fact that every idiot with a pair of thumbs can express his/her asinine opinion and share it with the world instantaneously. Social media platforms claim they are trying to fight back against hate speech online, but that’s a hydra that is difficult to slay. As soon as you shut down one idiot, two more pop up elsewhere. It should be no wonder why England players took a knee before the kickoff of every match at this tournament to protest against racism. It is clearly still needed.
England fans already had a reputation before this tournament as being rowdy and block-headed, and we’ve done ourselves no favors with all this idiocy. Immediately after the wave of racist nonsense came in, another of wave of hatred pervaded the internet in response. This time though it was a different set of people calling out the racism of our supporters and generally lampooning England as a nation. It was hard to see that as an anti-racist England supporter, but a lot of it was justified. This country does have a problem with racism and it must be addressed. If it takes national embarrassment to get that done, then so be it.
I am no sociologist and I do not know how to fix the problem entirely, but one thing that would help immensely is if UK politicians like Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Priti Patel stopped stoking the fires of discrimination among their constituents. Politicians like those two were elected on nationalist/exclusionist principles, and in the past they frequently targeted dark-skinned immigrants as being the source of many of the UK’s problems when pushing for Brexit. Both Johnson and Patel were quick to condemn the racism from social media, but that was a very hypocritical position to take when it’s primarily those two and their party responsible for a good portion of the racism in the first place. England center back Tyrone Mings was correct to point that out, and his tweet response to Patel went viral almost instantly. You cannot claim to be against racism when you’ve spent the last several years subversively promoting it!
But in the darkest hour for England, there was light at the end of the tunnel. Kane, a white man and England’s captain, posted a condemnation of racism on his social media that provided me a sense of relief in it’s strongly-worded tone. Kane is normally somewhat tepid and lukewarm on issues that don’t directly involve football, but the message of “we don’t want you” re: racist supporters was unequivocal and it was the exact message needed. I echo his words now: if you are racist, you are not an England supporter and we don’t want you.
I was further emboldened by the response of Rashford and the support for him on social media. As toxic as some people were, the real England fans showed up to support the lad when he was being attacked. Rashford admitted his penalty wasn’t good enough, but he refused to apologize for being a Black man and of course he shouldn’t have to. Rashford is 1000x the man any of the racists are. He’s spent the past 1-2 years feeding schoolchildren and funding literacy programs. He even went toe-to-toe with PM Johnson himself when it came to school meals during the pandemic. He has donated roughly £20m to charities in the past year, which is more than his entire net worth. He was recognized for his services by the Crown as well, who awarded him an MBE. Rashford is the shining example, but many England players have made great contributions to the communities they grew up in.
The support for the statements of Rashford and Kane was overwhelmingly positive. For every idiot racist sounding off, there was 10 more people in full support of everything these lads have done and are doing for this country. It was absolutely vital that they got some support from English people, as that has not always been the case in the past, even for extremely popular (white) players like David Beckham and Wayne Rooney. Becks was hung in effigy outside pubs in London after his red card against Argentina in 1998, and Rooney was the target of threats and personal attacks after his own red card against Portugal in 2006. Yes England lost in disappointing fashion, but the cycle of attacking our players when they don’t perform for England seems to be breaking. We need to be encouraging these players and helping them remain positive. Having them terrified of playing for England will not result in success. Toxicity only breeds more toxicity.
This team’s run to the final captivated and united the nation, for the most part. We played well for long stretches in the final as well, and for 60+ minutes we were European Champions. I could not be more proud of them and the manager, and that sentiment is shared by many. In many ways, this whole incident showed both the very best and very worst of social media. You had the vile racism at first, but the swift condemnation in response to all of it was nothing short of positive. Even the normally-alarmist British tabloids were mostly supportive of the lads post-match.
The damage to Rashford’s mural was covered with messages of support written on bits of paper and England flags, and earlier today the street artist who initially did the mural was out there repairing it.
If we want England to have any degree of success over the next 10-15 years, we have to continue showing support like this. If the players are able to put their club tribalism aside and play for one another, then so can the average fan. This tournament and the subsequent fallout I think created a strong bond among these England players; a brotherhood of sorts. They know they’re good and they know they can do well at tournaments, and if they can get through this level of fallout they can get through anything. All we need to do as England fans is keep supporting them and they will eventually bring us another trophy. Getting to the final was a huge step in the right direction and I think there will only be more growth as the team grows and matures. Many of our players this tournament were still very young, including Rashford, Sancho, Saka, and Jude Bellingham. They are only going to get better. If they know England fans are going to be behind them even if they lose a close match, that will only make success more likely.
This England team under Southgate might be the one to bring us success on the pitch, which is why I titled this post as “It’s Not Coming Home (This Time)”. We will have more chances to win with this group, as we have shown that we can play with anybody. Reaching the semis in 2018 and a final in 2020(1) is already the best I have seen England do in my lifetime. At this tournament we beat the Germans, scored four in a knockout match, and went to our first major final in 55 years. More importantly, their efforts off the pitch may end up being a catalyst for real societal change in the UK as well. Mark my words – these players will make history one way or another.
Lastly, I’d like to thank everyone who read these blog posts during the Euros. My readers are of the utmost importance to me and I hope it was informative and entertaining for you all. It truly was a great tournament marred only by the actions of a small amount of knuckle-draggers.
I shall now be taking a few weeks off from the blog as there is a lull in competitive football matches in late July/early August. United’s pre-season gets underway soon, but I’ll do a full season preview for that once the Premier League is closer to returning.
The second matchday of quarterfinals saw Denmark take on Czech Republic in Baku, Azerbaijan while England were drawn against Ukraine in Rome, Italy in the night fixture.
Once again, this post is primarily going to be about England. I will not apologize.
Denmark vs. Czech Republic
I won’t dwell on this too much but I must note that I hated the location this match was played in. Azerbaijan isn’t even in Europe geographically but because the country paid UEFA a lot of money and has loose COVID restrictions, they got to host a European Championships quarterfinal. Never mind the extra travel for the teams, a poor atmosphere for fans, or the warmer temperatures; there’s money to be made! Greedy bastards.
As for the match itself, Denmark controlled the first half by a considerable margin and are still clearly playing like a team possessed. They have some talent in their side but what’s really pushing them through is the desire to play well for Christian Eriksen, their still-sidelined teammate that gave the world quite a scare when he collapsed on the pitch in the opening match.
Denmark scored from a corner in the opening 5 minutes when defensive midfielder Thomas Delaney found himself unmarked and headed past Czech goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik from about 14 yards out. The header was a low bouncer with power on it that look easy to stop for a keeper but I can assure you they are probably among the hardest shots to stop. The rest of the half was the Czechs trying to keep possession and the Danes hitting them on the counter attack. They looked dangerous every time the ball broke their way, and the Danes also did well to win it high up the pitch and create chances that way. The Danes second was a real work of art, primarily the final pass from left back Joakim Mæhle. He hit an absolutely delicious cross with the outside of his right foot into the box, which was inch-perfect for striker Kasper Dolberg to redirect into the back of the net with his shin. Good technique on the finish from Dolberg to be sure, but the pass from Mæhle might be the assist of the tournament. It is so hard to cross the ball accurately while running, and even harder to do it with the outside of your foot. It was truly sublime and the Danes were in cruise control going into the break.
The Czechs tapped the brakes on the Danes though and firmly took them out of cruise control when Patrik Schick added to his impressive tally this tournament when he redirected a cross past Danish keeper Kasper Schmeichel. It was early in the half and it was precisely what the Czechs needed to get back into the match. But all that fluidity and endeavor shown by the Czechs evaporated after the goal. The Danes collected themselves a bit and started possessing the ball more, and for the remaining 40 minutes or so both sides really only fashioned a few half-chances at most. Stoic defending from the Danes, and a lack of creativity from the Czechs. Perhaps fatigue was a factor in the heat of Baku.
Denmark won 2-1 and advanced to their first Euro semifinal since 1992. Truly a remarkable achievement and they deserve all the cred it for it. They await the winner of England/Ukraine.
England vs. Ukraine
Much like the aforementioned Danes, Czechs, and the Swiss yesterday, Ukraine are a team that plays better than the sum of their parts. They only have 2-3 standout players, but they have a strong sense of unity and they seem to really enjoy playing spoiler against bigger teams. I do think the Ukrainians have the ability to score via players like winger Oleksandr Zinchenko and midfielder Andriy Yarmolenko, so they will need to be contained by the English defense. I think there are questions about the Ukrainian defense though, and I want to see England use our forwards to run at them and create openings at the back. I think Raheem Sterling will once again heavily feature, as it was his dribbling that led to a goal against Germany. I’d like to see him on the right wing though, instead of on the left, though. Seems more effective from the right.
England interestingly reverted to a 4-2-3-1, a big change from the 3-4-3 they used to beat Germany. Jadon Sancho finally got the start England fans have been clamoring for, but Jack Grealish was curiously absent from the starting lineup. Its clear that manager Gareth Southgate likes to use him as an impact substitute. There was also a start in midfield for Mason Mount, who also started the first match against Croatia but hasn’t featured since due to a positive COVID test. The lineup was still somewhat conservative, but so far that approach has worked for England, even if it isn’t the most entertaining. I (and many others) want to criticize the approach from Southgate more, but he’s bought himself some room to operate in with the win over Germany. Our bench is much deeper than Ukraine’s anyway, so I expected some key substitutions to be made if things weren’t going our way. Sterling started on the left wing again, so Southgate didn’t listen to me on that one.
But he should not listen to me at all, because England came out and scored in the 4th minute after a delightful pass from Sterling (who was on the left, lol) found a run from Kane into the penalty box. He beat Ukrainian keeper Heorhiy Bushchan to the loose ball and toe-poked it up and over his outstretched leg. Great pass, great run, great finish. Sometimes it really is that simple. It was a nightmare start for Ukraine but an absolute dream for Kane and England.
England created a few more good chances in the first half, notably from Declan Rice and Harry Maguire, but failed to score them. Ukraine grew into the game a little bit and had a good spell of possession later on, but failed to create a real grade-A chance. There were just one or two poor giveaways in midfield by England and keeper Jordan Pickford was required to make a decent save at his near post from Ukrainian striker Roman Yaremchuk. It was a save he should make every time, but it was still moderately concerning that he had to make such a save.
England went into halftime 1-0 up though, despite cooling off a little after the red hot start. I was generally pleased, but I wanted a second goal fairly early on to really kill off the match. Ukraine were starting to believe in themselves a little as the half wore on and I wanted that optimism smothered as soon as possible. I got exactly what I wanted 2 minutes in when Kane won a free kick in the left channel for England. Manchester United’s Luke Shaw stepped up to take the free kick, and he found the massive head of club teammate Maguire at the far post. Maguire headed the pass back across the keeper and into the opposite corner for 2-0. A goal crafted on the Carrington training ground in Manchester! An absolutely thumping header too!
England were probably home and dry after that, but they didn’t take their foot off the gas pedal at all. If anything, they pressed down harder. A scant four minutes later, Mount brought the ball forward from midfield and played it to Sterling. Sterling was closed off by defenders but that created space for Shaw, who was on an overlapping run behind him. Sterling backheeled it to Shaw who knocked in another lovely cross with a first time hit, and he hit Kane straight in the forehead with it. Kane nodded the ball down and through the legs of Bushchan for 3-0. It was a close range finish for Kane but he still did very well to get the ball down with enough power to get it through the keeper’s legs. I had to pinch myself at 3-0 because it didn’t feel real.
Kane went close to a third goal and a fourth for England just after the hour mark with a very sweet hit on the volley, but he had to settle for a fine save from Bushchan. The angle and distance of the shot truly would have been a spectacular goal, but again the keeper was equal to it. The resulting corner was the source of England’s 4th goal, though. Mount took the corner as four English players flashed down towards the goal, and the first man to it was defensive midfielder and substitute Jordan Henderson. He got clean contact on it after losing his man and it was a simple redirection of the pass into the far corner after that. Poor marking from a probably now-jaded Ukraine and the keeper had no chance. Well done to Henderson for getting his first ever England goal! The quarterfinal of a major tournament is a great time to get it.
4-0 after 63 minutes. I couldn’t believe it. Completely blown away by the performance and there was still almost half an hour left. The only thing to ensure now was the maintaining of the clean sheet. England have not conceded a goal at Euro 2020(1) yet and the professional thing to do would be to keep it that way. Pickford’s first truly challenging save of the match was in the 74th minute when the ball fell to Ukrainian defender Yevhenii Makarenko, who struck the ball with power towards the goal. Pickford got his hands up to parry it away, but it was an awkward save from fierce strike. One or two more half chances were created by both sides after that, but all the real action was done. Ukraine were spent physically and mentally towards the end and England didn’t really press in attack any further. A lot of substitutions were made late on in the second half as well by Southgate in order to protect the players on yellow cards from suspension. Kane was also taken off to a standing ovation from England fans in attendance at Stadio Olimpico in Rome.
As someone who has been watching England for over 20 years, I can tell you that England have not traditionally made it look this easy. This was dominance in a tournament I haven’t seem from this team since…ever? Sure, we usually beat minnow teams like Andorra or San Marino 4-0, 5-0, etc., but those are usually qualifiers or friendlies that aren’t nearly as important as games like this one. Put bluntly, ever since 1966 England have been choke artists. Choking in the big moments with a level of consistency that should not be physically possible. Always had loads of talent, almost always had a half-decent manager, but we could just never put it all together when it mattered most. That happened today though. England looked like a well-oiled machine for most of the match, and we ran the opposition ragged. It’s a very unfamiliar experience for England fans, but a nonetheless positive one.
It is true that Ukraine didn’t play well, and that they are not the most talented opposition England have faced so far, but they set up with a back 5 from the outset of the match and were clearly intent on defending well as a unit and then hitting on the counter. But England blew that plan to pieces with the early goal from Kane. Completely shattered them for the next 20 minutes after that. Then, just when they were starting to recover and grow into the game a a little, we destroyed them again with the early goal in the 2nd half from Maguire. It was over at 2-0, and England just poured it on from there. It was ruthless, and I loved it.
Respect to the Ukrainian players and manager/legend Andriy Shevchenko, but England were just better today through and through. Of course, this was only a quarterfinal and the tournament is not over. England now advance to only the third Euro semifinal in their history and the first one since 1996. Also of note is that this is now three semifinals in a row for England – World Cup 2018, Nations League 2019, and now Euro 2020(1). They will play Denmark at Wembley Stadium in London next Wednesday. I will do a separate preview of that massive fixture and the other semifinal between Spain and Italy beforehand.
Semifinals are set! One of these four remaining teams will win Euro 2020(1)! All remaining matches are at Wembley!
England played their final group match of Euro 2020(1) today at Wembley against Czech Republic. The Czechs came into the match as group leaders, so England knew this team would not roll over for them. Their side featured co-top scorer at the Euros in Patrik Schick, and they have a good amount of experience in the side. England and Czech Republic were both already through to the Round of 16 due to Belgium defeating Finland yesterday, so while there wasn’t that much importance behind the match it was important for seeding purposes going forward. An England group win also meant that the next match would be at Wembley and England would not need to travel to Copenhagen for the next match.
England made a few changes from the side that sputtered to a rather dismal draw with Scotland on Friday. Bukayo Saka and Jack Grealish were included from the outset, with Phil Foden dropped to the bench on a yellow card. Mason Mount and Ben Chilwell were not included either due to being in COVID protocols. So while some of the changes were made out of necessity, I was in strong support of Saka and Grealish being on from the start. Still not sure what Jadon Sancho has to do to get into this team, but we’ll come back to him later.
Just like in the past two matches, England got off to a very fast start and had the Czechs under pressure from the get-go. Grealish was excellent in possession, and Saka was making all kinds of runs forward that the Czechs didn’t know how to deal with. The only goal came in the 12th minute via Raheem Sterling, who had just missed a very good chance off the post early on. The ball was retrieved by Grealish on the left wing and he clipped a looping cross over the top back towards the goal. The ball was too high for Saka but Sterling was in an excellent position behind him, and he nodded in for 1-0. I was calling for Sterling’s head after his lackluster performance in the Scotland match, but he rewarded England manager Gareth Southgate’s faith in him today by scoring his second of the tournament. Harry Kane then forced a very fine save from Czech keeper Tomas Vaclik after wriggling his way into the box. Kane was frustrated by the save, but he was much better today than he was against Scotland as well.
The Czechs grew into the game a little bit after the early England dominance though and created a few chances via set pieces and some haphazard (if ultimately effective) England defending. West Ham midfielder Tomas Soucek went closest for the Czechs, just barely missing the left post with a shot from about 13 yards out. England have been defensively sound so far but there were some nerves present today, especially in the first half. A better side may have cashed in on those nerves and lack of decision making, but the Czechs did not. I was happy to see Manchester United captain Harry Maguire back in the team today after a long injury layoff, and while Tyrone Mings has been more than capable of deputizing in his absence, Maguire is probably England’s best defensive player and you want his leadership on the pitch. I think the defense will only improve as Maguire settles in.
The second half was nowhere near as entertaining as the first, as England seemed content to defend and didn’t really create much until late on. Jordan Henderson came on for Declan Rice at the start of the second, and the Czechs made some attack-minded changes as well. Despite not scoring again, England never really looked threatened. The Czechs weren’t as effective in the second half from set pieces, and they do not have the talent to consistently create chances against England from open play. I remember England keeper Jordan Pickford not really being tested, aside from some routine catches and clearances. Henderson was somewhat unlucky to not get his second after his short-range effort was deemed to be offside after some good work in the box from fellow substitute Marcus Rashford to create the chance. This one wasn’t close though – Henderson was at least a yard offside when he poked it home. England then managed the game out and were able to secure all 3 points without too much ado.
So what’s next? Unclear right now, as the final group matches will all be played tomorrow. England play next Tuesday night at Wembley, but that’s all we know for sure at this point. Usually, winning your group is supposed to result in an easier matchup in the next round. That is the proverbial carrot at the end of the stick that theoretically motivates teams to go out and win their group. This time though, England will face the runners-up from Group F, which unfortunately contains the likes of France, Portugal, and Germany. All three of those teams are football powerhouses and will present a major challenge to England. The big teams usually don’t meet at tournaments like these until the quarterfinals or later, but this time around it’s worked out that they will. Some have complained about the tournament format as a result, but I don’t really agree with that too much. You’ll have to play a tough team at some point in any major tournament, and if you want to be the best you have to beat the best. No point in shying away from it just because it’s in an earlier round than we may have wanted.
The objective today was to gain some momentum back going into the knockout stages. Positive performances lift the fans, the players, and the manager; and I think we achieved that to an extent today. The second half was mostly dull but England can build on their good play from the first half. It was important to restore a bit of excitement around the team for the fans, and the dynamic attacking play today in the first half helped to do that.
But, I still don’t think England have played their best game yet at this tournament. This is partly due to the fact that we still haven’t figured out our best attacking formation. Kane was better today, but still hasn’t scored. Sterling has scored (and is our only scorer so far), but he goes missing for big portions of games. Rashford did ok today but he’s looked off the pace for awhile now due to injury and fatigue. Sancho finally got on the pitch at the end, but didn’t really have time to impact the game. Indeed, England’s best attackers today were not forwards, as Grealish is an attacking midfielder and Saka is a winger. It doesn’t matter who scores of course as long as someone does, but the lack of goals is a concern going forward. It is still unknown how we will do against better opposition. Southgate has a selection headache or three coming up, as several players have put in good performances thus far. But as the old saying goes, a selection problem is a “good problem” to have.
All of the questions present now will be answered next Tuesday, though. England will watch the Group F matches tomorrow with great interest and will have a week to prepare for whoever ends up 2nd in that group. There is the added bonus of not having to fly to another city to play. Yes we will have to play a tough team, but the circumstances could not be much better for England to do so.
Now the the club season is over, all eyes in the football world turn to the national teams and the summer tournaments. Major tournaments that were supposed to be played last summer, like the European Championships (Euros) and the Copa America, will be played this summer now that the COVID-19 pandemic is somewhat more under control. Even though the tournament is taking place in 2021, the tournament will still be known as Euro 2020, per UEFA. It’s kind of dumb to keep the original name when the tournament was postponed a year, but that’s UEFA for you. There was probably already a ton of merchandise made in anticipation of the tournament happening last summer, and the vendors that sponsor the tournament probably didn’t want to change it and throw out all their inventory. I should probably point out that only teams from Europe can compete in the Euros, so there will be no Brazil, Argentina, or USA in this tournament. They play in the tournaments of their respective regions this summer, CONMEBOL and CONCACAF.
The Euros are normally hosted by a single nation and matches usually happen within the borders of the host country. This year is odd though in that the matches will be played in large-capacity stadiums across Europe, with the first match (Italy vs. Turkey) kicking off at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy on Friday. Wembley Stadium in London will also heavily feature in this tournament, along with stadiums in Germany, Spain, Ireland, Portugal, Denmark, and others. This was UEFA’s plan even before anyone knew about COVID-19, but the pandemic has made things even more uncertain and last-minute. Planning a major tournament is a pain in the neck even in the best of times, so I anticipate at least some matches being rescheduled due to the fluidity of the situation. This is a very big regional tournament though, second only to the World Cup in terms of team trophies in terms of importance in the minds of European fans, players, and managers. It needs to be played, it just could not be done safely last summer.
In the run-up to a major tournament, most teams play “friendlys” (exhibition) matches against other countries so they can have some practice playing with each other before the tournament begins. Friendlies can be very useful for a manager in determining his team selection and tactics for the tournament, but they are very similar to pre-season games in the NFL and NBA in the sense that you can only take away so much useful information from them. Your team might win a friendly 5-0, but if you are playing a small country like Andorra or San Marino, that 5-0 win may not mean much going into the tournament. Similarly, if you lose to a big team like France in a friendly, again it might not mean much in terms of predicting tournament results. It’s all about observing individual performances and figuring out what tactics and team selection will translate from the friendly to the tournament and what will not.
England won both of their friendlies over Austria and Romania this past week, both by a score of 1-0. Both matches were akin to watching paint dry, but there were some positives to take away. Neither Austria nor Romania are out-and-out bad teams, as both have players throughout Europe’s top-5 domestic leagues and both know how to organize themselves properly. The winning goal against Austria was a follow-up from a tight angle by winger Bukayo Saka, who scored his first ever England goal and had a very good match overall. The Austria match is a good example of the limited scope of friendlies though, as no players from Manchester City or Chelsea played in that match as it was too soon after the Champions League final and those players needed a rest. There was a stronger selection available for the match this morning against Romania, and England did play better attacking football as a result. Winger Jadon Sancho was unfortunate to hit the woodwork in the first half, but England scored thanks a to a penalty won by midfielder Jack Grealish that was converted by striker Marcus Rashford. Liverpool midfielder Jordan Henderson did miss a penalty later, but it did not affect the result.
Two wins is better than two losses going into a tournament of course, but we still haven’t seen the best England lineup and its unclear just how far this team will go once the tournament starts. England manager Gareth Southgate knows of course that a degree of success is expected from this tournament. He has already said that reaching the semifinals is the least he expects, and anything else would be a failure. He is right to say that, given the level of talent in this squad. We need to win a trophy with all this talent that we have, plain and simple. If we do not, it is possible that Southgate loses his job in the next year or two. We have Champions League winners throughout this team, and the depth of the squad is the strongest it has been in years. Southgate must take advantage of all this talent and figure out the best way to get the most out of his players.
What I want to see from Southgate and his men primarily though is the ability to adapt to matches and be flexible with tactics if things aren’t going our way. We found a good formula to win matches at World Cup 2018 and it worked very well early on, but it was our inability to adapt our tactics that cost us the semifinal match against Croatia. Southgate was far too rigid in that match and refused to change anything or take any risks until it was too late. We need to be able to play a variety of formations in a variety of ways. It is easier said than done of course, but if/when we get to the later stages of the tournament, it will be vital for our chances to succeed. England’s “Plan A” is solid, but we need to have just-as-solid plans B,C,D, and maybe even E as well.
England are in a tough but not overly-scary Group D with Croatia, Czech Republic, and Scotland. World Cup finalists Croatia are the main concern, but I don’t think they are quite as sharp as they were 3 years ago. World-class midfielders Luka Modric and Ivan Rakitic are coming off long seasons in Spain and no one on that team is getting any younger. Put simply, they’re very good but they’re also very old. Another concern is Scotland. What they lack in outright talent they make up for in hustle and shithousery. They always play England tough due to our geographical and historical rivalry, and they love nothing more than beating us. Scotland will gladly lose every match they play, as long as they beat England. I expect them to give us everything they’ve got. Czech Republic is probably the weakest team in the group and are probably co-favorites with Scotland to finish at the bottom, but they also have several Premier League players and should not be taken lightly. I think England have a good chance to win their group, but the match against Croatia will ultimately decide who takes this group. Two teams will advance out of the group stage, but if you win the group the draw is typically easier in the knockout rounds.
Some Other Teams to Watch
Portugal are the defending European Champions, having won in 2016 thanks largely to the Herculean efforts of superstar Cristiano Ronaldo. He will be back this summer for probably one of his final pushes for another major trophy with his national team. Ronaldo will likely play next summer at the 2022 World Cup, but his days in the team are numbered. Portugal currently have a bit of a “golden generation” going on given the talent they have at almost every position such as Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo Silva, and Ruben Dias. Those players will be expected to deliver, and they are all more than capable of doing so. Interestingly, this may be the most talented Portugal team Ronaldo has ever played in, so he may not need to do as much of the heavy lifting on his own.
France are the defending World Cup champions and are in the “Group of Death” with Portugal and Germany. France are once again absolutely loaded from top to bottom, and there are also high expectations for them in their home nation. When this France teams plays as a coherent unit, there are no other teams capable of stopping them. Champions League final Man of the Match N’Golo Kante is currently the best midfielder in the world, and he will be teaming up with another superstar in Paul Pogba to try and bring home another major trophy. Striker Karim Benzema is also in the form of his life, having had a stellar year at Real Madrid. His style of play also compliments the style of their other star striker, Kylian Mbappe. If France stay healthy and don’t succumb to infighting (which appears to be a thing of the past), they will be favorites to win the whole thing.
Belgium are probably the last team with the most realistic chance of winning this tournament, aside from France, Portugal, and England. Belgium are somewhat similar to England in the sense that the talent level they have does not reflect the level of success of the team. Players such as Romelu Lukaku, Eden Hazard, Kevin De Bruyne, and Youri Tielemans have all won trophies at the club level, but they can never quite put it together at a tournament for one reason or another. They impressively beat Brazil in the quarterfinals at World Cup 2018, but then lost in the semis to the aforementioned French juggernaut. It could be a team mentality problem or a lack of depth, but whatever it is this current crop of Belgians know that their window to win a trophy is closing. Like Croatia, their star players are good but aging. Belgium face a bit of a rebuilding period once this current generation ages out of the squad, but there is no denying their quality.
Overall I am hoping for a fun tournament with lots of goals and high drama. Tournaments such as these are global advertisements for the game, and it’s good for the sport when quality football is seen by hundreds of millions.
Aside from the opening match against Chelsea, this was the best match I have seen United play all season. It’s taken us over two months, but United appear to finally be finding the tactics and formation that allow them to play consistently well.
No Goal of the Season candidates from this one, as none of United’s goals were super amazing or carried out with high degrees of skill. But as any football manager will tell you, the ugly goals count just as much as the pretty ones do.
Andreas Pereira opened the scoring on 6 minutes after he made an endeavoring run forward towards the edge of the box. I thought he had lost possession at first, but the ball was recovered by Anthony Martial and played back to Pereira. Pereira struck the ball towards goal, it took a massive deflection off the back of a Brighton & Hove Albion player, and sailed into the goal. The opposition keeper could do nothing about it. Plenty of luck involved in the goal, but you don’t complain when the dice roll your way.
Second goal was much of the same, but perhaps even more ugly. About 15 minutes after the opener there was a mad scramble in front of the goal resulting from a United corner, and the ball was eventually bundled over the line via a combination of Scott McTominay, Harry Maguire, and Brighton defender Davy Pröpper. McTominay wheeled away in celebration but the goal was awarded as an own goal by Pröpper. Again not pretty, but it doesn’t really matter how they go in, as long as they do.
Halftime came and passed without further incident, and Brighton got a goal back from the head of Lewis Dunk from a corner. Poor marking in the box was the main culprit for the goal, and it unfortunately meant that United failed yet again to keep a clean sheet. I was happy United had already scored more than one goal, but with 30+ minutes left Brighton had time for an equalizer.
But an equalizer was not to be, as Brighton were pushing forward and were left exposed at the back. Many teams have tried to push forward against us this season, and it’s usually a bad idea for them. About 2 minutes after the Brighton goal United won the ball in midfield via Fred, who then played a lovely ball forward into Martial. Martial sprinted into the box but overran one of his touches, so he went wide and played the ball back across to Marcus Rashford. Rashford made no mistake and fired a spectacular shot off the bottom of the crossbar and into the goal. Of all three scored, this one was the best to watch.
United kept pressing even after the 3rd goal, and were unlucky to not get a 4th or possibly a 5th. Rashford suffered some embarrassment by missing an open goal after good work from Daniel James down the right side. United did not really stop attacking until the 85th-87th minute overall, and frankly it was refreshing to see. Too often this season we have scored a goal and proceeded to quit playing. As has been shown though, United simply cannot defend a 1-0 lead. Had we only scored one today we would have been stuck with a 1-1 draw. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer seems to have finally realized that our best defense is when we are on the front foot scoring goals. I don’t care if we win 3-2 or 4-3, it’s better than a 1-1 draw or 2-1 loss. Who cares about 1-2 or defensive errors when your forwards can routinely score four?
The defense will improve as we get players back from injury and they are able to work with each other more. We still need reinforcements in January both in midfield and in attack. Worryingly, McTominay was taken off on a stretcher with an ankle injury towards the end of the match. This is especially bad because he’s been our best mid this season by far, and was just beginning to develop a good relationship with Fred.
Speaking of, Fred was immense today. His best performance for United by far. Shoutout to him, Rashford, James, and Martial for all playing well. Any one of them could have been Man of the Match, but young left back Brandon Williams needs to be included in that conversation as well. OGS continues to award our youth players with opportunities to shine, and they keep rewarding him with great performances. This kid’s tackling, passing, and positioning were second to none today. Good to know we have additional cover at left back without having to rely too much on the aging legs of Ashley Young.
*****
For the neutrals, there was a mouth-watering tie played today between Liverpool and Manchester City. Liverpool were league leaders by several points and City actually came into the match in 3rd after the surprising Leicester City went second yesterday. However, it is Man City and Liverpool that most people regard as the two best teams in England, and indeed City are the reigning English champions while Liverpool are the reigning European champions. City came into the match at Anfield today knowing they would need a victory to close the gap on Liverpool and keep them within reach.
But, Liverpool had other plans. I don’t know if it was Jurgen Klopp’s plan to try and score quickly, but that’s what they did after Fabinho opened the scoring with a lovely long-range shot. Egyptian superstar Mohamed Salah then doubled Liverpool’s advantage a short while later via a header. There was some VAR controversy in the build-up to the first goal over a question of handball in the box, which incensed City manager Pep Guardiola. I think it’s far to say that he was livid with the refereeing decisions throughout this match, and VAR didn’t help the situation.
Once Liverpool had that 2-0 lead, my thoughts were basically that the match was over. City had lots of possession and indeed looked capable of scoring two themselves, but I did not think they would be able to prevent Liverpool from scoring again. This Scouser team is absolutely ruthless in front of goal. They simply do not waste chances. My suspicions were confirmed when Jordan Henderson provided a magnificent cross into the City box, which Sadio Mané stooped low and nodded into the goal off of City’s backup keeper Claudio Bravo. It was 3-0, and if it wasn’t over before it was certainly over at that point.
Bernardo Silva did get one back for City with about 20 minutes to go, and for maybe 5 minutes or so there was a slight chance City could come back. Time crept away from them though and no more goals were scored.
From the perspective of this United supporter, the Premier League title is now Liverpool’s to lose. They’ve played well and come close in recent years, but they have a 9 point lead right now and no one is playing as well as they are. There is a lot of football left to be played of course and their luck will fluctuate throughout the season, but it will take something special happening to stop Liverpool from winning their first domestic title in 30 years.
*****
Domestic leagues go on hiatus for the next two weeks as the international break returns once again. I hope some of United’s players, especially McTominay and Rashford, get some rest during this time. No more injuries for the squad, either. United next play away to a dangerous Sheffield United side on Nov. 24.
The next match of interest to me is England vs. Montenegro on Nov. 14 at Wembley Stadium in London. That match will be England’s 1,000th game in all competitions, and if they win they will have effectively qualified for Euro 2020. I do expect a victory, given the scintillating form England has been in recently. There is another match away to Kosovo after that, and given that Kosovo are dangerous in attack I’d like to have qualification all wrapped up (or as wrapped up as it can be) before England make the long journey to eastern Europe on Nov. 17.
England took on Montenegro in Podgorica yesterday, and while they did win by a 5-1 margin I have to say I underestimated Montenegro. They played with tenacity throughout the match and really gave England’s defense problems at times. Certainly a much tougher nut to crack than Czech Republic last Friday. Credit to striker Marko Vesovic for getting the opening goal and forcing England onto the back foot. Center-back Michael Keane (Burnley) fell asleep and Vesovic punished him with a curling shot into the far corner.
But Keane redeemed himself a few moments later when he found himself unmarked in the box and got his head to a wonderful free-kick from Ross Barkley for an emphatic equalizer. England put the hammer down repeatedly after that, and were rewarded closer to halftime when Callum Hudson-Odoi unleashed a wicked shot from the left edge of the box that deflected in off of Barkley. England going into halftime with the lead definitely relieved some nerves. You felt that Montenegro would dig in at 1-1 for all of the 2nd half, but with the lead they would have to push forward to find a way to take something from the match. Pushing men forward = openings in defense.
Despite holding on for a little while in the 2nd half, England got their third goal and the match was basically over. Some fantastic dribbling in the box by Raheem Sterling led to the ball falling once again to Barkley, who once again was free to finish neatly into the far corner. After that the flood gates opened, and England quickly got a fourth from Harry Kane, assisted by Sterling after a beautiful through-ball from Barkley. Sterling himself finished the match off late on with a nice run onto and Jordan Henderson pass and tidy finish past the Montenegrin keeper. Man of the Match was Barkley and understandably so, but Sterling would have been a good choice as well.
While the win was emphatic and showed that England will likely not be troubled in this qualifying group, the occasion was marred somewhat by the conduct of the Montenegrin supporters. After his goal, Sterling celebrated by cupping his ear in the direction of the supporters behind the goal. This was in retaliation to racist chanting he was subject to earlier in the game. Hudson-Odoi and left back Danny Rose were also subject to racist chants from the home supporters.
Simply put, this is unacceptable. UEFA has already opened a full investigation into the chants and I hope they ban those responsible from future matches. There is no place for racism anywhere, and especially not in football. People of all races are welcome in the Beautiful Game, and if you think it’s funny or somehow acceptable to chant racist things at players you can fuck right off. As I said, I hope those who were chanting are permanently banned from all future football games in that country. I don’t have a lot of faith in UEFA to get it right or to somehow “solve” racism though. I think I may do a separate post about racism in football, since the problem is certainly not limited to just Montenegro.
Anyway, focusing on the positives, England have scored 10 goals and only conceded 1 in their first two qualifiers. They are already 4 points ahead of 2nd-place Bulgaria. I do not see any reason why England should lose any of our remaining qualifiers. I could maybe see a lazy draw in the final match after we’ve already qualified, but that’s about it. Of course, qualification for major tournaments has never really been England’s problem, a few notable outliers aside. I personally wish Euro 2020 was right now though, given the form England are in. I think a much more thorough test of this current England team will be against the Netherlands in June. That’s actually a competitive match to a certain extent, and the Netherlands also have a very good crop of young players in their senior side who like to play attacking and dynamic football.
England did well in the World Cup by playing in the 3-5-2. Well, they proved today that they can also be very adept at playing in a 4-3-3. Gareth Southgate brought back a traditional back 4 in defense for today’s match, with 20 year-old Declan Rice holding the center of the defensive midfield. Dele Alli and Ross Barkley were put in ahead of him, and as stated they both did particularly well pushing the ball forward and making forward passes to the front three.
Speaking of the front three, it seems to be a very effective way for England to attack opponents. Sterling on the left (see below) and Kane in the middle seem to be locked into position for Southgate, but the right wing spot is more difficult to predict. Given that Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho, and Hudson-Odoi have all done well there, Southgate has a problem in terms of figuring out who is the best at combining with Sterling and Kane. He still may not even know what his best XI is right now, but given that he made 4 changes from the previous match and we still scored 5 anyway, it’s clear he’s spoiled for choice. In terms of problems to have, this is a very good one.
The last thing I want to talk about the development of Sterling over the span of this season has been nothing short of immense. He’s always been quick and always been able to dribble well, but largely thanks to manager Pep Guardiola and his coaching staff at Manchester City, Sterling has gone from “good” to “exceptional” in a very short amount of time. He’s added better positioning, passing, and most notably shooting to his plethora of natural talents, and this season he is starting to look truly world-class. The Sterling of just a year ago couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn from 5 yards, but this season he’s been banging them in from all angles and looks virtually unstoppable at times. If he keeps his confidence, he’s going to be a vital part of England’s attack for years to come.
The last matches of the international break are tomorrow for the most part, and after that it’s back to the club football. England’s players can return to their respective clubs knowing they’ve played very well in the past two games and that countries across Europe are taking notice. Qualification is ours to lose and we have no reason to lose it. England next play against the Netherlands on June 6, 2019 in the semi-final of the Nations League in Portugal.
Manchester United and the Premier League are back on March 30 against Watford at Old Trafford. United need to get back on a winning track in order to stay in the race for the top-4. Watford are currently 8th and therefore cannot be taken lightly. Hopefully we have some players back from injury, and the team is ready to play hard and lock up an important 3 points.
4-4-2 