Right, that’s your lot for Thursday’s Euro 2020-excitement blog. Thank you for reading, commenting, tweeting, and everything else.
Niall McVeigh has ridden over the horizon with the liveblog for Ukraine v North Macedonia - follow it here -
Bye for now.
Former Borussia Dortmund coach Lucien Favre to ... Crystal Palace?
Ed Aarons reports:
Tyrone Mings, the England defender, has spoken to the media today ahead of the Scotland match. In the wake of Christian Eriksen’s cardiac arrest, he was asked if he thinks the players’ health is being sufficiently protected: “First things first, it’s a huge relief that he’s OK,” Mings said. “It was very distressing for all involved, and all who saw it ... We couldn’t be in a safer place than on the pitch - had it been somewhere else, maybe he wouldn’t have been so fortunate. We are lucky to have that kind of treatment available.
“Off the pitch, there are a lot of tests and scans ... for players it puts into perspective what is important, and what isn’t ... I’m sure everybody went through a bit of reflection. In terms of our wellbeing, I think we are well looked after.”
Has Mings been in contact with his Aston Villa teammate John McGinn before Friday’s match? “Yeah, he texted me the other day just saying well done [after England’s win over Croatia] ... and I wished him all the best for their game ... but not since then, no.”
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“When Terry Venables used to work with Jimmy Hill, of course they used to battle like mad on the air,” Des Lynam says with a chuckle. “I would sort of just sit back, enjoy it, occasionally toss the firework in and watch it go.”
Michael Butler speaks to the smoothest football telly presenter of them all:
More non-Euros news: the Fulham manager Scott Parker seems to be getting closer and closer to the exit door at relegated Fulham.
“While I still despise the system with every fibre of my being, I have to say that, so far, I have been quite impressed by how unobtrusive VAR has been in the Euros. Perhaps the self-proclaimed Best League in the World™ should have a word with the organisers to see how it should really be operated.”
A very decent point in one of today’s Fiver letters, from Alistair Moffat.
Read Niall McVeigh’s full Fiver right here!
John McGinn, speaking to the Scottish FA in a match preview on their official website, looked back to their opening defeat by Czech Republic, and added the players must control their emotions against England: “The gaffer gave us 24 hours after the [Czech Republic] game. The result went against us but as I said post-match we can either sulk about it or roll up our sleeves and get on with it. The task remains the same and that’s what we will be focussing on ...
“For us the main message is to treat it like any other game. If we play with too much emotion and passion it may end up going against us or end up with ten men on the park.”
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We’ve had some live pictures of England’s final pre-match training session courtesy of Sky Sports News. All 26 members of the squad were fit to train. If Harry Maguire is included in the matchday squad, that means three outfield players will be left out entirely.
As Jacob Steinberg wrote on Monday, Southgate praised Ben Chilwell and Jadon Sancho for staying upbeat despite being the ones to miss out on any involvement in the opener against Croatia:
Will Gareth Southgate unleash Grealish?
Karen Carney believes tomorrow night’s Scotland match could be just the right moment for the Aston Villa playmaker to taste some tournament action:
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Is the Pope Catholic?
@LukeMcLaughlin are you excited for #DEVILTIME ?
— Asha (@Melatomin) June 17, 2021
(#DEVILTIME is Belgium’s official hashtag.) They meet Denmark at 5pm UK time. They’ve even got their players using it:
Final preps ✅ Tomorrow it’s #DEVILTIME again 👊🇧🇪 pic.twitter.com/11wS8cCbhL
— Toby Alderweireld (@AlderweireldTob) June 16, 2021
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Oh, another post about Italy? Go on then. Locatelli’s second goal against Switzerland last night was rather pretty:
“It’s a goal that will be remembered forever in the Eternal City.” 🤩#ITA have two, Locatelli has two - and that's a fine way to cap a special team move 🙌#ITA | #ITVFootball | #Euro2020 pic.twitter.com/1AKaQniJOo
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) June 16, 2021
The final match on today’s menu will see Perennial Underachievers™ the Netherlands take on Austria at 8pm UK time. Both are coming off opening wins, so another three points for one of these sides, and they will be into the last 16. (This is the only match in ‘round two’ that contested by teams that both won their openers.)
The big team news is that the defender Matthijs de Ligt, formerly of Ajax and now with Juventus, will start for the Netherlands.
Here are some ‘Matchday Mood’ training photos recently published by Austria’s social media operatives:
Matchday-Mood Part I. #AUT #EURO2020 pic.twitter.com/qyHO1HS7uA
— ÖFB - oefb.at (@oefb1904) June 17, 2021
dacynic looks ahead to tomorrow night at Wembley: “I get the feeling that England are going to have to be right on it to beat the their old friends from across the wall tomorrow. Scotland, having lost their first game, have little to lose. And the possibility of scuppering England’s chances added to the age old rivalry means they are going to be even more up for it than usual.”
I agree with that. Scotland weren’t bad at all against Czech Republic, they created plenty, and lost out to a couple of brilliant goals by Schick. If Kieran Tierney is fit to start - which is looking increasingly likely after news that he took full part in training today - that will be another reason to fancy Scotland getting a result. Granted, they will need to be more clinical, and are highly unlikely to have as many sights of goal as they did against Czech Republic, but they have a more than decent chance of doing something special, if you ask me.
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The Euro 96 nostalgia-a-thon continues. PA have some quotes from Darren Anderton, who says no one remembers the fact that he passed the ball to Gazza for THAT goal against Scotland:
“Of course it made me feel great and it does make me laugh because I have had conversations with people,” Anderton said. “I remember someone once said to me, ‘I was at the England v Scotland game, you should have been there, it was unbelievable’. And I just went, ‘Yeah, yeah, I know, I passed him the ball’. I didn’t mean it in a bad way and people just laughed, the poor guy was mortified.”
The goal came soon after Scotland won a penalty, about which Anderton said: “First I thought, ‘Oh s**t, what have we done’. We played great, got a really good goal from Alan Shearer and once the penalty is given your thoughts are just déjà vu,” Anderton said. “It was exactly the same as against the Swiss and it was like, ‘Oh my Lord, we are going to get battered’.
“Then Dave makes a great save and from the goal-kick the ball went to Teddy, I saw Gazza making his run and I knew Teddy would play it off nice and simple. I played Gazza in and once that ball went into his path it was a bit like slow motion, I thought like everyone else, ‘hit it, hit it’, but he flicked it up in the air and then it was just magical. As it came down in the air you just knew that this was the goal, it was the goal he was dreaming about all summer, for him to score against Andy Goram, one of his best mates, meant a lot to him I am sure. It was just magical and he answered the criticism with his celebration. That is what Gazza is all about, he is a genius.”
5⃣4⃣ today! 🎂
— UEFA EURO 2020 (@EURO2020) May 27, 2021
🏴 Happy birthday, Paul Gascoigne 🎈#HBD | @England pic.twitter.com/EXsk1qrl6Q
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It was a nice easy starter for Germany against the current world champions, France, on Tuesday. Germany lost 1-0.
In two days’ time they will meet the current European champions, Portugal.
There are no easy games at this level. There are certainly no easy games in Group F, although Hungary will be like a blast of fresh air for Die Mannschaft after two fiendishly tough opening matches. They need a win on Saturday.
Full focus on #PORGER ⏳#DieMannschaft #GER #EURO2020 pic.twitter.com/mo0qLFmbW5
— Germany (@DFB_Team_EN) June 17, 2021
Loving this North Macedonia training drill. Ezgjan Alioski will surely be taking it back to Leeds and suggesting it to his club gaffer, Marcelo Bielsa?
🇲🇰 North Macedonia training, cone race edition 😀@ffmmkd | #EURO2020 pic.twitter.com/wuJjTk3EaP
— UEFA EURO 2020 (@EURO2020) June 17, 2021
That’s one of the most ludicrous things I’ve seen on a training field since Tony Adams at Granada:
Tony Adams new training regime is underway at Granada! You can't beat it 😉 pic.twitter.com/x34Lk3wlCJ
— Soccer AM (@SoccerAM) April 15, 2017
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lancaster43 comments with a mini match preview/prediction for the match which kicks off in under three hours:
“Ukraine v North Macedonia, coming up at 2pm. High hopes for this one being that bonkers game that every tournament seems to have ... A let’s-forget-defending 4-3 with dozens of other chances missed, or more likely descends into a kicking contest, multiple bookings, three sent off, touchline punch-up, a mini Battle of Santiago and generally things that we are told no one wants to see on a football pitch. No one.”
Definitely not, we don’t want to see anything resembling that.
Mind you ... they’ll both be desperate to get a result. It’s just got that ring to it - Ukraine v North Macedonia, the match that absolutely no one expected to be amazing, but turned out, actually, to be amazing.
““Why not?” came Connor Roberts’ reply when asked, minutes after his goal had put the knockout stages in view for Wales, whether the team could next pull off the unthinkable: defeat Italy, unbeaten in 29 matches and on a run of 31 unanswered goals, in Rome to top Group A.”
Ben Fisher reports from Baku after that stunning win for Wales against Turkey:
Let’s think about Belgium. They’re quite good, aren’t they, really? Romelu Lukaku hit the onion bag twice in their opening win against Russia - with a message for his Internazionale teammate Christian Eriksen to boot. But can Belgium pull it all together and build a serious assault on the trophy? To me they feel a bit like Spain pre-2008 - tonnes of talent, all the necessary systems in place, but a lack of ability to really make it all count ... we will know more this evening after their second match, against Denmark, in which it appears Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne will be making an appearance. De Bruyne hasn’t played since suffering a fractured eye socket in last month’s Champions League final.
“The programme is very clear for Kevin De Bruyne,” coach Roberto Martinez said yesterday. “He’s medically fit, he has the green light to be in a match situation. Obvious now is the question of seeing how long Kevin can play and how we can use the two games that we have in five days to try to bring him to the 90 minutes. I’m really pleased with the progress that he’s making - every day he makes a big difference.”
Here’s the match report from last Saturday:
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Meanwhile, the Arsenal full-back Kieran Tierney has apparently taken part in full training with Scotland today, so that is really encouraging news with regards to his involvement against England tomorrow.
Yesterday, he told Ewan Murray he thinks he is ‘50-50’ to be fit for the big one at Wembley:
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The Italian journalist currently talking on Sky Sports News, Francesco Cosatti, has an update on Chiellini’s injury: “Today he will be checked by the doctors ... if we are optimistic, we can think about 10 days off.”
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Another smattering of non-Euros news: Sergio Ramos is leaving Real Madrid. That’s nearly as big as Leo Messi leaving Barcelona (if it ever happens), or Des Walker leaving Forest.
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The former England international, Kieron Dyer, is talking to Sky Sports News, and is asked about England fans booing while the players took the knee before the opening win against Croatia.
“In my opinion it’s a racist act,” he says. “It’s a minority of the fans, but those people don’t want equality for black people. The fans who booed taking the knee, but then jumped on the bandwagon and celebrated when [Raheem] Sterling scored, are hypocrites. They can’t have it both ways.”
Well said.
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On the subject of Italy and Italians ... Gennaro Gattuso OUT at Fiorentina after 22 days:
Fiorentina have parted ways with manager Gennaro Gattuso 22 days after announcing his appointment. Gattuso was named Fiorentina’s manager for the 2021-22 season on May 25 after leaving Napoli. The Italian was appointed following Giuseppe Iachini’s departure. Fiorentina did not give a reason for Gattuso’s exit, but reports in the Italian media said the 43-year-old had been in dispute with the club over transfer signings this summer.
“ACF Fiorentina and Mister Rino Gattuso, by mutual agreement, have decided not to follow up on the previous agreements and therefore not to start the next football season together,” Fiorentina said in a statement. Gattuso failed to secure Champions League qualification at Napoli last season, with the team finishing fifth, one point behind fourth-placed Juventus. Fiorentina, who finished 13th last campaign, said they will immediately begin their hunt for a new manager. (Reuters)
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Back into the #AzzurriZone briefly (I reserve the right to keep banging on about Italy), as eprstockholm comments: “Really impressed by Italy so far and though I’m generally fond of them, it’s been really good to see them playing such effervescent attacking football. That said, the quality of opposition has left something to be desired: Turkey have been utterly dreadful in both of their games - a lot of people online hastily amending those “dark horses” tips I suspect - while Switzerland looked hapless against the counters in the second half.”
It’ll be interesting to see how Italy v Wales pans out, which is on Sunday. Mancini surely won’t mind the chance to rest a few players, and of course Chiellini has that hamstring niggle after last night, so he surely won’t be involved. There was talk last night (including from Patrick Vieira on ITV) that Italy can’t be judged after beating two poor teams - which is true - but then we can also judge them on their pre-tournament form: they went eight matches without even conceding a goal, a run which has now become 10.
Ukraine v North Macedonia, coming up at 2pm, should be spicy. Both sides lost their opening matches: Netherlands snatched a thrilling 3-2 victory against Ukraine while North Macedonia fell 3-1 to Austria. It follows that neither team that runs out at the National Arena in Bucharest in a few hours’ time can afford to lose if they want to stay involved in this summer’s festival of football.
We’ve got a couple of great background pieces on North Macedonia - one about Elif Elmas of Napoli, the ‘diamond formed in family sweet shop’, by Vladimir Bulatovic:
And another on Goran Pandev, the evergreen striker who scored their first goal of the tournament in that defeat by Austria, by our very own Nick Ames:
While we’re on the subject of Pandev, here’s a chucklesome tweet from Rich Jolly from the other day:
Goran Pandev has faced David Seaman in international football. David Seaman will be 58 in September.
— Richard Jolly (@RichJolly) June 13, 2021
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Our latest round-up of classic YouTube action fittingly features plenty of England v Scotland memories, plus a tribute to the late, great Diego Maradona:
Bookmark this: our indispensable one-stop guide to the tournament:
England have been kind enough to share their pre-match schedule for today.
11.15am: Final training session
7pm: Media conference
1am: Dentist’s chair
One day to go! 🏴🏴
— England (@England) June 17, 2021
Here's today's schedule with @LGUK, as the #ThreeLions continue preparations for Scotland: pic.twitter.com/6aj2DmfxHf
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Ewan Murray has been speaking to the Scotland midfielder Callum McGregor - who previously spent time playing alongside England’s Jack Grealish at Notts County - and will of course be in the mix to face the old enemy in that seismic Group D meeting tomorrow night.
“We linked up really well – Jack set up the majority of the goals I scored. He came in with a reputation even at that age.”
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We certainly hope you are enjoying all this Euro 2020 coverage: here is Jonathan Liew to explain how the magic happens, and how you can help keep it happening:
“Perhaps it would make more commercial sense to litter our webpages with pop-up ads and autoplay videos and make you answer three questions about toothpaste before being able to read anything ... But of course, we aspire to more than that. Moreover, we think you aspire to more than that.”
A big shout going out to Jannik Vestergaard from his club, none other than Southampton of the Premier League. Euro 2020 fever is sweeping the nation(s):
Wishing @JVestergaard7 and @DBUfodbold the best of luck against #BEL tonight (5pm BST)! 🇩🇰 #EURO2020 pic.twitter.com/cIKMOEvgJU
— Southampton FC (@SouthamptonFC) June 17, 2021
BjornXII chimes in, in the comments: “Sorry to hijack to BEL and DEN, but Italy look remarkable. Still screaming around in the 90th minute, the midfield is dominant (so far), top 3 look dangerous. Loving them so far.”
Si.
Here is our story on Christian Eriksen’s treatment following his cardiac arrest, and the news he is to be fitted with a heart starter:
Looking ahead to Denmark v Belgium, TheLMachine comments: “As a Belgium fan I don’t really know how to approach this game, part of me wants Belgium to continue on their winning streak and part of me wants Denmark to get the win they deserve.
“I certainly won’t hold it against the Belgian players if they decide to go “soft” (although that could be more disrespectful to Denmark than anything else) but that doesn’t seem like it will be the case anyway.
“I think i’ll just hope for a nice, entertaining game with no injuries on either side and be quite satisfied if it ends in a draw. Or maybe Belgium will go in full meltdown and lose, you never know ...”
FredleBelge agrees: “Won’t go as far as wishing for a Danish win, but a good entertaining game, with a display of fairness and mutual respect would be a lovely tribute to Eriksen.”
Cretinsahoppin adds: “Go Denmark, somewhat screwed in Round 1 even though it was something of an impossible position. Let’s be honest asking Eriksen if the game should have been played is as silly as asking Pavard if he was ok to play on. Start looking after the players ffs.”
Quite right on both counts: the impact to Pavard’s head was sickening, and it was instantly obvious that he should come off. As for the resumption of Denmark v Finland match, it was astonishing to hear Uefa announce the match would restart that same evening. While the demands on Uefa in running a major tournament must be considered, surely, there had to be a better and fairer way to manage the situation. The subsequent words from Danish players show how poorly they were treated by the governing body.
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Eriksen to be fitted with heart starter
Denmark midfielder Christian Eriksen is to be fitted with a heart starter, the national team doctor has confirmed. The 29-year-old Internazionale midfielder had to be resuscitated on the pitch at the Parken Stadium in Copenhagen during the first half of his side’s 1-0 Euro 2020 Group B defeat by Finland on Saturday.
Eriksen regained consciousness before being taken to hospital, where medics continue to work to identify what caused his cardiac arrest. Providing an update on his status on Thursday, Denmark team doctor Morten Boesen said: “After Christian has been through different heart examinations it has been decided that he should have an ICD (heart starter).”
Boesen added: “This device is necessary after cardiac attack due to rhythm disturbances. Christian has accepted the solution and the plan has moreover been confirmed by specialists nationally and internationally who all recommend the same treatment. We encourage everybody to give Christian and his family peace and privacy the following time.” (PA Media)
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Rafa to Everton? A touch of non-Euros news here:
Football Weekly! Or Football Daily! Football something, anyway.
Max Rushden is joined by Barry Glendenning, Nicky Bandini and Lars Sivertsen to discuss the latest action in Groups A and B at Euro 2020.
Wrap your ears around this:
vsbain67 comments: “How good was all yesterday, but especially Wales? As I said last night, Wales were so good that my German TV had to apologise if it was not appearing neutral, given its gushing enthusiasm for the Welsh performance.
A reminder for some of us at least that the best two UK players are Welsh. Such a high impact to have one the biggest global superstars in your team, one of the elite of the elite. That was also visible locally last night. Everyone knows Bale and makes him the focus of attention (and of course his play deserved it).”
Indeed, yesterday was something of a classic, as far as group-stage days at tournaments go. I only caught the second half of Russia v Finland, but the two later matches were completely captivating and thrilling. Turkey and Switzerland have both disappointed, in truth ... but who cares?
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Fans of a certain age possess fond memories of Des Lynam’s presence on our TVs at major tournaments past. Michael Butler spoke to him:
“We hired Ruud Gullit, which was a terrific success story,” says Lynam. “The first day he came along, we had this BBC coach, which would take us from ground to ground. Being typical BBC, it was a 30‑year‑old thing covered in rust, and along came Ruud. He got out of his Mercedes limousine, took one step on the bus, and shouted out: ‘What is this shit?’”
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Kevin de Bruyne grappling with two wheelie suitcases ... Dries Mertens playing cards on a plane. This is the kind of Belgium content we need:
Now in the RBFA app 👉 #DEVILTIME Daily with some exclusive footage of our business trip to Denmark! 🇧🇪➡🇩🇰 #EURO2020
— Belgian Red Devils (@BelRedDevils) June 17, 2021
📺 https://t.co/neoxAWrqGq pic.twitter.com/pgTmCPw6XT
Denmark v Belgium, which kicks off at 5pm, is going to be emotional. Following the harrowing events of last Saturday, both the teams and all the fans in the stadium will stage an unusual (but entirely fitting) tribute to the recovering Christian Eriksen, who remains in hospital close to the stadium. The ball will be kicked out of play in the 10th minute, and a minute of applause in support of the Denmark player will begin.
Is a Denmark victory too much to hope for ... ?
Louise Taylor was watching Wales’s win in Baku last night -
“With Ramsey and Bale issuing a timely reminder that form may be temporary but class is permanent, Wales safely negotiated a potentially awkward Euro 2020 crossroads at this far-flung junction of Europe and Asia.”
England face Scotland at Wembley tomorrow night - and the central defender Harry Maguire has declared himself fit after ankle ligament damage:
Those of us who backed Italy at 11-1 pre-tournament are feeling like that was a decent bet. There are obvious exceptions down the years, but my feeling on Italy was that they understand how to pull together as a squad at the big tournaments. They generally have a winning mentality as a footballing nation. They seem to be able to leave the egos at the door, commit themselves to the greater good of the team, and thus become greater than the sum of the parts. And the parts, let’s face it, aren’t bad at all. Throw in an experienced coach in Roberto Mancini and they fact they’d kept eight clean sheets on the bounce before the tournament, it seemed like a recipe for a decent showing, at least.
✍️ "Enthusiasm. Ideas. Humility. Hunger. A team. We're looking forward. And we will get better." https://t.co/CbdyAILakT
— Italy ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (@azzurri) June 16, 2021
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Manuel Locatelli cracked in a couple of lovely goals in Italy’s win against Switzerland. Here is Jonathan Liew:
“He showed an enormous amount of courage to react in a positive way from the penalty miss, and that speaks a lot about him as a man.”
The Wales manager Robert Page poured praise on Gareth Bale after that stirring win against Turkey in Baku last night. Here is Ben Fisher’s story:
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Preamble
How good were Wales last night? When Gareth Bale sent that second-half penalty skywards, it looked like a potentially heart-breaking script was being acted out in which Turkey mustered a late equaliser and left Wales in an extremely precarious position in Group A. But Wales were too good: they continued to defend stoutly and found a late goal which literally reduced some of their fans in Baku to tears. Bale’s outstanding delivery for Ramsey’s opening goal, with a finish to match from the Juventus midfielder, will live long in the memory, and Wales’s prospects for the tournament are exciting indeed.
Later in the evening, Italy tore into Switzerland playing Roberto Mancini’s own brand of total football, passing and running and pressing with precision and commitment. It was stunning to watch: but when Giorgio Chiellini’s opening goal was ruled out, and he swiftly went off injured, it was a double blow that might have derailed a less capable side. Not a bit of it: the Azzurri kept their foot on Switzerland’s throat and their second successive 3-0 win was a warning to the other tournament contenders.
Today, we’ve got Ukraine v North Macedonia, Denmark v Belgium and Netherlands v Austria to look forward to. There will be no shortage of attention on the Denmark match following the shocking events of last weekend and Christian Eriksen’s cardiac arrest during the match against Finland. I’ll bring you all the build-up to today’s matches as well as taking a look to tomorrow and England’s showdown against Scotland at Wembley. Let’s go!
Today’s fixtures:
Ukraine v North Macedonia (2pm)
Denmark v Belgium (5pm)
Netherlands v Austria (8pm)
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