Tuesday, 13 July 2021

Euro 2020+1 Final - Not this time, maybe never


➡️ EURO 2020+1 FINAL 11-July 20:00 BBC ITV • London (ENG) - after extra time
ITALY 1
Bonucci 67
ENGLAND 1 Shaw 2
• ITALY won 3-2 on penalties

ITALY
Donnarumma, Di Lorenzo, Bonucci, Chiellini, Emerson (Florenzi 118), Barella (Cristante 54), Jorginho, Verratti (Locatelli 96), Chiesa (Bernardeschi 86), Immobile (Berardi 54), Insigne (Belotti 91) Unused subs Sirigu, Pessina, Acerbi, Bastoni, Toloi, Meret. Booked Barella, Bonucci, Insigne, Chiellini, Jorginho
ENGLAND Pickford, Walker (Sancho 120), Stones, Maguire, Trippier (Saka 70), Phillips, Rice (J. Henderson 74 (Rashford 120)), Shaw, Mount (Grealish 99), Sterling, Kane Unused subs Ramsdale, Mings, Coady, Calvert-Lewin, Johnstone, James, Bellingham. Booked Maguire
Referee Bjorn Kuipers (NED)

ENGLAND gave up a glorious opportunity for a first major international honour in 55 years after succumbing to Italy in the Final in a dreaded penalty shoot-out.

Milan, and soon-to-be Paris Saint-Germain, goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma was the Italian hero of the night as he saved spot-kicks from Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka after Marcus Rashford had hit the post.

Jordan Pickford had done his best to keep England in it, producing saves from Andrea Belotti and Jorginho - but it was perhaps inevitable that penalties would ultimately haunt Gareth Southgate again.

The night - on the pitch at least - had all started so well, too. The excellent Luke Shaw put the Three Lions ahead with only 117 seconds on the clock, slamming home a cross from Kieran Trippier on the half-volley.

Encouraged by the early goal, England went on to have the better of opening exchanges of the first half with familiar joy coming down both flanks.

Clear opportunities remained at a premium, however - and Italy came back into the half as it wore on with Federico Chiesa and Marco Verratti both getting sight of goal.

Neither man troubled Pickford too much as a Wembley crowd of more than 67,000 roared its half time approval at the 1-0 interval lead.

The second half was always likely to be tougher and a far less sloppy performance on the ball from Italy gradually allowed them to take control of the tempo and the match as a whole.

With almost an hour on the clock, Chiesa tried to catch Pickford out at his near post then, five minutes later, forced a good, low save from the Everton goalkeeper.

The equaliser was on its way - and, from a corner, a Verratti header forced Pickford into a magnificent one-handed save off the post.

Unfortunately for Pickford, though, the ball fell straight to Leonardo Bonucci and the Juventus veteran was able to bundle the ball into the net from inside the six-yard box.

Still, England could not turn the tide and Domenico Berardi might have done better with a volley from 12 yards - but thereafter the time drifted away from both teams and so came extra time.

Not that the additional 30 minutes ever really threatened to settle the game. Instead, respective head coaches Southgate and Roberto Mancini intentionally introduced the players who they fancied to do the job from the spot.

Once again, it was the Italians who came closest when Pickford reacted well to prevent Federico Bernardeschi from getting on the end of Emerson Palmieri's cross from the left.

Meanwhile, England's best effort was no more than a half-chance really as Donnarumma did enough to put John Stones off his header from a long throw by Kyle Walker.

And so to penalties. Italy - with their shoot-out win over Spain in the semi final still fresh in the memory - took first.

But, after Harry Kane and Beradi converted the opening kicks, England got their noses in front when Pickford saved to his left from Belotti and Harry Maguire smashed his turn into a camera occupied in the top corner of the net.

Of course, the advantage did not last long after goalscorer Bonucci hit the net again for Italy and Rashford missed the next for England.

Rashford's delayed, stuttering run-up actually seemed to work as Donnarumma dived the wrong way but, with the whole left side of the net gaping, the Manchester United forward inexplicably hit the ball against the face of the upright.

Back level again, the Italians retook the lead in the shoot-out as Bernardeschi fired down the middle before Sancho placed his penalty with little power into Donnarumma.

Pickford's brilliant save from Jorginho kept England alive - but, in an effective sudden death situation, the responsibility for the fifth Three Lions penalty fell onto the shoulders of 19-year-old Saka.

A forgivably nervous effort was sat up at a good height to Donnarumma's left and the Milan prodigy made a comfortable save to send the Azzurri fans, players and bench into dreamland.

After all, it is one matter compiling an unbeaten run of 34 matches - and quite another keeping the sequence going throughout a tournament to the point of winning silverware.

For Italy, this triumph is especially remarkable, coming less than four years since the team had failed even to qualify for the World Cup on a heartbreaking night in November 2017 at the San Siro in Milan.

England's fortunes under Southgate appear to be turning around more slowly - nevertheless, the Three Lions are headed in the right direction - on the pitch at least.

Off the pitch, this was a far darker night for English football than it needed to be.

There was trouble even before kick off as a "large number of drunken yobs" tried to force their way in to Wembley without tickets ahead of the Final.

Idiots fought with stewards and police as they attempted to break through security gates, and the Metropolitan Police made 45 arrests.

Far worse followed, though. Rashford, Sancho and Saka - three young black men - were all subjected to vile racist abuse on Twitter and other social media following their penalty misses.

Meanwhile, the Rashford mural in Withington, Manchester - painted in recognition of his work to tackle child food poverty - was vandalised with racist graffiti.

Home Secretary Priti Patel condemned the online behaviour - but her stomach-turning hypocrisy was rightly called out by squad member Tyrone Mings.

Aston Villa defender Mings said Ms Patel had "stoked the fire" by refusing to criticise fans who booed the England team for taking the knee.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson - who hardly had an exemplary race relations record in his days as a journalist or as Mayor of London - had taken the same view as Ms Patel when asked for his response to the boos.

But, although progress is still painfully slow, perhaps the last 48 hours might just make everyone realise that people, on mass, do not operate in a vacuum.

For sure, the advent of social media, with its ability still for users to operate accounts as anonymous shills, has much to do with the greater awareness of these issues.

However, the wider politics in the United Kingdom over the last decade have also definitely made it more acceptable for groups and individuals to be subjected to "othering" by ill-intentioned, and often outright racist, people.

Of course, the vast majority of England fans are not badly-behaved or knuckle-dragging numbskulls - but what a shame so many of the bad apples have taken the spotlight away from a team which has enjoyed a pleasing resurgence.

From their failure to get through the Group Stage at the 2014 World Cup and their humiliation against Iceland at Euro 2016, the Three Lions have now backed up their 2018 semi final with an even more impressive showing this summer, albeit with home advantage for six out of the seven matches.

For now, though, Wembley 2021 must be added to Turin in 1990, Southgate's Wembley despair in 1996, Saint-Etienne in 1998, Lisbon in 2004, Gelsenkirchen in 2006, and Kiev in 2012 in an ever-increasing list of penalty shoot-out pain.

This time, it was a Final at least - one step further than the semi final exit three years ago at the World Cup against Croatia.

But still, despite the insistence of millions, football steadfastly refused to come home.

Perhaps, despite the recent undoubted progress by this likeable team, it is destined never to do so.

➡️ EURO 2020+1 ⬅️
The full results

➡️ SEMI FINAL 06-July 20:00 BBC • London (ENG) - after extra time
SPAIN 1  Morata 80
ITALY 1  Chiesa 60
• ITALY won 4-2 on penalties

SPAIN
Simon, Azpilicueta (M. Llorente 85), Garcia (P. Torres 109), Laporte, Jordi Alba, Koke (Rodri 70), Busquets (c) (Thiago 105), Pedri, F. Torres (Morata 62), Oyarzabal (Moreno 70), Olmo Unused subs De Gea, D. Llorente, Sanchez, Gaya, Ruiz, Traore Booked Busquets
ITALY Donnarumma, Di Lorenzo, Bonucci, Chiellini (c), Emerson (Toloi 74), Barella (Locatelli 85), Jorginho, Verratti (Pessina 74), Chiesa (Bernardeschia 107), Immobile (Beradi 61), Insigne (Belotti 85) Unused subs Sirigu, Acerbi, Cristante, Bastoni, Florenzi, Meret Booked Toloi, Bonucci
Referee Felix Brych (GER)

➡️ SEMI FINAL 07-July 20:00 ITV • London (ENG) - after extra time
DENMARK 1
Damsgaard 30
ENGLAND 2 Kjaer 39og, Kane 104

DENMARK
Schmeichel, Christensen (Andersen 79), Kjaer (c), Vestergaard (Wind 105), Stryger Larsen (Wass 67), Hojberg, Delaney (Jensen 88), Maehle, Braithwaite, Dolberg (Norgaard 67), Damsgaard (Poulsen 67) Unused subs Skov, Skov Olsen, M. Jorgensen, Lossl, Cornelius, Ronnow Booked Wass
ENGLAND Pickford, Walker, Stones, Maguire, Shaw, Phillips, Rice (J. Henderson 95), Saka ((Grealish 69) Trippier 105), Mount (Foden 95), Sterling, Kane (c) Unused subs Rashford, Ramsdale, Mings, Coady, Sancho, Johnstone, James, Bellingham Booked Maguire
Referee Danny Makkelie (NED)

➡️ QUARTER FINALS
02-July17:00SWITZERLAND1-1SPAINSt Petersburg (RUS)
ITV



Shaqiri 68
(1-3)
aet

won on penalties
Zakaria 8og

02-July20:00BELGIUM1-2ITALYMunich (GER)
BBC

Lukaku 45+2pen

Barella 31, Insigne 44

03-July17:00CZECH REPUBLIC
1-2DENMARK
Baku (AZE)
ITV
Schick 49
Delaney 5, Dolberg 42
03-July20:00UKRAINE0-4ENGLANDRome (ITA)
BBC


 
Kane 4, 50, Maguire 46
J. Henderson 63


➡️ LAST 16
26-June17:00WALES0-4DENMARKAmsterdam (NED)
BBC





Dolberg 27, 48
Maehle 88
Braithwaite 90+6

26-June20:00ITALY2-1AUSTRIALondon (ENG)
BBC


Chiesa 95
Pessina 105
aet

Kalajdzic 114


27-June17:00NETHERLANDS0-2CZECH REPUBLIC
Budapest (HUN)
ITV


Holes 68, Schick 80
27-June20:00BELGIUM1-0PORTUGALSeville (ESP)
ITV
T. Hazard 42 


28-June17:00CROATIA3-5SPAINCopenhagen (DEN)
ITV





Gonzalez 20og
Orsic 85
Pasalic 90+2


aet




Sarabia 38
Azpilicueta 57
F. Torres 76
Morata 100
Oyarzabal 103

28-June20:00FRANCE3-3SWITZERLANDBucharest (ROM)
ITV




Benzema 57, 59
Pogba 75
(4-5)
aet

won on penalties
Seferovic 15, 81
Gavranovic 90

29-June17:00ENGLAND2-0GERMANYLondon (ENG)
BBC
Sterling 75, Kane 86


29-June20:00SWEDEN1-2 UKRAINEGlasgow (SCO)
BBC


Forsberg 43

aet

Zinchenko 27
Dovbyk 120+1


➡️ GROUP AWDLFAGDPts
(Q) ITALY30070+79
(Q) WALES
11132+14
(Q) SWITZERLAND
11145-14
TURKEY00318-70

11-June
20:00TURKEY0-3ITALYRome
BBC




Demiral 53og, Immobile 66
Insigne 79

12-June14:00WALES1-1SWITZERLANDBaku
BBC

Moore 74

Embolo 49

16-June17:00TURKEY0-2WALESBaku
BBC



Ramsey 42, C. Roberts 90+5

16-June20:00ITALY3-0SWITZERLANDRome
ITV

Locatelli 26, 52, Immobile 89



20-June17:00SWITZERLAND3-1TURKEYBaku
ITV

Seferovic 6, Shaqiri 26, 68

Kahveci 62

20-June17:00ITALY1-0
WALESRome
ITV

Pessina 39




➡️ GROUP BWDLFAGDPts
(Q) BELGIUM30071+69
(Q) DENMARK
10254+13
FINLAND10213-23
RUSSIA10227-53

12-June17:00DENMARK0-1FINLANDCopenhagen
BBC



Pohjanpalo 60

12-June20:00BELGIUM3-0RUSSIASt Petersburg
ITV

Lukaku 10, 88, Meunier 34



16-June14:00FINLAND0-1RUSSIASt Petersburg
BBC



Al. Miranchuk 45+2

17-June17:00DENMARK1-2BELGIUMCopenhagen
ITV

Poulsen 2

T. Hazard 55, De Bruyne 70

21-June20:00RUSSIA1-4DENMARKCopenhagen
BBC


Dzyuba 70pen


Damsgaard 38, Poulsen 59
Christensen 79, Maehle 82

21-June20:00FINLAND0-2BELGIUMSt Petersburg
BBC



Hrádecky 74og, Lukaku 81


➡️ GROUP CWDLFAGDPts
(Q) NETHERLANDS
30082+69
(Q) AUSTRIA
20143+16
(Q) UKRAINE
10245-13
NORTH MACEDONIA
00328-60

13-June17:00AUSTRIA3-1NORTH MACEDONIA
Bucharest
ITV


Lainer 18, Gregoritsch 78
Arnautovic 89

Pandev 28


13-June20:00NETHERLANDS3-2UKRAINEAmsterdam
ITV


Wijnaldum 52, Weghorst 58
Dumries 85

Yarmolenko 75
Yaremchuk 79

17-June14:00UKRAINE2-1NORTH MACEDONIA
Bucharest
ITV


Yarmolenko 29
Yaremchuk 34

Alioski 57


17-June20:00NETHERLANDS2-0AUSTRIAAmsterdam
BBC

Depay 11pen, Dumfries 67



21-June17:00NORTH MACEDONIA
0-3NETHERLANDS
Amsterdam
ITV



Depay 24, Wijnaldum 51, 58

21-June17:00UKRAINE0-1AUSTRIABucharest
ITV



Baumgartner 21


➡️ GROUP DWDLFAGDPts
(Q) ENGLAND21020+27
(Q) CROATIA11143+14
(Q) CZECH REPUBLIC
11132+14
SCOTLAND01215-41

13-June14:00ENGLAND1-0CROATIALondon
BBC

Sterling 57



14-June14:00SCOTLAND0-2CZECH REPUBLIC
Glasgow
BBC



Schick 42, 52

18-June17:00CROATIA1-1CZECH REPUBLIC
Glasgow
BBC

Perisic 47

Schick 37pen

18-June20:00ENGLAND0-0SCOTLANDLondon
ITV





22-June20:00CROATIA3-1SCOTLANDGlasgow
ITV

Vlasic 17, Modric 62, Perisic 77

McGregor 42

22-June20:00CZECH REPUBLIC
0-1ENGLANDLondon
ITV



Sterling 12


➡️ GROUP EWDLFAGDPts
(Q) SWEDEN
21042+27
(Q) SPAIN
12061+55
SLOVAKIA10227-53
POLAND01246-21

14-June17:00POLAND1-2SLOVAKIASt Petersburg
ITV

Linetty 46

Szczesny 18og, Skriniar 69

14-June20:00SPAIN0-0SWEDENSeville
BBC





18-June14:00SWEDEN1-0SLOVAKIASt Petersburg
BBC

Forsberg 77pen


19-June20:00SPAIN1-1POLANDSeville
BBC

Morata 25

Lewandowski 54

23-June17:00SLOVAKIA0-5SPAINSeville
ITV




Dubravka 30og, Laporte 45+3
Sarabia 56, F. Torres 67, Kucka 71og

23-June17:00SWEDEN3-2POLANDSt Petersburg
ITV



Forsberg 2, 59
Claesson 90+4


Lewandowski 61, 84




➡️ GROUP FWDLFAGDPts
(Q) FRANCE12043+15
(Q) GERMANY11165+14
(Q) PORTUGAL11176+14
HUNGARY02136-33

15-June17:00HUNGARY0-3PORTUGALBudapest
ITV




Guerreiro 84
Ronaldo 87pen, 90+2

15-June20:00FRANCE1-0GERMANYMunich
ITV

Hummels 20og


19-June14:00HUNGARY1-1FRANCEBudapest
BBC

Fiola 45+2

Griezmann 66

19-June17:00PORTUGAL2-4GERMANYMunich
ITV


Ronaldo 15, Jota 67


Ruben Dias 35og, Guerreiro 39og
Havertz 51, Gosens 60

23-June20:00PORTUGAL2-2FRANCEBudapest
BBC

Ronaldo 31pen, 60pen
Benzema 45+2pen, 47
23-June20:00GERMANY2-2HUNGARYMunich
BBC

Havertz 66, Goretzka 84
Ad. Szalai 11, Schafer 68

➡️ THIRD-PLACED TEAMSGroup
WDLFAGDPts
(Q) PORTUGAL
[F]11176+14
(Q) CZECH REPUBLIC
[D]11132+14
(Q) SWITZERLAND
[A]11145-14
(Q) UKRAINE
[C]10245-13
FINLAND[B]10213-23
SLOVAKIA[E]10227-53


➡️ SCORERS
5 Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Patrick Schick (Czech Republic)
4 Karim Benzema (France), Emil Forsberg (Sweden), Romelu Lukaku (Belgium), Harry Kane (England)
3 Georginio Wijnaldum (Netherlands), Robert Lewandowski (Poland), Haris Seferovic (Switzerland), Raheem Sterling (England), Kasper Dolberg (Denmark), Federico Chiesa (Italy), Alvaro Morata (Spain)
2 Manuel Locatelli (Italy), Ciro Immobile (Italy), Andriy Yarmolenko (Ukraine), Roman Yaremchuk (Ukraine), Denzel Dumfries (Netherlands), Xherdan Shaqiri (Switzerland), Memphis Depay (Netherlands), Yussuf Poulsen (Denmark), Ivan Perisic (Croatia), Kai Havertz (Germany), Matteo Pessina (Italy), Thorgan Hazard (Belgium), Pablo Sarabia (Spain), Ferran Torres (Spain), Lorenzo Insigne (Italy), Mikkel Damsgaard (Denmark)
1 Breel Embolo (Switzerland), Kieffer Moore (Wales), Joel Pohnjanpalo (Finland), Thomas Meunier (Belgium), Stefan Lainer (Austria), Goran Pandev (North Macedonia), Michael Gregoritsch (Austria), Marko Arnautovic (Austria), Wout Weghorst (Netherlands), Karol Linetty (Poland), Milan Skriniar (Slovakia), Raphael Guerreiro (Portugal), Aleksei Miranchuk (Russia), Aaron Ramsey (Wales), Connor Roberts (Wales), Ezgjan Alioski (North Macedonia), Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium), Attila Fiola (Hungary), Antoine Griezmann (France), Robin Gosens (Germany), Diogo Jota (Portugal), Irfan Kahveci (Turkey), Christoph Baumgartner (Austria), Andreas Christensen (Denmark), Joakim Maehle (Denmark), Nikola Vlasic (Croatia), Callum McGregor (Scotland), Luka Modric (Croatia), Aymeric Laporte (Spain), Viktor Claesson (Sweden), Adam Szalai (Hungary), Andras Schafer (Hungary), Leon Goretzka (Germany), Joakim Maehle (Denmark), Martin Braithwaite (Denmark), Sasa Kalajdzic (Austria), Tomas Holes (Czech Republic), Cesar Azpilicueta (Spain), Mislav Orsic (Croatia), Mario Palasic (Croatia), Mikel Oyarzabal (Spain), Paul Pogba (France), Mario Gavranovic (Switzerland), Oleksandr Zinchenko (Ukraine), Artem Dovbyk (Ukraine), Nicolo Barella (Italy), Thomas Delaney (Denmark), Harry Maguire (England), Jordan Henderson (England), Luke Shaw (England), Leonardo Bonucci (Italy)
11 own goals Merih Demiral (Turkey) v Italy, Wojciech Szczeny (Poland) v Slovakia, Mats Hummels (Germany) v France, Ruben Dias (Portugal) v Germany, Raphael Guerreiro (Portugal) v Germany, Lukas Hradecky (Finland) v Belgium, Martin Dubravka (Slovakia) v Spain, Juraj Kucka (Slovakia) v Spain, Pedri (Spain) v Croatia, Denis Zakaria (Switzerland) v Spain, Simon Kjaer (Denmark) v England

➡️ RED CARDS
Grzegorz Krychowiak (Poland) v Slovakia
Ethan Ampadu (Wales) v Italy
Harry Wilson (Wales) v Denmark
Matthijs De Ligt (Netherlands) v Czech Republic
Marcus Danielson (Sweden) v Ukraine
Remo Freuler (Switzerland) v Spain

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