RIP away goals rule.
We are all bemoaning a day without football but at 10pm (BST) it is Bolivia v Uruguay in the Copa America, which is not to be sniffed at.
Ali Daei has congratulated Cristiano Ronaldo for equalling his long-standing all-time international goals record.
Former Iran striker Daei, who scored 109 goals for his country in 149 appearances before retiring as a player in 2007, said on Instagram he was “honoured” Ronaldo had joined him at the top of the list.
Ronaldo moved alongside Daei on Wednesday night when he scored his 108th and 109th goals for Portugal – both from the penalty spot – in their 2-2 Euro 2020 group draw against France.
Daei said: “Congratulations to Cristiano who is now one goal away from breaking the men’s international goal scoring record.
“I am honoured that this remarkable achievement will belong to Ronaldo – great champion of football and caring humanist who inspires and impacts lives throughout the world. Vamos!”
Re Mr Sheeran and his guitar: “This is the kind of pointless exercise that will be rightly lambasted when England tumble meekly out on Tuesday evening,” says Matt Joy.
Brand King says: “Why don’t they do away with qualifiers from each group altogether? Just have a combined league table made from everyone’s points from the group stage. Then the top 16 after the group stage go through to the next round. Do away with all this best third place teams business. Although admittedly this may just be a way of redefining what a best third placed team looks like. I haven’t really though this through.”
I am not too sure such a system would work due to the varying quality of teams within individual groups. I like that it would end with all 24 teams playing simultaneously for the final fixture.
Peter Mortensen emails in with regards to the etymology of Kieffer: “Barrel maker” or “cooper” is a possibility (a version of the original “Küfer”), but “Kiefer” also means “pine” (when feminine) or “jaw” (when masculine).”
England’s preparations for Germany are in full flow, say the Telegraph, who are reporting Ed Sheeran was invited to the camp to perform an acoustic set. What a treat for the lads.
Croatia have a cunning plan to unsettle Spain in the last 16 ... to keep possession, according to goalkeeper Dominik Livakovic.
Hopefully Croatia will not be relying on Livakovic to keep the ball away from Spain.
“The knockout stage is like a new tournament altogether and although Spain are an outstanding team full of top quality players, I am sure they will be wary of us too,” Livakovic said. “We need to keep possession as much as possible and make them anxious because they don’t like playing against teams who can do that. It’s going be tough but at this stage only the best teams are still in the tournament. From here on you have to win every game to become the European champions.”
Social media will now be awash with chat about the away goals rule. What a day lies ahead for those people.
Change is afoot.
UEFA (@UEFA)
⚽ The away goals rule will be removed from all UEFA club competitions from the 2021/22 season.
Ties in which the two teams score the same number of goals over the two legs will now have two 15-minute periods of extra time, and, if required, penalty kicks.#UCL #UWCL #UEL #UYL
June 24, 2021
I have now decided to do some brief research on the origins of the name Kieffer. It is a German name meaning “barrel maker”.
Kieffer Moore is an easy target for referees as he’s massive. The 6ft5 Wales striker was sent on against Italy despite being on a booking, forcing Rob Page to offer the advice “to jump with no arms”.
“When referees look at my stature and my height, I’ve kind of made it to be an easy target,” Moore told Sky Sports News. “If opponents go down, realistically I haven’t probably touched them, but they’ve thrown themselves to the floor and it looks like I have. It’s also about me taking myself out of those situations and look like I’m not doing that really.”
Germany’s answer to the Guardian’s Elis James.
Jonathan Liew (@jonathanliew)
huge few days for Henning Wehn
June 24, 2021
“Has anybody else pointed out that England are one of only two teams (Italy are the other) to beat two teams who have made it to the last 16? asks Richard Hirst. “Must be worth something, he said, clutching at straws.”
It’s worth a post here, Richard. Not that such a thing is worth anything.
Ben Blatch-Hanlon says: “Further to David’s question at 12:13, the sides of the draw is just evenly split based on final group positions. Each ‘side’ has two fixtures of ‘group winner v 3rd’, one of ‘group winner v 2nd’, and one of 2nd v 2nd (coincidentally England were unlucky in that the winner of Group D plays 2nd in Group F, while Wales got lucky in that 2nd in Group A plays 2nd in Group B).
“The makeup of each side of the draw just comes from the positioning of each group which were all drawn at random. Portugal and Spain are on that side of the draw as they came 3rd and 2nd in their respective groups, otherwise they could’ve been on the other side (Spain swapping with Sweden would’ve probably made the sides look a bit more balanced).
“The Group of Death contained so many good teams because of their performance in qualifiers - Uefa essentially drew up a table of all the teams using their results in qualifying and ranked them in this way. This dictated the pots that each team would be in, with each pot having 6 teams (one for each group). Germany were ranked 4th based on their performance in the qualifiers so were in pot 1, France ranked 7th so in pot 2, and Portugal ranked 13th (after finishing 2nd in their qualifying group behind Ukraine) so in pot 3. So essentially for the purposes of the group draw, France and Portugal weren’t considered top teams and instead other teams that had done better than them in qualifying were rewarded for performing better.
“Hope this all makes sense and that someone else doesn’t beat me to this, thus rendering my time spent on this email void!”
Connor Roberts thinks the world be against Wales when they take on Denmark in Amsterdam at the weekend.
The Danes have become a lot of people’s second team following Christian Eriksen’s cardiac arrest during their opening match with Finland.
“It’s going to be really tough but hopefully we can [win],” he said. “I think 99% of the world are going to be supporting Denmark.
“It’s going to be tough but we’re a good team, we’ve got good players and we’ve got a little bit of momentum with good performances under our belts. They’re a really good team and they’re going to have a lot of support but, when we cross that white line, we just have to give everything.”
Dylan Upper asks: “How is it that England get to play their round of 16 game at Wembley while other teams that played group games at home (Holland, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Germany) do not?”
Just the way the draw was designed. If England had finished second in the group they would be playing in Copenhagen.
Mike Holland emails: “Every player at Euro 2020 has the word ‘Respect’ on their shirt: I don’t see any respect from Uefa. Who, other than Uefa medical chiefs is ‘confident teams and fans criss-crossing the continent for the Euro 2020 knockout stages will not have a detrimental impact on public health amid the coronavirus pandemic’? What would make these movements different to the superspreader events of the 2020 Cheltenham Festival or Liverpool v Atletico Madrid? The attitude of Uefa was clear when they threatened to move the final from London to Budapest, to a country that has managed to record the second highest death rate per head of population globally yet still fills its stadiums with people not wearing masks. Uefa’s only concern is not to upset supposed VIPs, people ‘very important’ only to their mothers and Uefa.”
“The armband means a lot because we stand for diversity – one love means everybody is a part of it and everybody should be free to be who they are.”
Check out the players peaking at the right time in this tournament.
England beating (West) Germany 3-0 in a tournament in Mexico held back in 1985 is quite niche. Kerry Dixon scored twice, two of his four goals in eight games for his country. Not a bad record, making it surprising he received so few caps.
We can all expect to read about 1966, 96 and that time Vardy scored a nice goal in a friendly a few years back before Tuesday. I am, however, wondering what the most forgettable England v Germany match is.
Who remembers this 2008 friendly? Matthew Upson scored, obviously.
This could by why Gareth Southgate has 38392 full-backs in the squad. It all makes sense now.
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Hot off the press: it is The Fiver, kicking off a week of buildup to England v Germany.
Tom is off to peruse the Leyton Orient fixtures. Here we have a question from David Williams, who asks: “Can you (or some readers) please explain why Italy, Belgium, Portugal, France, Spain and Croatia are all on one half of the draw (representing World Cup winners, Euro 2016 winners, Euro 2012 winners, World Cup 2010 winners, etc. plus runners-up several times over) and on the other side of the draw there’s... Germany (World Cup winners 2014) and the Netherlands (runners up 2010) and that’s it?
“And how France, Portugal and Germany ended up in the same group, while allowing several poorer groups (C and E) to go ahead?
“FWIW, I fancy an England v Wales semi-final...”
I put this question out to smarter people than I.
Anyway, time for a half-time replacement: the board with my number’s being held aloft and impact sub Will Unwin’s here to take you through the rest of the day. See you’se again soon.
Harry Maguire trained away from England’s main group on Thursday morning, PA reports. The Manchester United captain returned and impressed againts the Czechs on Tuesday in his first appearance of Euro 2020 after recovering from ankle ligament damage. He spent Thursday training indoors on an individual programme as a group of 23 players took to the pitch at St George’s Park.
This just in from PA Media:
UEFA medical chiefs are confident teams and fans crisscrossing the continent for the Euro 2020 knockout stages will not have a detrimental impact on public health amid the coronavirus pandemic.
England are the only team who will not be travelling to a new destination for the last 16 of a tournament which is spread across 11 countries.
However, the tournament’s medical adviser Dr Daniel Koch believes the benefits of the Euros must be balanced in the same way as other industries.
“Every day, a lot of lorry drivers are running around Europe, thousands and thousands every day, and they are not tested, they are not restricted,” he said.
“Europe is interconnected, it’s heavily interconnected, the virus will not stop at the borders. We can restrict it but we cannot avoid it. I think that’s why we have to be in a balance.
“Not only in business and industry, you have to look at all the things which make people and societies better off.
“The sports, and all these issues, have to be in a balance. And if you put all this in balance I think there is no question that just this few thousand people travelling to the football matches are not making the difference.”
Euro 2020 chief medical officer Dr Zoran Bahtijarevic said the movement would not have a negative impact on the teams either, and that in some cases it was safer to travel internationally than within one country.
“If the teams are respecting the recommendations that we give them and all the things we put in place for their safety and they’re really respecting the bubble, I would say within some countries the risk is lower when travelling internationally than nationally,” he said.
He said teams would continue to move from bubble to bubble - training camps to hotels and stadia. Transit is in buses driven by people who have been tested or vaccinated, with chartered flights and special boarding procedures in place to minimise the risk of infection at airports.
“There is very little influence, if any, from outside toward the bubble, and then there is also very little influence of the teams on the public health in the designated area,” he said.
“I would use this opportunity to congratulate all the teams that qualified, but also to call them once again to respect the bubble-to-bubble behaviour in their best interests and in the interests of public health.”
Dr Koch was asked about the wisdom of inviting more than 60,000 fans to Wembley for the semi-final and final. It emerged after the medical briefing that the Danish authorities attributed 29 Covid-19 infections to the three group matches played in Copenhagen, including three fans becoming infected with the Delta variant following the Denmark v Belgium match on June 17.
“For the moment, what we’ve seen in Europe is that filling up the stadiums partly is a safe thing to do,” Dr Koch said.
“The Euro is a very important event, because it creates joy, it creates happiness in the population.
“We will not have enough children moving and doing enough sport if we cut up their idols, if we cut up where they are getting their inspiration from.
“We will always have to look at what we are measuring against and Europe has to go back to some normality, because for a healthy population in Europe sport is a very important issue.”
And one last-16 fixture that’s been relatively under-discussed so far is that between the Netherlands and Czech Republic. On form and performances so far the Dutch should nick this, but it gives us an excuse to relive this, perhaps the greatest, wildest, most enjoyable group-stage match ever staged in this tournament:
A lot of last-16 predictions being thrown out BTL, so here’s mine, for what very little it’s worth: Denmark to beat Wales, Italy to beat Austria, Netherlands to beat Czech Republic, Portugal to beat Belgium, Croatia to beat Spain, France to beat Switzerland, Germany to beat England, Sweden to beat Ukraine.
Sergio Busquets has been talking about the “difficult times” he has endured as a result of the Covid positive that kept him away from the Spain squad at the start of the Euros.
After returning to help Spain through to the knockout stages of Euro 2020 in their 5-0 romp against Slovakia, Busquets said: “I’m emotional because I had to go through some difficult times. I had to stay at home for 10 days, not knowing if I was going to be back or not.”
“All this helped us grow,” Busquets said. “Now whatever challenges we have in front of us, we will face them with this mentality.”
Busquets was loudly cheered by the home crowd when he was substituted in the 71st minute after feeling a little tightness in his calf, which he said shouldn’t be a problem ahead of the round of 16.
“He played perfectly,” said the Spain coach Luis Enrique, who decided to wait for Busquets instead of dropping him from the squad despite not knowing if he would fully recover from the virus. “He is unique, a guarantee.”
Luis Enrique added: “We are gaining momentum. I’m sure that if you ask any of our rivals no one will be happy to have to play against us. Now we get to play against a Croatia team that has great players and plays at a high level. You can’t expect weak teams in the round of 16.” AP
Back briefly to the EFL, and bother for Derby:
The Football League (EFL) has announced an “interchangeable fixture list” which carries a threat of Derby playing in the third tier, after the club were fined £100,000 and warned about their future conduct for accounting irregularities.
The EFL confirmed the sanction after a verdict made by an independent disciplinary commission. The original charge was lodged almost 18 months ago. Derby were then cleared of breaching the EFL’s financial rules, although the league won its appeal against that decision earlier this year.
The EFL said as a result it was releasing the interchangeable list, in case any appeal against the verdict led to Derby being handed a retrospective points deduction which could relegate them to League One and reinstate Wycombe as a Championship club.
If there was a national anthem Euros, Wales would at the very least make the final (likely facing France, for my money). Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau has certainly become central to forging a diverse Wales team’s sense of identity.
This just in from AP:
Danish health officials have urged soccer fans who attended the European Championship game between Denmark and Belgium on June 17 in Copenhagen to be checked for the coronavirus after they found at least three people who later tested positive for the delta variant.
The Danish health minister says about 4,000 people sat near those who have tested positive. Denmark has reported 247 cases of the variant since April 2.
All those attending the final Euro 2020 game in Copenhagen on Monday [Croatia v Spain] must show valid documents that they are not infected with Covid-19 before they can enter Parken Stadium.
This week’s Classic YouTube has some retro-treats for admirers of Michel Platini (as a player) and Zinedine Zidane.
Rummaging BTL, and England-Germany matters are inevitably dominating the discourse. Here’s Hammerhead72: “Germany always a threat but obviously unpredictable . However they know how to handle these games and will be if nothing hard to beat . England look like a team of talented individuals , yet to find the right balance and consistency. Kane looked better the other day and we did rotate well up front . The defensive pair of Philips and Rice will be tested as the Germans will try to dominate midfield . Can our left and right backs get forward enough to create pressure . Who knows.”
It’s very hard to call, this. There’s a sense that something will have to give. England’s previously impermeable defence will concede if Germany attack with even half the verve and width they showed against Portugal, but that even a far-from-prolific England attack should manage a goal or two against them. It’s remarkable that many still speak of Germany as some kind of ruthless winning machine, whereas they’re one of the most wildly unpredictable, entertaining and erratic international teams around, and have been for years (only one actual major trophy since 1996). They’re more akin to Keegan’s Newcastle, if anything, so invoking their 1974-96 incarnations as any sort of pointer to next Tuesday seems irrelevant.
With no football until Saturday, there’s just the Ethics Copa América to stop us from staring blankly at the back of the sofa, and here’s a report from Brazil’s contentious win over Colombia last night, settled by a 100th-minute goal from Casemiro:
Labour calls for Wembley VIP tickets to be given to fans: back to the kerfuffle over 2,500 VIPs being allowed to skip Covid restrictions to attend the final at Wembley, the Labour party is urging the government to press Uefa to give those tickets to fans instead. Jo Stevens, Labour’s shadow DCMS secretary, said: “It was the passion of football fans that saw off the threat of the European Super League and it is fans who are facing restrictions on travel and in stadiums. Football should be for the people. Instead of caving in to pressure from Uefa bigwigs, the Tories should stand up to them, say they’re not welcome and open up their tickets to fans.”
“I imagine BTL and in pubs everywhere the usual debate about Ronaldo’s record is ongoing,” writes Peter Van. “It’s only penalties, he only plays for himself, it’s all tap-ins, etc. But I looked up the list and it’s impressive:
It’s only him and Ali Daei above 100 international goals. Third best is a Malaysian, Mohktar Dahari, on 89 goals. Then the great Puskas, on 84. The rest of the top ten is all Asians whom I - sorry for my ignorance of Asian football – had never heard of, plus Pelé (77). First Englishman on the list – Wayne Rooney, with 53 goals.
Even if it’s all penalties and all tap-ins and he is arrogant and his face is annoying and whatever: what a monumental achievement. And he’s still going and may get the record all for himself as soon as Sunday. Just amazing.”
It is. Putting aside the 2006 World Cup quarter-final, which was from a different age altogether, Ronaldo’s always been at his most likeable in a Portugal shirt, at his least self-absorbed.
Turning briefly to English domestic matters, the Football League fixtures are out. And if you’re not already on club websites planning weekends away (if permitted), then you can run the rule over the opening day games here. They take place on the weekend of 6-8 August.
Championship: Bournemouth v West Bromwich Albion, Blackburn Rovers v Swansea City, Bristol City v Blackpool, Cardiff City v Barnsley, Coventry City v Nottingham Forest, Derby County v Huddersfield Town, Fulham v Middlesbrough, Luton Town v Peterborough United, Preston North End v Hull City, Queens Park Rangers v Millwall, Sheffield United v Birmingham City, Stoke City v Reading
League One: Bolton Wanderers v MK Dons, Cambridge United v Oxford United, Charlton Athletic v Sheffield Wednesday, Crewe Alexandra v Cheltenham Town, Doncaster Rovers v AFC Wimbledon, Fleetwood Town v Portsmouth, Gillingham v Lincoln City, Ipswich Town v Morecambe, Rotherham United v Plymouth Argyle, Shrewsbury Town v Burton Albion, Sunderland v Wigan Athletic, Wycombe Wanderers v Accrington Stanley
League Two: Carlisle United v Colchester United, Exeter City v Bradford City, Forest Green Rovers v Sutton United, Harrogate Town v Rochdale, Hartlepool United v Crawley Town, Mansfield Town v Bristol Rovers, Northampton Town v Port Vale, Oldham Athletic v Newport County, Salford City v Leyton Orient, Scunthorpe United v Swindon Town, Stevenage v Barrow, Tranmere Rovers v Walsall
Here’s a nice gallery of German stadiums lit up in LGBTQ+ solidarity:
Time to scoop up some reaction and comment from last night’s antics, and to look ahead to the next round.
Barney Ronay writes on England’s campaign entering its first note of jeopardy:
Gareth Southgate must plan for a point-of-no-return knockout fixture against the kind of high-grade major power England habitually lose to in knockout football. It will be utterly unlike anything else in the strange fever dream of the last two years.
David Hytner looks at the big questions now confronting Gareth Southgate’s side:
In the opposing dugout Yogi Löw knows Germany can’t produce another error-ridden display at Wembley:
Elsewhere, Andy Brassell sings the praises of Renato Sanches, resurgent for Portugal:
And check out the latest Golden Boot standings:
How to plan your life from Saturday:
Saturday 26 June, 5pm: Wales v Denmark; 8pm: Italy v Austria
Sunday 27 June, 5pm: Netherlands v Czech Republic, 8pm: Belgium v Portugal
Monday 28 June, 5pm: Croatia v Spain; 8pm: France v Switzerland
Tuesday 29 June, 5pm: England v Germany; 8pm: Sweden v Ukraine
Morning everyone, and welcome to day 14 of Euro 2020. Where to start eh? Where to start? Between 5pm and 10pm yesterday I found myself chasing my tail following four football matches and two cricket matches, all while trying to lead what might laughably be described as a “normal” domestic life. Yesterday was what tournament football is all about though: goals galore – 18 (eighteen) of them, and the sort of “as it stands” twisting and turning, random crowd excitement we all crave.
And the upshot of which is: Sweden v Ukraine in the last 16. Oh, and England v Germany and Belgium v Portugal, the two ties that leap off the page. Germany are lucky to be there, after a sluggish and slack display against Hungary amid the rainbow flags. The defending champions Portugal only snuck through in third too after an agreeably see-sawing match against the world champions France, who don’t look at their best either, though we were saying the same about both after their respective group stage campaigns in 2016 and 2018. And Cristiano Ronaldo will never stop scoring.
At the end of which, elimination from such an absurdly high-standard group felt harsh on Hungary, as it also did on Poland earlier, who, inspired by Robert Lewandowski, fought back impressively to draw level with Sweden only to fall victim to Viktor Claesson’s sucker punch. And even the one game yesterday that was a walkover – Spain’s drubbing of Slovakia – felt like a surprise. Spain? Scoring goals and taking their chances? That’ll never catch on.
Anyway, enough of me. Have a bang on the latest Euro 2020 Daily.
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