Thank you very much for joining me. Fill your boots with a big quarter-finals preview.
This jacket looks cool. I bet they sell well.
Updated
Aymeric Laporte is speaking prior to Spain’s quarter final against Switzerland.
“I do not think we are favourites,” Laporte said. “We have a very good national team and have shown that in the latest matches. It is very difficult to beat us and done this is well in many matches. We much more to achieve.”
Back of the net.
Great finish, @PhilFoden! 👌 pic.twitter.com/bLbeBNe0O9
— England (@England) July 1, 2021
That nice man Nick Ames has written about Haris Seferovic.
“The headers Seferovic planted past Hugo Lloris on an extraordinary night in Bucharest, his second and third goals of Euro 2020, helped to give Switzerland their greatest footballing moment and completed a night of personal affirmation.”
Tenuous Euros story ... Alexander Isak, who impressed for Sweden at the Euros has signed a new contract with Real Sociedad, ending speculation he could be on the move this summer.
✍ COMUNICADO OFICIAL | @Alex_Isak renueva hasta 2026 💙#Isak2026 | #AurreraReala pic.twitter.com/wthZ6C66B1
— Real Sociedad Fútbol (@RealSociedad) July 1, 2021
A little Pickford addition from PA ...
Pickford also hailed the work done by back-up keepers Aaron Ramsdale and Sam Johnstone.
“Of course, the GK union is great,” he added. “We work hard every day. 100 per cent, you have got to be on your ‘A’ game, no cutting corners. We work hard and share the load and get the best out of each other.”
England were roared on by a raucous Wembley crowd as they beat Germany and Pickford feels that has given the squad more impetus to win the quarter-final in Rome and return home for the semi-finals and final.
“We’ve got to create our own atmosphere in Rome, which we are capable of doing,” he said.“The fans were tremendous the other night and throughout the group stages as well so i think that gives us added motivation for the game, to come back to a semi-final with 60,000 fans.”
Jordan Pickford is full of praise for everyone who plays in front of him for helping to keep four cleansheets.
“For me it is very good and it is really nice,” Pickford replied when asked about keeping four clean sheets from four games. “But it is not just me, it is a full XI and everyone is working really hard to keep those clean sheets, in tournament football they are key.
“It (Germany) was a good game and for me it was a good game, I was in the moment and I have got to be in the moment for England – and I felt I was there, making saves when I have got to. You have just got to be ready, concentration levels have got to be high and I’ve just got to be 100 per-cent all through the game.”
Jamie Jackson has plenty more from the Ukraine camp.
Ruslan Malinovsky is very happy for Ukraine to be underdogs at the weekend when they face England.
“It is nice to be in this position, that England are favourites. It gives more pressure to them, not us,” the Atalanta midfielder said. “We were a little bit disappointed after the (group) game against Austria and we showed a good reaction against Sweden. Of course it gives us some confidence for the game against England.
“We saw a lot of results that we didn’t expect from the other teams – Switzerland and Czech Republic (beating France and Holland respectively). It showed in this tournament anything is possible, every team can win. This makes football more beautiful, I think.
“We need to come to this game against England in a good mood. We will have a great atmosphere and it will be a fantastic game for us.”
Gareth Southgate is hoping England can maintain their “edge” going into their quarter-final against Ukraine in Rome. The England manager has also been thoroughly enjoying receiving a plethora of good look messages.
“There are some people who I have got huge respect for and I’ve had some nice messages from a couple of former internationals and people I hold in really high regard,” Southgate told the Official England Podcast.
“The job is to create a team that the nation can relate to and create memories that last forever and we did that against Germany, the opening game was a great occasion against Croatia.
“The Scotland game is always a big occasion and I know the game didn’t fulfil what we would have hoped but it was a crucial part to us qualifying.
“Now we’ve got a quarter-final which, again we’ve only been to one semi-final since the European Championship was in a tournament format, so a fantastic challenge for us again.
“But it’s Saturday now for us, the messages are great, the congratulations are great but they’re also dangerous because it can take an edge from you and we’ve got to get that edge in our feeling now to get back into performance state before Germany.”
Unsurprisingly, the Swiss camp look very happy.
Switzerland have arrived in St Petersburg for tomorrow’s quarter-final with Spain, and Vladimir Petkovic made it clear during his pre-match press conference that there will be no basking in the remarkable win over France. “From today we need to be hungry again, greedy to make it into the next round,” he said. “I can’t say that I am satisfied and happy that we’ve made it so far. We want to success, to make it into the next round; we know that we have to compete with one of the strongest teams but we will try to take our chance.”
Petkovic would be presiding over history if Switzerland reach the semi-finals. They have never reached the last four of a tournament and their task will be complicated by the fact Granit Xhaka, who was superb against France, is suspended. Xherdan Shaqiri will take the captain’s armband and Dennis Zakaria, the Borussia Monchengladbach player, may well occupy the vacant midfield spot – although Petkovic would not confirm his plans.
The weather in St Petersburg is glorious and, in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, the atmosphere is fan-friendly, with a Fan Zone constructed in the Konyushennaya Square location that housed similar setups at the World Cup and Confederations Cup. That hides a more worrying picture, though. As many as 1,500 Swiss supporters may travel but there are concerns about their welfare given Covid-19 rates here are rocketing. At least 300 of the Finland fans who visited for group stage games have since tested positive for the virus and fans from Switzerland have been advised not to travel if they are yet to be vaccinated.
Haigin88 says in comments: “I don’t like seeing people big up Jordan Pickford? Because they’re incorrect? No, he’s been very good and, for one, his positioning made it as hard as possible for Thomas Müller the other day. Because one always feels that he’s got a mistake, a clanger in him and it would be better if he saved them up for mid-table Everton where they do no harm. Giving him due respect now makes me feel like it is bringing the bollock-dropping sooner rather than later (hope that I don’t have to link back to this over the next few days).”
And that’s all from me - back to a fed and watered Will Unwin, who will guide you through the rest of the afternoon, as we continue to build a frenzy of excitement for Ukraine 0-0 England.
Jacob Steinberg is here, with some thoughts on Declan Rice, who appeared to be teetering on the brink during the win against Germany after his early yellow card:
If you missed it this morning: take a look at Ed Aarons’s excellent piece on Sancho’s unstoppable rise:
Manchester United have just published news: official confirmation that the Sancho deal is done.
“Manchester United is delighted to announce it has reached agreement in principle with Borussia Dortmund for the transfer of Jadon Sancho.
The signing is subject to contractual terms and a medical, which will be completed after Jadon’s involvement in the UEFA European Championship.”
Subject to terms and a medical: because what we all need is for this story to be dragged on a little bit further ...
Updated
If you fancy checking out Ukraine / England’s route to the final, our Euro 2020 tournament overview is right here:
Let’s hope this eagerly-awaited Ukraine player conference is comparable with Andriy Yarmolenko’s sponsorship banter earlier in the tournament ...
“Contact me!”
Ukr's Andriy Yarmolenko: 'I'll put Coca-Cola … I'll put Heineken right here. Contact me!' #Euro2020 pic.twitter.com/4RNmtctPvA
— Guardian sport (@guardian_sport) June 18, 2021
Updated
It’s a feast of sport this afternoon, and Daniel Harris has all the action from Wimbledon right here, after Cameron Norrie sealed his progress into the third round -
If cycling’s your thing, the Tour de France stage is an interesting one today, and they have about 85km to race on the road to Châteauroux. Follow it here:
Updated
A bit of C-Ron related news here, from Reuters. Juventus insist he’s going nowhere:
There are no signs Cristiano Ronaldo will leave Juventus, the club’s football director said on Thursday, dismissing speculation that the all-time top scorer could move to another club. “There has been no sign from Ronaldo about a possible move ... and no sign from Juve,” Federico Cherubini said. “We are very happy that Ronaldo will rejoin the team once the rest period after the European Championship is over.”
FIFA’s official Twitter have posed a goalkeeper-related question ahead of Belgium v Italy - who’s the better goalie, Courtois or Donnarumma?
I know whose back three/back four I’d take, between the two sides - definitely Italy’s - but it’s a close-run thing between the keepers:
🚨 ⚽️ 🗳️@thibautcourtois | @BelRedDevils | @gigiodonna1 | @azzurri | @EURO2020 | #EURO2020
— FIFA.com (@FIFAcom) July 1, 2021
🧤 Who is the better goalkeeper?
We’re expecting some player quotes from Ukraine at some point soon, I believe they had a press conference at around 1pm.
Updated
In the comments, pubbore responds to the suggestion that Southgate could rest the likes of Phillips and Rice against Ukraine, who are on yellow cards after the Germany tie, with one eye on the semi-final:
“What message does it send - to our own players, to the opposition - if you effectively pick a second-choice, with the complacent assumption that that will be good enough to get us through? Could it make Shevchenko’s team talk any easier? How would Mings/Henderson/Grealish feel, knowing that no matter how well they play Maguire/Phillips/Foden will be back in the semi-finals? One match at a time. Play the strongest team. Cross the semi-final bridge if we get there.”
Skills from Phil Foden in training earlier today:
Great finish, @PhilFoden! 👌 pic.twitter.com/bLbeBNe0O9
— England (@England) July 1, 2021
Enjoy your fois gras starter and roast duck main, Will. Now, following on from those quotes from the former England goalie David James on Jordan Pickford, the ex-gaffer Glenn Hoddle has been talking Harry Kane:
“Harry Kane is off the mark and I think we’ll see the best of him - and not just because he’s scored, but because he’s grown in confidence,” Hoddle told Betfair (via PA Media). “Kane might be the one that drags England over the line and helps us win this. When he ran to the corner flag after he scored you could see all the emotion. He might say he wasn’t stressed but that reaction to scoring is a release.
“Alan Shearer went through it before Euro 96, top strikers all go through it, and they’ll always say they’re not worried, but you could just see in his celebration that there’s something going on in the chemistry of his body in that release he had and the confidence he had after that in his all-round play, holding up well and being involved in moves more than before. Harry will do everything now with a smile on his face after the chains have been taken off his shoulder and this is fabulous news for England.”
Updated
Anyway ... I am off to secure some sustenance. Luckily for you, Luke McLaughlin is going to provide high quality coverage for the next hour.
David James reckons Jordan Pickford is key to England’s success. The goalkeeper has kept four cleansheets already in the tournament and will be hoping for three more.
“I think he’s been fabulous,” James told the PA news agency. “It makes me laugh that people are talking about mistakes in the Premier League back in December and August. Hang on a minute, we’re talking about now…
“He’s been outstanding. He hasn’t really made a mistake, he hasn’t put us under any pressure and he’s been exactly what you want from a goalie in a major tournament.”
Pickford has been criticised for making rash decisions in the past, but James believes that is unfair and pointed to how he handled the one-on-one situation with Thomas Muller in England’s 2-0 win over Germany on Tuesday.
“When Muller got through it was a prime opportunity to do something reckless, to keep running out and try to anticipate Muller but he didn’t, he held his ground and it took a lot of composure,” James said.
“He looks a much more assured goalkeeper, he’s calm and composed. He looks happy, he doesn’t look wound up, and that breeds confidence in the players in front of him.”
There are four players on a booking for England. Should Gareth Southgate risk playing Kalvin Phillips, Declan Rice, Harry Maguire and Phil Foden? I suspect Foden will not play but the others are automatic picks, will he want to disrupt the team to keep them primed/available for a potential semi-final?
Get this in your ears! Max Rushden, Jonathan Liew, Barney Ronay and Jordan Jarrett-Bryan join forces for today’s pod.
I wonder if they asked him about moving to Manchester United.
Today's Diary Room guest: @_DeclanRice! 🙌
— England (@England) July 1, 2021
The #ThreeLions man chats about the win against Germany, #LoveIsland and Saturday's quarter-final: pic.twitter.com/bKXP9cEV58
“Regarding Declan Rice, and speaking as someone who watches him regularly for West Ham United, he’s worth 100m and more to us,” says Jack Hart. “We’ll never be able to replace him, for both his talent and impact on the squad. He plays a different game for us compared to England and is truly phenomenal in both. I’ve been using people’s opinions on Rice in this tournament as a gauge of their footballing know-how.”
“Does anyone else think that 100 million is a tad much for Declan Rice?” asks Arwel Jones. “He’s a decent but unremarkable player. 100 million?
“For Man Utd he’d be a step up from Fred for sure, but I think I would prefer someone like Lacotelli in there, someone with drive and personality. Know what I mean?”
Players are worth what a club is willing to pay. United need someone in that position and Rice keeps showing he is one of the best around.
“There are a lot of leaders in and around the team and they handled the situation and media incredibly well. They allowed themselves to be vulnerable and that has helped contribute to the deep togetherness between the team and the country.”
Reuters also report from the Czech camp ...
Czech team captain Vladimir Darida and left-back Jan Boril trained this week after injury issues and will fly with the team to Baku. Darida missed the last-16 match against the Netherlands with an unspecified leg injury while Boril missed out due to two bookings. However, the Slavia defender also had not trained in recent days due to minor injuries.
Coach Jaroslav Silhavy praised Antonin Barak and Pavel Kaderabek, who filled in for them against the Dutch.
“Kaderabek didn*t play for a long time and he did great. The same for Barak,” Silhavy said. “The players were ready and did well.”
The winners of Saturday’s tie will face a much quicker turnaround as they meet either England or Ukraine in their semi-final at Wembley on Wednesday.
Some news from Reuters on Denmark ...
Denmark and the Czech Republic both welcome back injured players for their European Championship quarter-final in Baku on Saturday after an extended rest since their last-16 victories over Wales and the Netherlands respectively.
The Danes, who won the Euros in 1992 after a last-minute inclusion instead of Yugoslavia, are back in the quarter-finals for the first time since 2004. The Czechs, who won in 1976 and were runners-up in 1996, made their last appearance in the quarters in 2012.
Striker Yussuf Poulsen returns after missing the Danes’ 4-0 drubbing of Wales in Amsterdam last Saturday in a game that saw his replacement Kasper Dolberg score two goals, giving coach Kasper Hjulmand a pleasant selection headache.
“I feel ready to play on Saturday, but it’s Kasper’s [Hjulmand] decision,” Poulsen, who netted in the group stage games against Belgium and Russia, told a news conference on Thursday.
Belgium chat.
@Will_Unwin Belgium have a pretty ropey defence but a sparkling, fast and skilled attack. England have, somehow, a great defence, a midfield that works well, and unknown quantities in attack. Last game, whisper it, we were tactically fluid too. Strange times.
— TheDunny (@TheDunny2) July 1, 2021
It’s The Fiver time!
“I suggested it was arrogant to talk about the draw “opening up” and I stand by that,” emails Duncan. “Belittling your opponents by unfavourably comparing them with other possible opponents perceived as superior achieves absolutely nothing and it IS arrogant. In terms of Gareth and his boys though, they seem to have treated every side with great respect and the evidence for this is provided by their clean sheets and supposedly boring, cautious displays. Ironically, it’s this boring approach that absolutely gets me excited!”
Some more minnows chat ...
@Will_Unwin So ... Belgium fans think they will do well because they have good players, but England (who also have good players) is purely out of a sense of entitlement? Cheers Brendan!
— ElNombre (@ElNombre479) July 1, 2021
More tenuous links to the Euros transfer news!
Arsenal have made a big for Italy’s Manuel Locatelli, according to Sassuolo’s sporting director. The midfielder has helped the Azzurri get to the quarter-finals where Belgium await on Friday.
The 23-year-old started his career at Milan before joining Sassuolo on loan, a move which was later made permanent. Sassuolo sporting director Giovanni Carnevali confirmed the Gunners had made a “concrete offer” for Locatelli, who also has interest from Juventus.
“Juventus are the only Italian club we talked to about Locatelli. We met last week with (Juventus sporting director Federico) Cherubini,” Carnevali said to Sky Italia. There is interest from their side, we haven’t explored all the terms and evaluations, but we have an excellent relationship with Juventus, so we will continue these talks.”
Carnevali added: “It’s true that other clubs from abroad are interested, Arsenal are one of these and they are ahead of everyone else because they have made us an important proposal. Indeed up to now they are the only club which has presented a concrete offer.”
“One thing about Three Lions reentering global pop culture at the last World Cup,” says Kari Tulinius, “is that the version of Three Lions that was readily available to people outside the UK in 2018 was the 1998 version, which had considerably more jingoistic lyrics. The original version was genuinely difficult to find. So the lyrics that Luka Modric translated for his teammates in the dressing room included verses like:
Talk about football coming home
And then one night in Rome
We were strong, we had grown
And now I see Ince ready for war
Gazza good as before, Shearer certain to score
And Psycho screaming
P.S. The 1998 video is also not as good as the original:
Fans travelling from the UK to Italy for England’s Euro 2020 quarter-final clash with Ukraine on Saturday will not be allowed to enter the stadium in Rome, even if they have a ticket, due to coronavirus curbs, the Italian Embassy in London said on Thursday.
England’s victory over Germany on Tuesday set up the last-eight clash at the Stadio Olimpico, but fans looking to make the journey to Italy from the UK cannot attend the match.
“Anybody who has been in the UK in the previous 14 days, irrespective of their nationality or residency, will not be admitted to the stadium, even if they have a ticket,” a statement read.
“Only those who can prove that they have arrived in Italy at least six days previously, have observed five days of quarantine, and have taken a post-quarantine COVID-19 test with a negative result will be allowed into the Stadio Olimpico.
“...Fans based in the UK should therefore not travel to Italy to attend the match on Saturday at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.”
Italy is on the UK’s amber travel list, while since June 21, the Italian government has imposed stricter quarantine measures on anyone arriving into the country from the UK.
“I’ve never personally felt arrogant wanting England to reach their potential with excellent teams that I have seen in 1986, 1990, 1996, 1998, 2006, 2018 etc,” Tom Marlow writes. “I think what Southgate is doing so well is managing the tournament better than many of his predecessors and learning from mistakes past so England have less chance of conceding soft goals which takes away the need to chase games and end up at best exhausted for the later rounds. As Ruud Gullitt gnomically pointed out, the longer you stay in the tournament the more chance you have of winning it.
“I think the away game in Rome also suits England fine, get the game head back on, get a result and come back to the capital to finish it off ;)”
Southgate certainly is doing incredibly well in terms of game and tournament management. And thank you for the winky face.
It could be a very busy summer for Declan Rice. Jacob Steinberg has the story.
Brendan O’Brien responds to Chris Hutty [11.15): “My point is about history and perceptions. Belgian fans no doubt have high hopes because Belgium have so many good players. England have a good team too, but it’s not just about the team. Many England fans and pundits have a sense of entitlement that I am pretty sure the Belgians don’t have. National culture, and attitudes towards other nations, come into play.”
“Am I the only person who thinks that Three Lions is the most misunderstood song since Born in the USA?” asks Nick Lewis. “’Football’s coming home’ means, surely, that the ‘96 tournament was to be played in England where the game was invented? It doesn’t mean England are going to win the thing. That would be at odds with the downbeat tone of the piece. Now, Ian Broudie is a clever songwriter, so, fair dues, a chance of dual meaning in there I suppose, but football DID come home in 1996.”
Quite possibly. No one can remember what the song is actually called, so finding meaning it might be tricky.
“Re Brendan O’Brien’s email earlier (10.18 and his assertion that England are minnows,” says Chris Hutty. “I’d be interested to know if Brendan views Belgium as minnows as well?
“It seems curious to me that to look ahead and view England as contenders for the Euros is somehow ‘typical England arrogance’ while Belgium are happily discussed as hot favourites. It has perhaps escaped people’s attention that Belgium’s recent record is almost exactly the same as England’s. Both were beaten semi-finalists at the last World Cup, both went out in the last 16 at the last Euros and both have made it to one Nations League finals. They also beat each other once in the Nation’s League qualifiers.
“Granted, they have Kevin De Bruyne whereas we have Kalvin Phillips but otherwise I’m not sure I get it :)”
Thanks for signing off with a smiley face.
In vaguely related Euros news ... Dortmund have confirmed a deal has been reached for the transfer of winger Jadon Sancho to Manchester United. The former Manchester City is part of Gareth Southgate’s England squad but he has featured for a mere six minutes during the tournament.
A Dortmund statement read: “The player Jadon Sancho is about to move from Borussia Dortmund to Manchester United. Both clubs and the player reached an agreement on this today. If the transfer is completed, Manchester United will pay a fixed transfer fee of €85million.
“The contractual details now have to be coordinated and documented. The formal processing of the transfer is also subject to the successful completion of all necessary medical tests and examinations, a coordination procedure with the player’s previous club and the proper and timely processing in accordance with the provisions of the Fifa Transfer Matching System.”
Updated
“I’m just imaging how potentially bleak a Ukraine v Denmark / Czech semi at Wembley next Wednesday would be, should it come to that,” says Ben Watson. “It doesn’t really bear thinking about - could any England fan bring themselves to watch it? Certainly not 60,000 live …
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”
It could be a good game, Ben.
There is a Shoreditch office vibe to England’s training camp. I just hope Nathan Barley is not coming up with the tactics for Saturday.
As discussed yesterday, I am at a wedding on Saturday. I spoke to the bride yesterday and asked whether there will be a TV for viewing. She has told me there will not. I suspect only her dad and I are the only ones with any investment in the game. If someone could text me the score, that would be ace.
“I always find it amusing,” says Mike MacKenzie, “if not bemusing, when a manager makes a comment about a player that references some other player from the past. Of course, I expect Southgate to talk up or inspire Harry Kane but referring to Alan Shearer and 96 is hardly relevant. Any striker who has not scored in a while feels relief when he gets a goal, I’d think. Kane might score a couple against Ukraine depending on how the match goes or might be peripheral in the match, but I doubt that his goal against Germany will be seen as a turning point. Kane’s performance to date has been underwhelming for whatever reason(s) as many have commented. For what it’s worth (not a whole lot admittedly!) I suspect it is due to a combination of Kane being tired after the gruelling season and that England doesn’t seem to be set up to take advantage of his skill set.”
England No 9s are always going to be compared to other England No 9s throughout history, regardless of relevance.
Football is coming home in one form or another.
A bit from PA:
Uefa has ruled out any alteration to the match schedule or capacity limits for the final stages after criticism from Germany and Italy regarding the games at Wembley.
Germany’s interior minister Horst Seehofer said earlier this week it was “irresponsible” to allow almost 42,000 into Wembley for his country’s last-16 match against England, with more than 60,000 set to be permitted to attend the semi-finals and final.
The week before Italian prime minister Mario Draghi had questioned staging the final matches at Wembley, pointing to the UK’s rapidly rising infection rates.
Uefa said in a statement: “All the remaining matches of Euro 2020 will go ahead according to the match schedule as planned.
“The mitigation measures implemented in each of the Euro 2020 host venues are fully aligned with the regulations set out by the competent local public health authorities.
“The final decisions with regards to the number of fans attending matches and the entry requirements to any of the host countries and host stadiums fall under the responsibility of the competent local authorities, and Uefa strictly follows any such measures.”
Brendan O’Brien emails in: “An outsider’s perspective: England are minnows of international football, having reached only one major tournament final in 70 years. If fans and pundits could just see England as plucky minnows – if their attitude was ‘If Denmark and Greece can win this thing, maybe we can too’ – I would have more sympathy. Instead, they insist on seeing England as big fish who will inevitably devour the perceived minnows, and whose natural place (or plaice!) is at the top table. It’s a complete denial of football history.”
I am not sure a team with multiple Champions League and Premier League winners can really be classed as minnows, if I am being honest. You also have to look at who is left and England are better than the majority.
Good morning! What a day of joyous buildup we have for the quarter-finals. Let’s get through it with good humour.
That’s all from me - Will Unwin is stepping into the breach on England-hype-blog duties for the rest of the morning. Over to you, Will.
“He’s mad humble, to be fair ... Jadon’s always been like that – we still sometimes play on the PlayStation and talk like normal old friends. He’s never been cocky at all.”
Ed Aarons has written about the unstoppable rise of Manchester United’s newest recruit, Jadon Sancho:
What about Spain? They seem to be rather up and down. Will they be up or down against Switzerland?
Sid Lowe’s piece in the aftermath of that 5-3 thriller against Croatia is here:
“I’m no supporter of the British tabloid media in particular but it’s only human nature to look at the draw and who you might play,” writes cavelier5. “Given who England prospectively need to beat to get to our first final since that year it’s understandable that we’re getting a little ahead of ourselves and overexcited.
“Obviously you presume that the players aren’t doing the same and the management are on at them constantly about only focusing on the next game, and that Ukraine will be fighting for every ball and will be just as desperate as us to win. But as fans we’re allowed to get carried away. Where’s the fun in being sensible and taking one game at a time. Eeeaaaaasssyyyyy!!!”
You’ve completely won me over with that. England’s name is on the cup.
Updated
“I’m not trying to belittle the England performance by stating that this is the worst Germany side I can remember,” comments sidfishes. “There is no character to the side because there are no outstanding characters - no Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, no Klose, no Matthäus, no Schweinsteiger and certainly no Sammer. They are a team bereft of not just threat but coordination and organisation and were there for the taking. It’s to the England team’s credit that they took what was on offer with little fuss. I’m wondering if the next German team manager can inject some much-needed character into German international football and if he can find some upcoming starlets to become the outstanding footballers German football has produced in the past.”
A Ukraine player press conference is scheduled for 1pm UK time, so we’ll have some quotes from that in due course.
Looking to tomorrow night, Belgium v Italy is definitely the ‘This could have been the final’ tie among the four quarters. Austria made Italy look quite ordinary at times in their last-16 match, but I fancy Roberto Mancini’s men to improve from that slightly indifferent performance. Belgium were arguably fortunate not to concede when Portugal threw men forward looking for an equaliser in their previous match - I would expect a slightly frail Belgium defence to be exposed by the Azzurri.
Updated
Matt Meehan writes: “The draw HAS opened up for England. I don’t think it’s arrogance to say that on paper, it’s a very nice looking draw for England. Does that mean they’re guaranteed to win? Of course not, but is it better than playing Belgium or Spain in the quarters/semis? Almost probably yes.”
True, but it’s still dangerous for the media to be talking in terms of the draw ‘opening up’, allowing that to become part of the wider narrative, and England’s largely woeful past record in tournament football should also be kept in mind.
Updated
The Sassuolo director Giovanni Carnevali has told Sky Sport Italy that Arsenal have made an ‘important’ bid for Manuel Locatelli, who scored twice in Italy’s group stage win over Switzerland, and has generally impressed with his hard-running, all-action style:
Sassuolo CEO Carnevali to Sky Sport: “Arsenal have made an official bid for Locatelli. They’re pushing hard to sign Manuel and it’s an important bid... we will see.
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) June 30, 2021
Also Juventus want Locatelli and we’ve a special relationship with them. We’ve a new meeting scheduled with Juve”.
He’s clearly a calm presence in the dressing room, too:
#Togetherness #euro2020 #ITA pic.twitter.com/9UmvacbVSb
— Luke McLaughlin (@LukeMcLaughlin) June 20, 2021
Updated
It’s 1 July, and we all know what that means: Five years to the day since Hal Robson-Kanu’s belter against Belgium:
A very happy @RobsonKanu day, to all those celebrating. pic.twitter.com/rudnNrirp8
— MUNDIAL (@MundialMag) July 1, 2021
“It really aggravated me when Jack Grealish was interviewed after the Germany game and the ITV interviewer immediately suggested that ‘the draw had opened up for England’,” writes Duncan. “Let’s face it, that basically translates as “Everyone on our side of the draw is rubbish except us.” These subtle comments prove that Modric was right about English arrogance. Englanders - and I am one - if you really want to win it, please, please stop thinking we’ve already won it!”
Agreed. There are definite shades of 2018 here, when England (media and certain fans, rather than the team) seemed to think a semi-final against Croatia was essentially a bye into the final. As you rightly point out, nothing motivates your opposition more than this type of thing, even if it’s never to do with the players and more leading questions from journalists such as the one about the draw ‘opening up’.
Updated
You saw the photo of Declan Rice at the top of this blog and thought: “I’d love to a video of England playing water volleyball,” didn’t you?
It’s your lucky day, thanks to England’s official Twitter:
It's game time in the pool!
— England (@England) July 1, 2021
Water volleyball: #ThreeLions style 🤽♂️ pic.twitter.com/uU0WbjBqHt
If you missed it, Premier League news from last night: Nuno Espírito Santo is the new Tottenham manager. “Nuno was the only candidate, the first and only name on my wish-list,” Daniel Levy didn’t say:
VAR being used sensibly and sparingly? Referees who are letting the game flow rather than constantly blowing their whistles? Something is afoot at Euro 2020 - the officiating has been an unexpected highlight, writes Paul MacInnes:
Updated
“Raheem Sterling’s remorselessness of spirit, his refusal to be cowed, has lit his path to the point where he has been England’s most important player at the European Championship.”
It’s David Hytner again - on one of England’s key men:
Updated
Patrik Schick of Czech Republic is one to watch in the race for the Euro 2020 Golden Boot: going into Saturday’s quarter-final against Denmark, Schick has four tournament goals to his name. Cristiano Ronaldo has five, but won’t be troubling the scorers any further after Portugal’s defeat by Belgium. Get the lowdown on the top-scorers here:
Harry Kane’s transfer saga looks set to rumble on, but (thankfully) another negotiation regarding a player in the England camp has been concluded, with Borussia Dortmund and Manchester United agreeing a £73million fee for Jadon Sancho:
Which side, on paper, has the edge going into Ukraine’s meeting with England? Marcus Christenson reckons it’s advantage England in most areas:
“I played with Alan in ’96, and the change in him once he got that goal [against Switzerland] … I remember being in China and Alan not scoring [in the final warm-up game against China]. It was another game without a goal and you could sense how it was for him. So Germany will be a high release for Harry – there is no question about that.”
The gaffer, Gareth Southgate, reckons Harry Kane is ready for lift-off after his strike against the Germans. Here is David Hytner:
Preamble
Good morning all and welcome to our Euro 2020 quarter-finals build-up live blog (England hype special). Expectations have gone through the roof following Tuesday’s 2-0 win against Germany - although there is still the minor inconvenience of seven other teams still in the hat, standing between Gareth Southgate’s men and European glory. Their journey continues with a tie against Ukraine in Rome on Saturday evening. News, previews and more for all four quarter-finals coming right up.
Euro 2020 quarter-finals
Friday
Switzerland v Spain (5pm)
Belgium v Italy (8pm)
Saturday
Czech Republic v Denmark (5pm)
Ukraine v England (8pm)
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