The frantic pace at which the Euro 2024 Round of 16 matches have been coming has been pleasurable to say the least with games locked in by 5.00pm and 8.00pm each passing day, making it sweet for neutrals like us.
As expected, I still have great bias towards Arsenal players still left in the tournament, and I took a front row seat with some Heineken in hand when England took on Slovakia. With Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka in the starting lineup, I expected victory from the Three Lions, but what we witnessed was another drab display from a side with so much talent but a system that has set them up to fail. The left flank was non-existent with Phil Foden and Kieran Trippier failing to connect in any humanly way possible. There was more attacking bias from the right with Saka and Kyle Walker trying to make things work, but like what he did in his latter Spurs years, England’s supposed center forward, Harry Kane, dropped deep to midfield a lot, not offering his teammates any focal point in attack.
Anyways, Slovakia made it must see television when Schranz scored a beautiful goal when Mark Guehi, one of the standouts for England in the competition, was caught out of position and John Stones didn’t have the agility or legs to cover for him.
The goal brought some urgency to the England side and they huffed and puffed but couldn’t blow the Slovakia defense down. Southgate finally grew a pair of nutsacks and made the changes that brought the wind to the sails of the Three Lions. Cole Palmer came on for Trippier, and Saka was asked to do a job at left back. Ebere Eze came on for Kobbie Mainoo and Ivan Toney was sent in for Phil Foden to be a nuisance in that attack.
The pressure finally paid off in the 95th minute when Guehi rose the highest to dink the ball into the danger area and up stepped Jude Bellingham to smash in an amazing acrobatic kick with Martin Dubravka rooted to the his line. Yes, he scored the only goal in that narrow opening victory over Serbia, but this was pure class. The goal restored hope to England and the stadium went into raptures.
Early in extra time, England’s onslaught continued and the match clincher arrived when Eze’s ball back into the box was headed to the danger area by Toney. With no Slovak in sight to attack the ball, Kane was on hand to smash in a bullet header Harry Maguire would have been proud of. He did it for the Harry mandem.
Both England goalscorers were subbed in the 105 minute mark, as Southgate resorted to Satanball, bringing on Conor Gallagher and Ezri Konsa. Slovakia didn’t have enough in the tank to muster any meaningdul attacks and England held on to qualify to the quarterfinals. This sets them up for a showdown with Switzerland, that was so impressive in their win over the defending champions, Italy.
The night’s action saw Spain take on the fearless Georgia spurred from their win over their Iberian neighbors, Portugal, so La Furia Roja knew that they will not be pushovers, and they got a good glimpse of that when Kakabadze’s cross to the box was anticipated by Le Normand for an unfortunate own goal. This was not the start Spain hoped for but it did not deter them from playing their silky football.
Their attacking output finally paid off when Nico Williams found Rodri at the edge of the box, that brought the ball in his stride and side footed it to Mamadashvili’s far post. That goal sent both teams to the break at half time, but at the start of the second half, the flood gates opened as the effervescent youngin, Lamine Yal, swung in a beautiful cross that was nodded home by Fabian Ruiz. Ruiz turned from Scorer to provider when he teed up Williams tthat made mince meat of a defender before blasting the ball to the roof of the net, and there was time for Dani Olmo to put some gloss on the score line, receiving a pass from Mikel Oyerzabal and sending the ball to the bottom corner pass the hapless Mamadashvili.
Spain’s win has set them up for a quarterfinal against Germany, which will undoubtedly be the match of the tournament, as the best two sides so far lock horns.
We will be bracing ourselves for the first major upset of the tournament, as France takes on Belgium by 5.00pm, and the footballing action ends with Portugal battling it out with Slovenia.
Gooner Daily will be here to continue the Euro 2024 coverage.
Sayonara.