The coming World Cups

 It was announced this week that the 2034 World Cup will be hosted by Saudi Arabia. This has engendered a lot of criticism due to the fact that Saudi Arabia has many democratic and human rights problems. Well, I think it is not a new issue as FIFA has awarded tournament's before without any political or human rights considerations, but rather cold-hearted economic calculations. 

FIFA is first and foremost a money machine, and this has probably been the main criteria in selecting Saudi Arabia. That said, other concerns risk undermining the quality and love we fans feel for the World Cup, and one of these changes will already be seen at the 2026 World Cup in USA-Mexico-Canada: the 48 team tournament is just too big, too many teams, too many mediocre matches that will be watched mainly by people from the nations playing them... With already too many tournaments and too many matches, the World Cup risks drowning in the infinity of choices; it will no longer be special...

Secondly these multi-host tournaments that will in 2030 include three "main" hosts (Spain, Morocco and Portugal), with additional matches to be played in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. 

It is simply too much, too massive.

Perhaps a symbol of our time when everything needs to be bigger and more extravagant, but I can assure one thing: despite the social media hype it will not be better than the World Cups that made my generation dream and love football.

I will of course keep watching the World Cups; I even hope that I will be able to get tickets for 2026 in Mexico through the murky and elitist FIFA ticketing procedures.

That will be another challenge...

America champion

 This year I moved to Mexico, and I have adopted Cruz Azul as my team. They ended 1st in the league, but that is not enough to be champion in Mexico where, after the league, they go into playoff matches and a final. Cruz Azul was eliminated by their local rivals for Mexico City in the semifinals after an intense 3-4 loss, and America faced Monterrey in the two-legged final.

America won 2-1 in Mexico City, and last night they took the title away in an intense atmosphere in Northern Mexico. They went ahead after half an hour by a splendid long-range strike by the Paraguayan midfielder Richard Sanchez. Monterrey pressured, and did get chances, but America were also incredibly dangerous on the counterattacks. It was only five minutes before the end of the match when Colombian striker Johan Rojas equalized on another outstanding strike. Monterrey attacked like crazy and even hit the post, but it ended 1-1, and America won the third consecutive title in a row.

I must admit that I am not too fond of this league format with playoffs and a final: America did not have a good season and had in fact only ended 8th in the league, barely making the playoffs, but now they were crowned champions despite it all.

Well, another season is coming...

Some good Champions League matches (despite it all)

I have already said that I dislike the new format of the Champions League, so I will not dwell into that, but just that I enjoyed this week's CL football which I had the fortune to watch in full as I am in Denmark on vacation.

Real Madrid have been lazy in the tournament and appeared to have their back against the wall as they faced Atalanta in Bergamo. Atalanta, on the other hand, are riding on a wave, as they were second in the CL league and first in Serie A before the match, at home.

But Real Madrid did what they have done so often: won 3-2 in a match where they were not the better side, but were efficient and punished mistakes. Kylian Mbappe, who has not been at his best, scored a splendid first goal early on, with Atalanta deservedly equalizing only on a penalty by Charles de Ketelaere in the last seconds of the first half. Real Madrid put more high pressure on Atalanta's defense in the second half, something that clearly made the Atalanta defenders nervous, and it was this high pressure that gave Vinicius Jr. an easy chance on a rebound that he did not let go to waste. The Nigerian striker Ademola Lookman was a threat throughout the match, and he made it 2-2, and one felt that the tide was now with Atalanta, but Jude Bellingham made it 2-3 on a quick counterattack which caught the Italian defense on a wrong foot.

The Spaniards fought for the victory as the Italians pressured, but carried the day in a good match thanks to the "BMV" (Bellingham-Mbappe-Vinicius).

The other match I watched was between the giants Borussia Dortmund and Barcelona. First half ended 0-0 with Barcelona creating more chances, but not dominating, before the second half where Hansi Flick proved the smartest with his substitutions. Raphinha brought Barcelona ahead 0-1, but barely five minutes later Dortmund was awarded a penalty on a really stupid foul by Pau Cubarsi, and Guinean striker Serhou Guirassy equalized. 

Then Flick substituted three of the most important offensive players: Dani Olmo, Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha all left the pitch for Fermin Lopez, Frankie de Jong and Ferran Torres. Only five minutes later Ferran Torres scored for Barcelona in what seemed renewed dynamism on the Catalan side, but again Guirassy striked back for Dortmund to make it 2-2. Five minutes to go, and Lamine Yamal appeared with an absolutely splendid pass to Ferran Torres who did not disappoint to make it 2-3 and a victory for Barcelona, who are now second, after Liverpool, in the 36-team CL table....

 

They appear to have ruined the Champions League

 I must admit I gave the new Champions League format the benefit of the doubt. I admit I am an old grumpy football fan, and perhaps the new format is better for the future.

I am now convinced I was wrong.  

Thins all against all league format with 36 teams may have more matches and thus more money for UEFA and the rich clubs, but it is to the detriment of excitement, simply because 24 teams go through to the playoffs, with the top 8 directly to a last-16. This means basically that the big teams will go through without much effort: take Real Madrid, who after 5 matches have 3 defeats and two victories. In the old format they would be struggling to go through before an all-important last match, but now they are 24th, and will still go through. Sure, some small teams will go through too, but it appears unlikely that Brest, Aston Villa or Celtic will survive a knockout round with sides like Bayern Munich, Real Madrid or Manchester City (all outside top 8).

Excitement is largely gone in this enormous league format and hard to get excited until the knockout. What a pity for what used to be the best tournament in the world.

I am like a referee

When a referee is in doubt, he goes to the VAR.

When I am in doubt, I go to the Bar.

Happy Sunday.

:)

Entitlement

I have never been a Real Madrid fan, but these days it is so much easier to dislike a club that despite all its great history and achievements, just feels entitled and bitter.

It comes down to the Balón d’or, a rather silly exercise in the subjective election of the “world’s best player” of football, a team sport… Vinicius Jr., and undoubtedly fantastic player did not get the title, which instead went to Rodri from Spain and Manchester City. Vinicius Jr., who has been a great speaker against racism in football and in Spanish society, felt dubbed and insinuated it was because of racism, while Real Madrid decided to boycott the Balón d’or ceremony, accusing it of manipulating the voting, an accusation that every day seems more common in politics when one loses, and has now also reached the world of football.

Petulant and arrogant behavior that symbolizes the times we live in: instead of congratulating someone, they act as if it is their right to win, and everything else is cheating and injustice. The worst part is that this attitude contributes nothing but minimizing trust in a society already lacking it, destroying faith in our relationships with people, and taking the attention away from the fact that Vinicius Jr. is indeed a fantastic player and that Real Madrid are indeed a great club.

They should be ashamed.

Cruz Azul and other things

Yesterday was a special day, as I moved into my new apartment that will hopefully be my home in Mexico for years ahead.

Shortly after receiving the keys I went to a nearby bar that was showing the classic match between Real Madrid and Barcelona. I must admit that it has been some years since this match has excited me, but this one was special: it was 0-0 at halftime, but I expected that Barcelona’s forward defensive line would succumb to the quick Real Madrid strikers, as there were indeed close calls in the first half. But Barcelona were simply extraordinary in the second half: two goals by Robert Lewandowski, a splendid strike by Lamine Yamal (sadly marred by racist chants amid Real Madrid fans) and a great lob from Rafinha made it 0-4 and a demonstration by a resurrected Barcelona under Hansi Flick. They also destroyed Borussia Dortmund 1-4 in the Champions League and if they keep it up they are a team to beat.

Later that day I went to the Olympic University Stadium in Mexico City. The legendary stadium of the 1968 Olympics, where Bob Beamon made the second longest jump in history. Today the beautiful stadium is home ground to Pumas de UNAM, and they were facing Cruz Azul a home derby in the Mexican league. I got the tickets through Cruz Azul, so was sitting amid hardcore Cruz Azul fans behind one of the goals surrounded by copious (but largely unnecessary) riot police.

And perhaps for the best, as Cruz Azul, current leaders of the league, were by far better. It took only 27 seconds for them to go ahead on a goal by veteran striker Angel Sepúlveda, and barely 12 minutes later Uruguayan Ignacio Rivero made it 0-2. Cruz Azul then relaxed and really Pumas represented no threat in a match that all in all appeared too easy for Cruz Azul, and it ended 0-2, and I may be on the way to becoming a Cruz Azul fan, whose mascot is a piece of cement,

The mascot of Pumas is supposedly a puma, but it looks more like a cross between the lion king, Beverly Hills chihuahua and Robert Procineski. And the mascot sang karaoke love songs at half time: “nunca voy a olvidarte” (I will never forget you) seemed totally out of place as I would have wanted to forget the Puma defense after that first half….

But respect to the Goya, Pumas fanbase, who despite their team, were never silenced.

Good time with beer and chants, but I look forward to going to a match at Cruz Azul’s home ground in Mexico DF.

A German to England

 England has announced its new national team manager after the resignation of Gareth Southgate, who in my opinion was the most successful manager England has ever had.

The new manager is a German, which not many years ago would have been thought impossible given the rivalry that at least the English feel they have with Germany. It is none other than Thomas Tuchel, who also appeared to be one of the favourites alongside Pep Guardiola.

Tuchel has significant experience with clubs, having won the Champions League with Chelsea in 2021. Although he won the league titles with both PSG and Bayern Munich, this was not considered enough for these two ambitious clubs.

But managing a national team is a completely different thing than a club, and in particular a side like England, with huge expectations and pressure, but also a long list of talented players. He will be the third foreign manager following Fabio Capello and the recently deceased Sven Goran Eriksson, both who came in with an impressive club record, but disappointed as England managers.

It will be interesting to see what a German can do with England

Brazil 6th World Champion

The 10th FIFA Futsal World Cup has just ended with Brazil winning an impressive 6th title since the tournament started in 1989. The final was a classic match between Brazil and Argentina.

I watched the final. Futsal is much quicker than standard football, and that demands more from the players' technical skills. Given that the pitch is smaller there are many more goal attempts. I have a much more difficult time disengaging the tactics (besides bringing the goalkeeper into attacks and getting caught up in the match, despite the fact that in this final that Brazil won 2-1 went into a thrilling final as Argentina (apparently) put all into attack, while Brazil (apparently) played defensive football.

The Brazilian goalkeeper Willian was outstanding and made some amazing saves. But at the same time Brazil were incredibly fast and dangerous on their shots (counterattacks?), so I had a hard time seeing who were the best and deserved the title. To me they were the same and only the luck of a great goalkeeper gave Brazil the title.

I was not engaged and Futsal is not something that thus interests me much. That said, congratulations to another title for great Brazil!

Trying for Cruz Azul against Necaxa

 Today I wanted to go and watch the local Mexico City side of Cruz Azul face Necaxa. I was trying to buy ticket online on my way to the stadium in the metro and metrobus, but on the one hand had a bad connection, but worse, Ticketmaster.com continues to be the worst facilitator of tickets in the world. I already had big problems with tickets I had bought for an MLS match in the US: I had already purchased the tickets, but when heading to the match, I could not get them in my account that was "registered outside the US". The problem was similar yesterday, as I have a Danish ticketmaster account, but could not access the tickets on that account, while when I accessed through Mexican ticketmaster, I was not able to pay with a non-Mexican credit card.

I did make it to the stadium twenty minutes before kick-off. In this digital world it was not possible to buy a ticket outside the stadium which makes it so much more ridiculous that it has to be so difficult to get a ticket.

In the end, without a ticket, I went to a bar and watched the match which Cruz Azul won 3-0, and they maintain a comfortable lead at the top of the Mexican Apertura league. As I had my beers I could see that the stadium was not full, which makes this ticketing challenge so much more stupid.

Champions League in Mexico

Yesterday Mexico inaugurated its first female president, so I was off work as the focus was on this historical event. It was thus a good day to watch some Champions League.

There is scant interest for other teams than the Spanish teams in the CL, most of all, obviously, Barcelona and Real Madrid, so the only option to watch in a bar was Barcelona-Young Boys, even though there were so many interesting matches playing simultaneously.

And Barcelona-Young Boys was indeed as boring as expected, as Barcelona cruised to a victory with 5-0, and it comes at a good time after they lost their first match 2-1 to Monaco. That said, with all its crisis, Barcelona is doing great under German Hansi Flick: top of the Spanish League and giving chances to a lot of young promising players appears to be working for now, but is also what Barcelona needs as they are unable to sign super stars. And surely on the long-term it is better for Barcelona (and Spanish football overall) to be promoting so many young players from the outstanding Barcelona youth academy.

The new format of the Champions League is confusing though. As everyone is in a big league, but without everyone playing one another, one cannot study the teams against other teams that you will face, and most annoying for real football fans, adapt the tactics according to other results and new matches in smaller groups. In my personal view it takes away some of the excitement about the planning. As the 8 initial rounds come to an end, the excitement will not be about the top teams, but about the 7th-8th or 23rd-24th, who will snatch the last position for the play-offs. And the top teams will all go through....

 I appear not to be the only one annoyed at the new format. The fans of Borussia Dortmund (a team that incidentally is first in the league after two victories, the latest trashing Celtic 7-1) welcomed the new CL format at home with a huge banner: "UEFA Mafia", protesting against the new format that indeed appears to be a way for UEFA to make more and more money from the ones who love the game.

In Dortmund 

The lack of self-reflection

 Vinicius Junior, the outstanding Brazilian player of Real Madrid, may not be a gentleman on and off the pitch, but he is certainly causing a stir in Spanish society with his accusations of deep seated racism in Spanish society, following the many racist chants he has suffered during his time in Spain. Lately, he has gone as far as saying that the World Cup of 2030, to be hosted by Spain, should be moved because of racism in Spain.

Of course it is nonsense, and the World Cup should not be moved.

That said, the reaction from large parts of Spanish society baffles me, because they viciously attack Vinicius for being ungrateful, a liar, an egoist, a provocateur, and worse.

And this is frankly baffling; because Vinicius Jr. may be exaggerating in what should be done, and he has even said that only a minority of Spaniards are racist (something he is absolutely correct about), but he is calling for a reflection by Spanish society that they absolutely refuse to see! 

Because while it is a minority, there is absolutely racism in both Spanish society and it becomes quite explicit in football, and it is something that they should do something about instead of becoming defensive and most often saying that other societies are more racist (they may be right, but someone else's sins should never be an excuse for your own).

Spain is not a racist country. But it needs to do something about the racism that exists, specially in football, and that is the core of Vinucius Junior's criticism, and is at the core of what Spanish football appears to refuse to accept.

Goodbye El Salvador, hello Mexico

Every country I have lived in has done well in football. 

Until now that is, because El Salvador is awful, and in the seven years I have lived here appear only to have become worse as their national team football appears to be disorganised, unfocused, and lacking of a long-term perspective for a country that loves football and does not lack talent.

It is a pity, because I would have liked to see El Salvador be successful, not least for the Salvadoran fans, who nevertheless are often more keen to watch European leagues than support their domestic clubs.

Frankly, I found the domestic league much more interesting: I saw some great matches and could see that there is indeed talent in the country, and I became a fan of Alianza, something I will always be.

I am going to a new country, a country I have visited before and with which I already have a footballing relationship: from having stayed there in 1986 up to the World Cup, going to the mighty Azteca Stadium, as well as a love-hate relationship with their national team (something that seems to be the case with many of the Mexican fans, many of whom I had the pleasure of celebrating with in Russia 2018).

I very much look forward to Mexico! For a new chapter in my life, including a new footballing chapter!

The Champions League 2024-25 draw

Usually I would post the groups after a CL draw, but with the format having been completely changed by UEFA, there is no point. That said, it is worth exploring the format a bit, and although I acknowledge that we football fans are generally conservative when it comes to the structure of tournament, I do find it a somewhat confusing structure.

I think simple is better, but perhaps the new structure may attract more interest? There will surely be more matches, more teams, and thus more money, surely what drives UEFA above any other consideration. But will there be better football? More drama? Better matches?

There are now 36 teams, and they will all have eight matches, four at home and four away, against randomly selected teams from four levels according to their rankings. Already sounds confusing, but the idea is that each team will face eight different sides, and then be ranked in a table that includes everyone (like a league table). The top eight teams will go directly into the last-16, while teams ranked 9 to 24 will play a knock-out phase to get the eight teams that will join the 1-8s in the last-16.

Teams ranked 25 to 32 will just go home.

The draw today was to see who each team would play for the first eight matches. The result is a huge table with the home and away opponents of each side, and there will surely be some interesting matches, such as Liverpool-Real Madrid, Manchester City-PSG and Barcelona-Bayern Munich, there are also matches that are bound not to attract much interest except for the involved teams, such as Brest-Sturm Graz, Girona-Bratislava or Young Boys-Crvena Zvedza.

The other part I have a hard time seeing is whether this will benefit the bigger or the smaller teams more. The smaller could have more chances by playing against other smaller sides, and then pulling surprises against the big teams, but at the same time the bigger teams could benefit from playing more matches against "smaller teams", getting their goals and points to progress in those matches. 

No matter what, it appears that even more than before, the most exciting part will be the knock-out stages, and the initial part appears mostly to draw out the smaller teams.

Hope it works and that we get a good CL season, and a great final in Munich next year.

Ferenc Puskas and I

Since I am moving I have been packing, going through a lot of old documents, and came across a small football memory that involved none other than the legendary Ferenc Puskas, one of the best football players of all time; all-time topscorer of Europe and captain of the legendary Hungarian national team of the 1950s, that broke many records: the first team ever to defeat England at Wembley, they didn’t lose a game for three years, until the 1954 World Cup final in Switzerland, where they nevertheless ended up as the most scoring team per match of all time (ironically, they had defeated Germany 8-3 in the first round, but lost the legendary final 3-2 after being up 2-0!). 

Hungarian football has not been the same since 1956 (even though they have participated in many tournaments, but without much distinction) when the legendary team fell apart after the Hungarian uprising against the USSR. Many of the players were dispersed all over Europe – many went to Spain, for instance Sandor Koscic (the topscorer of the 1954 World Cup), but also Ferenc Puskas, who went to become a player of one of the most legendary teams of all time: Real Madrid. This was the real “galactico” Real Madrid, with some of the best players of all time: Alfredo Di Stefano, Raymond Kopa, Francisco Gento, José Santamaría… Still, Puskas stood out: four pichichis and winning five European Championships. 

In 1993 I went to watch Hungary play against Denmark in a friendly match in Parken in Copenhagen. Denmark won 3-1 (and Michael Laudrup scored after his recent return to the national team), but that was not the special thing about the match. I was with some friends from the boarding school in Birkerød, which I attended back then. Some ten meters behind me I saw a large fat man with sleazy combed back hair, and immediately I recognized him: this was Ferenc Puskas, and I told one of my friends who knew who I was referring to: this was one of the most legendary players of all time (Pelé, Maradona, Cruyff, Beckenbauer, Puskas)! We wanted an autograph from this legend, and approached the old large man. “Puskas!”, and waved at him. He waved back, casually and signalling that he was not going to sign any autograph, but I thought I sensed a certain pride that he had been recognized by two Danish teenagers. We kept waving,: “Autograph, Puskas!”, but he ignored us, until I then said in Spanish: “Vamos, para un hincha del Madrid!” (I am not proud that I pretended to be a fan of Real Madrid…), which at least made him turn towards me: “Yo estoy aquí como Húngaro!”, he said and I didn’t get an autograph. 

Seems Mr. Puskas, like me, had different identities for different contexts: One day Hungarian, other days Spanish, other days Madrid. 

Mr. Puskas passed away in 2006, was given a state funeral in Hungary, and well, I could remember my little encounter with a legend.

FC Barcelona grand mess

FC Barcelona appears to have started the season well with two victories over Valencia and Athletic Bilbao, two traditionally difficult sides. But the good start is overshadowed by the financial mess that is the Catalonian club, and which needs to be addressed, as well is putting in doubt these financial rules for big football clubs.

The entire financial situation is a mess as described in articles that can give a finer description of the details than I can. One immediate consequence that we see as fans is that FC Barcelona's salary ceiling appears to be too high, and they have this week been forced to let go of Ilkay Gundogan, the outstanding German midfielder who has returned to Manchester City after only one season at the Catalan club. While Barcelona also had to abandon trying to sign Nico Williams (whose partnership with Lamina Yamal would be a great asset), and need to find more savings to be able to be allowed to sign Dani Olmo from Leipzig.

While FC Barcelona and its accountants are trying to do do accounting acrobatics to stabilize income amid the rebuilding of the Camp Nou and closing a debt gap of nearly one billion USD, one has to wonder how a club like FC Barcelona has gotten itself in this situation...

It appears to be years and years of financial mismanagement as the "socio" structure: the club is owned by members of the FC Barcelona society, where anyone can become a member by an application and an annual fee. These socios elect the members of the board and the President of the club in democratic elections.

It is a model that is also used in Real Madrid, and has set the clubs apart less as "money machines" to an illusion of them being representatives of a community and working for that community.

But this is obviously an illusion as these clubs elect presidents who appear to have limited interest in the financial stability of the clubs, and perhaps more importantly, limited knowledge of what financial stability means. Because FC Barcelona, its socios, and its fans appear to have to face the truth that their club is bankrupt and that if it is not to be punished by being disqualified from European football and punished in La Liga (the latter being less likely), they need to find investors with real money who can save the club. 

As was seen with Valencia, this may not work, but it seems to be that the club either accepts a new ownership structure or accept a few seasons where the priority is to rebuild the finances at the cost of lower positions in the league.

I would prefer the latter if I were a fan. They still have a solid team that will play high level, if not fighting for trophies, as they rebuild. But that is exactly what seems to be unacceptable for anyone in this side, who prefer to live the illusion of democracy and great football.

As a football fan it is a pity, but FC Barcelona have brought themselves into this situation.

Manuel (not so) Neuer

 Manuel Neuer is no longer so Neuer. In fact he is old, and while he was certainly the world's best goalkeeper in 2014, he is not the best any longer. In 2014 he was a crucial piece of the German World Cup winners, in particular he playing very forward to compensate for the slow German central defenders. He is the only player left from that great German side, but age has also showed now, and he was also part of the disappointments of the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.

So it is probably with this in mind that Manuel Neuer has announced his retirement from the German national team, and perhaps it is a prelude to announce his full retirement when his contract with Bayern Munich expires in 2025.

He will be missed, but probably the right time to retire.

Starting up

 Following a post-tournament hangover and a pretty boring Olympic tournament that I did not even find worth writing about, we are now starting the European leagues with the Premier League starting yesterday when Manchester United defeated Fulham 1-0, starting a new season with a victory as they will try to improve on their 8th place in last year's PL.

In the meantime other favourites have also started well: Liverpool defeated Ipswich 2-0 with Mohammed Salah setting Diogo Jota up for the first goal and scoring the second himself. Arsenal, a side with huge ambitions after coming close to win the league the last couple of seasons, defeated Wolverhampton 2-o on goals by Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka, while last season's number four, Aston Villa, defeated West Ham 1-2 and will the looking to repeat their great season.

The champions of the last four seasons, Manchester City, are playing tomorrow in a clash against a Chelsea side that also will want to improve on their 6th place of last season.

In Spain the league started today as well with Valencia losing 1-2 at home to Barcelona. I don't think we can expect anything from the Valencians while Barcelona will be looking to upset a Real Madrid side that frankly looks like nobody can threaten them.

I am moving soon. My TV is gone and my place is full of boxes, so I did not in fact watch the matches, but certainly expect to watch more soon!

Disappointment and sadness

I have been so disappointed and sad about the racist songs of Argentina's national team players at France's national team, and understand the anger of the French. Argentineans would be as angry, justifiably, if anyone sang about the victims of the Malvinas, but they cannot look at themselves with any hint of criticism or empathy with the French players. Ignorant players as Enzo Fernandez even saw no problem at publishing on social media, while they are complete ignorant about French history or society (and probably as ignorant about anything beyond social media); because saying that "Frenchmen are already racist", by being racist against Frenchmen who have experienced racism for years, is one of the most idiotic things one can imagine someone saying.

I am disappointed and sad because I have always supported and defended Argentina. But I need to remember that Argentina fans (and apparently players) are as ignorant and hateful as anyone in this pitiful world.

Hjulmand out

Kasper Hjulmand, who has been manager of the Danish national team for the last three tournaments is a nice guy and a popular manager for Denmark who in 2021 made Danish fans happier for the national team that we had been for many years. That said, it was time for him to leave, and indeed since the disastrous 2022 World Cup he overstayed his job.

While one can argue that over his stay he has achieved good results in terms of qualifying Denmark to two Euros and a World Cup, the problem is less in terms of result and more in terms of style and commitment. There are plenty of excuses about the disaster in Qatar, but in truth there can be few excuses for what was the loss to Australia that eliminated Denmark. Following that, Denmark was shaky in qualification: leads were thrown away and a team with strong players from big clubs appeared to get nervous when subjected to pressure. They were unable to keep their heads cool.

Following a close qualification, expectation were not big in Denmark to these Euros, just a careful optimism (totally different from Qatar), and Danes appeared happy to have made it to the last-16 only to be eliminated by Germany. But in my view there were many troubles; I firmly believe that Denmark could have been much better if they had not played a cowardly defensive style in their first matches against Slovenia and Serbia, when instead they seemed satisfied against sides that were not better than Denmark. In small moments one saw the Denmark that could exist, as against England, but there was too much respect from the Danes about "the big teams". 

Denmark under Hjulmand has followed the trend of many teams: defend and be afraid to win. That only makes football less popular; the teams that are remembered are those who play good football and do not necessarily win, and in Denmark we have many examples of this: 1986, 1998, and even 2021.

I wish Mr. Hjulmand the best, but it is time for new blood and back to better football.

The Aftermaths

The aftermath of both tournaments has started, firstly with Gareth Southgate stepping down as England manager. He is undoubtedly the most successful English Manager having taken England to the 2018 World Cup semifinals, to the 2021 Euro final, and to these 2024 Euro finals.

Yet Gareth Southgate was widely criticized, justly in my view, for his defensive and cautious style, as well as team selection (for instance insisting on Harry Kane this tournament). That said, these results speak for themselves for a country that had hardly achieved anything since 1966, and despite the criticism I think it will be difficult to follow in the footsteps of Mr. Southgate.

Spain's victory in the tournament was well-deserved, and one can hope that the only side that did not focus on only defending will inspire the many other sides who most often chose to defend than to attack. In this regard it was in my view one of the most boring tournaments in history, not helped by a poor refereeing that was just helped along by VAR.

Finally, as so many tournaments, passions were too high, both at the Euro, but certainly at the Copa America, where a shameful organization culminated in a final where the organizers, US and CONMEBOL, seemed on the one hand to not understand what football means for Latin Americans (in case of the North Americans), and on the other hand a CONMEBOL that prioritized making money and having pictures with Shakira.

This dreadful organization is at a country that will host next World Cup....

But otherwise it was also a boring tournament with defensive sides, and an Argentine side that won in majorly on routine and cold-bloodiness, while Colombia played entertaining football, but simply lacked mentality to win (they basically also lacked mentality to lose). The most positive thing about the tournament was sadly Canada who played a good 2-2 match for third place with Uruguay, but ended losing at penalties after Luis Suarez had equalized in the last second of the match.

I say sadly, because it is of course good to have a new strong side in North America, but sad because in terms of football Canada provides nothing new, but plays a defensive, controlled tactical game that is choking the entertainment value of football.

So these tournaments were another step towards the inevitable demise of national team football. At least we still have the club game, in particular the Champions League, for intense and good football, as well as avoiding the horrible specter of nationalism, xenophobia and racism that increasingly seems to be what national team football has going for it.

Football, hate

 Today I was happy.

For a while only. I was happy Spain won. Never supported England, and happy for the many Spanish people I know, even family, would be celebrating.

And then I was watching two countries I deeply love, Colombia and Argentina, face one another in the final of Copa America. I wore my Argentina shirt, but honestly, I would have been happy for anybody to win.

And then I was no longer happy.

All the hate I got for supporting Argentina (absolutely nobody bothers to congratulate), all the fucking problems in Miami where fans can't behave and an organizing committee who is more concerned about seeing second rate washed up pop stars than actually putting on a performance.

Angel Di Maria, Lionel Messi, footballing stars who may have played their last match, and all they got is hate.

I had every reason to be happy, and instead football is just as depressing as ever, and I wonder if I even want to continue watching it. Irony is that I had every reason to be happy, but all people can do is punch you no matter what.

My recommendation for everyone in the final

After my gloomy previous post I want to give a recommendation to fans, players and any supporter of England, Spain, Argentina and Colombia. No matter what happens in the final, no matter the result or the match, it all has a simple solution:

A Death Foretold

 

Marcelo Bielsa is already a legend as a Manager and Football thinker, and his recent reflection on the decay of the football game is as timely as ever as we await the two finals tomorrow of tournaments which seem to confirm the grim future of the game.

Paraphrasing another great Latin American, this is the Chronicle of a Death Foretold, and I agree as I have been watching (and blogging) football for 20 years.

We have increasingly seen in these tournaments that teams are more afraid to lose than with a desire to win, so they largely retreat in a tactically result-oriented style. Some teams try to play more open, but they seem naive as they fight against the tide of boredom; in the meantime you have teams with a great amount of individual talent who treat their players like robots who are not to enjoy or entertain.

And let us face it, players contribute to this decay as well as the gentlemen of the game have all but disappeared: they act, they cry, they protest, they fight, play dirty. It is amazing how VAR has come in and not being used for this, but I also understand it: it seems incredible that we need to treat highly paid grown men as little children.

And VAR... I am not against it per se, but I have said before that it is being used completely wrong. It is being used to justify decisions that will always and have always been subjective, like a penalty, as well as searching with a microscope for faults where they were never seen before and where nobody protests. The blind faith in technology is only creating more doubt and distrust about the game as idiotic conspiracies flourish like never before.

Is it money? Of course it is. The people who can afford to go to a game are not your average income guy. Do you think that people who were in Charlotte for the Colombia-Uruguay match were the bottom of the Latin American income scale? No. And add TV rights, commercial deals and propaganda, and we have the explanation for all the things happening that are undermining the beauty of the game, just as Mr. Bielsa underlines.

Football has totally overtaken religion and politics as "Opium of the People", and as such it has been grasped by those in power as a way of controlling societies. Do these people in power fix matches? Is there a grand conspiracy to make certain teams win? No. But the spread of these conspiracies is useful to take attention away from other of societies' problems. 

We, the fans, are as guilty too. We are puppets. We let them control our primitive tribal instincts to hate other teams and other nations; the worst human instincts. We love being the martyrs, being rightful losers who fought against an evil force, and will never congratulate or thank another fan for a good match. And if we win we will rather insult the losers than recognize that in fact we need two teams trying to win to enjoy a game! (people who say, "I hate them because they defeated us" have in my view not really understood the point that it would be rather boring if they did not try to defeat us....).

There is no such thing as friendly competition in football any longer; it is war and you are judged by who you support - the Political Culture Wars taken to the most primitive level. 

It is a fact that football fans will rather see a team they hate lose than see their own side win. How fucked up is that!?? 

This is an angry rant indeed; but the decay of football is a symbol of the decay of our societies: tribalism, discrimination and hate are the order of the day, and in football we can't even any longer be happy for a beautiful play no matter who does it and a friendly taunt is always seen as an insult.

A sad state of affairs, and I do not have much of expectations of tomorrow's finals, even though I will watch them over beers with my cats and hoping that I get a bit of the happiness that made me fall in love with Football back in the day.

El Mundo de los Primeros?

The South American football Association CONMEBOL has published a video for the 2024 Copa America where they talk about how Latin America are "first" at football and life and that Latin Americans are firstly "brothers".

One would have been excused for thinking this video, made by and for the richest Latin Americans, is somewhat of a joke when looking at the "brotherhood" between Uruguayans and Colombians in last night's semifinal of the Copa America.

The match started well; Colombia was superior, attacking, and coming close on headers, and it was exactly on a header that Jefferson Lerma brought Colombia ahead, deservedly, and it looked like Uruguay had to show some style, but the few chances they created were shamefully wasted by one Darwin Nuñez.

Uruguayans are provocative, and it was perhaps a provocation towards the end of the first half that led the Crystal Palace defender Daniel Muñoz to try to elbow a Uruguayan. He already had a yellow card, so he obviously got a red card for losing his head in such a stupid way. It is not that we like the Uruguayans, but you cannot lose your head like that.

And in the end too many were too close to lose their head on both sides. The second half was not elegant; it was dirty, as Uruguay tried to push forward in any way possible, and Colombians were too often losing their heads and the referee losing control amid fouls, dives and constant protesting (these are things the Latin Americans are truly "first" at). Only the entrance of veterans Yerry Mina and Mateus Uribe (who shamefully missed two big chances to seal the match) gave Colombia some stability to defend to the end of the match.

But the end of the match was the most shameful thing of an already dirty affair as players, instead of thanking one another for an intense contest, started fighting. At the same time something happened in the stands (allegedly Colombian fans attacked the Uruguayan player's families), and Uruguayan players, notably Darwin Nuñez, started fighting with the fans.

It was a sad sad spectacle of Latin American "Brotherhood"

Distrust is one thing that Latin Americans are first at. Even before the tournament starting they were saying that the tournament had been fixed for Argentina and Messi to win in Miami. Just like Uruguayans bitched about a conspiracy against them when they were eliminated in the 2022 World Cup.

I find it strange that you would bother watching the Copa America if you believe that it is fixed. But surely the Colombians have an excuse in case they lose on Sunday! In fact, I think they will lose because the players as well as the fans will enter the stadium believing that they match has already been fixed against them, and losing will be the best way to confirm that the corrupt world is against them.

Just await a boxing match between Latin American "brothers".

But no matter what, they will all be there as the "first ones" bitching and crying at the next tournament!

Spain and England in the final

Today I was supporting the Netherlands alongside one of my cats, hoping that football would still not be coming home. 

So it was with great happiness that we saw the Dutch get an early lead from a splendid long-range kick by Xavi Simons, and great expectations to my cat as well as the thousands of orange fans in Dortmund.

But only ten minutes later England was given a penalty kick by the referee and VAR. It was not a big obvious penalty kick, and VAR gives no answer as to whether it was indeed a penalty kick; that said, after a review, the referee called a penalty, and Harry Kane was unforgiving.

As grudging as it is to accept, England was playing well, and the score was not unfair as we approached halftime with the tied score. Someone who was happy, besides the many annoying English fans, was my other cat, who in his young rebellious streak had decided to support England.

He was not a popular cat, and will probably get no food later.

Halftime went well for the Netherlands, although England also defended well, and as the second half advanced with nerves among the fans and my cats, we started to plan for extra time when England pulled one of those crazy late goals that they appear to have patented for this tournament. Substitute Ollie Watkins, the Aston Villa striker, scored a splendid goal in the 90th minute, and that was simply enough to take them to their second consecutive Euro final, but one where they are certainly not favourites as they will face a Spanish side that defeated France 2-1, and where the young Lamine Yamal is on fire!

So English fans and my one cat are happy, while my other cat has decided never to watch football again: 

 

Copa America 2024 Semifinals

Copa America 2024 has reached the semifinals, and my cat Whisky is still an excited sellout on all the teams that will play:

Canada	Argentina
Uruguay	Colombia

Canada, the only CONCACAF team left are surely the surprise in their first semifinal ever and will face the World and defending Copa America Champions of Argentina in the semifinals. Canada, who have only scored two ordinary goals in the tournament, already lost 0-2 to Argentina in their opening match, and if they manage to win, it will surely be one of the greatest upsets in the history of the game.

In the meantime Uruguay and Colombia are facing one another in a semifinal that is harder to predict. Colombia, led by a resuscitated James Rodriguez, is going through their longest streak of not losing ever, and are the most scoring team of the tournament after crushing Panama 5-0. In the meantime Uruguay is coming from three straight victories in the first round, and eliminating (no longer so) mighty Brazil in the quarterfinals on penalty kicks.

What we are hoping mostly is that the sides won't defend to much, and give one another some great matches. 

And despite of what my cat says, I hope for an Argentina-Colombia final!

The Euro 2024 semifinalists

My cats are very excited about the coming Euro semifinals that nevertheless include no surprises whatsoever:

France	Spain
England	Netherlands

As you can see my cats are pretty excited about the teams (perhaps less about England), and hope, like we all do, that they do not turn into some defensive win-at-all-costs mentality.

When winning is all that counts and rules make no sense

I could care less whether Spain or Germany won. Both are fantastic countries that I love, but in football they are often hard to like.

Today was one of those days.

The good thing about German elimination is that Germany again made history: the first time ever the hosts have been eliminated in the quarterfinals of a European Championship! Secondly, it was good to see Toni Kroos play his last match; a good player sure, but completely overrated; he is not at the level of some of the greats, but merely a good player that will soon be forgotten. So no tears over Germany.

But no celebrations over Spain either.

Spain have proud traditions, and this team has some of the elements that could make it a great team. But today we saw a side that despite its quality have no qualms over how to win. Some years ago I would have lamented the lack of fair play and being a gentleman, but truth is that I learnt in El Salvador that in life you are stupid if you think you can play fair and even less be a gentleman and I am trying hard to be neither. Therefore I admire a Dani Carvajal that is ready to get a red card by violently taking down a young Florian Wirtz (who had scored the equalizer for Germany following Dani Olmo's lead goal) in the 124th minute in order to avoid any risk of losing and giving a spectacle to fans.

Winning is everything in life, no matter what, and whoever says any thing differently is bound to lose (and believe me, because I learnt this the hard way the last couple of years).

Think only of yourself and run over Florian Wirtz if it comes to it.

And then we have refereeing: a light handball and VAR review gave Germany a penalty kick over Denmark. But a clear handball in the area by a Spaniard was not deemed worthy even of a VAR review by the referee, who let the game play on. The problem is not VAR or whatever tools they use; nor is it the rules, but it is the inconsistent refereeing that seems to change from game to game.

I cannot wait till we get AI referee bots, because at least they will take responsibility.

So now Spain are in the semifinals and likely winners of the tournament. Who can take them on? Perhaps all time boring France who defeated Portugal after penalty kicks in an all-boring match that reminded of the dead boring final in 2016. Two sides who are both willing to shed any pretense of playing a game we all love, for the mere fact of winning.

It is sad, but that is today's world: win win win, no matter what or who you run over on the way.

Euro quarterfinals

The eight best national sides in Europe have been decided. A pity that we saw no surprises, and in general not very good matches, but with some drama nevertheless. The coming quarterfinals are as follows:

• Spain-Germany: perhaps the most awaited match as the hosts face the team that has perhaps played the best football. Spain defeated Georgia 4-1, but until now appear not to have been up against the best sides. The match will also be a test for Germany, who are hungering for a title.
• Portugal-France: The French remain favourites although they have not been impressive, and Kylian Mbappe is yet to score. They defeated Belgium 0-1 deservedly and have by far the best defense in the tournament. They are my favourites to defeat a Portuguese side that had to go to penalty kicks against a great Slovenia, and has already lost to Georgia as well. That said, they have a fantastic Diogo Costa in goal.
• England- Switzerland: The Swiss destroyed the defending champions of Italy, and are surely amongst the favourites. England has not reached the expected level in the tournament, and struggled to defeat Slovakia, only equalising late by a spectacular kick by Jude Bellingham. So in my view Switzerland are favourites because they have played better. I will surely support them!
• Netherlands-Turkey: Never underestimate the Dutch who sometimes may look shaky but were strong to defeat Romania 3-0. Turkey in the meantime defeated the well-playing Austrians 2-1 and it will surely be an intense clash between these two ambitious sides.

I certainly hope that the quarterfinals will be good, and the best teams win.

Danish exit and VAR

First of all we have to admit that this was not the same great Danish team that we saw in 2021. Seen over the four matches they played good possession occasionally, but lacked change of pace to counterattack as well as playing too defensively against sides which they were dominating (Slovenia and Serbia). And worst of all, they appeared to lack the fighting spirit that had been so great in 2021.

Therefore, it was no surprise that Denmark lost 2-0 to the German hosts in the last-16; seen over the entire match Germany were probably better, missing many chances against a great Kasper Schmeichel, but at the same time Denmark played a good match where they, with a bit of luck, could have hurt they Germans.

But the match was ruined by bad refereeing underpinned by VAR.

I am not against VAR; I am against bad refereeing. And VAR is just becoming an excuse for bad refereeing. VAR is being used completely wrong, and this is not the first match it has happened. Denmark had a goal cancelled due to off-side. It was one centimeter, barely visible, unless you analyse it in depth. But off-side it was; the problem is when so much time is used to find something that was not immediately obvious.

Then we have the penalty, and here for me the problem is not VAR, but that VAR becomes the excuse for cowardly refereeing. The handball had no influence on the situation and there was no intention from the player. Romelu Lukaku had a goal cancelled for a similar situation in Belgium's match against Slovakia, and both of these situations are complete overinterpretations of what a handball actually is in football.

So it is a pity that the match was ruined by bad refereeing. After Kai Havertz scored on the penalty kick the Danes had to push forward which left space in the back; Jamal Musiala and his speed took advantage of the space to make it 2-0 and effectively close the match as the Danes never appeared to really be able to threaten the Germans after the penalty. 

The match had nevertheless been exciting until the bad referee decision. 

Denmark out, they deserved it, but it is a pity it happened the way it happened.

Arepa versus Taco

 I have a special relationship to both Venezuela and Mexico. Venezuela because I lived there and love the country very much, and Mexico because I am so fortunate that I will soon move to the beautiful country. While I did not watch the match, I heard that Venezuela had defeated Mexico 1-0 in Copa America on a goal by good ole' Solomon Rondon (who is actually now playing in Mexico, Pachuca). Great for Venezuela, who after defeating the favourites of Ecuador have maximum points in their group, and may do as well as they did in 2011 (when I happened to live there).

Mexico in the meantime continues in crisis. They won their first match, but will now have to face Ecuador in a very difficult match that could see them through or bust.

In the meantime, I am happy that the Arepa beat the Taco!

:)

Misery and Joy

In group E everyone could go through as we entered the last round, and expectations were yet again that Belgium, ranked one of the best teams in the world, would defeat Ukraine and win the group. The match ended 0-0 and Belgium went through on second spot anyway as Slovakia and Romania tied 1-1, putting the Romanians as surprising winners of Group E, and Ukraine as the unlucky last despite getting 4 points. Belgium was awful though; the pampered millionaire superstars appeared offended that Ukraine played better and ended the match defending and going for 0-0 against a side that they should defeat. And they appeared more offended when their own fans howled and whistled at them because of a performance that was frankly disrespectful to everyone.

You are millionaire entertainers. When you do not entertain, admit it.

Contrast the Belgian misery to Georgia, who went through in group F as best third placed team with 4 points after defeating the Portuguese superstars 2-0. The Georgian star Kvisha Kvaratskhelia scored a splendid first goal, while Georges Mikautadze made it 2-0 on a penalty (it was indeed penalty, but my concern is about the fact that it took VAR very long to call it). Portugal are nevertheless through on first spot in the group, but may not be as big favourites as they have been considered.

Georgia pulled the surprise and have progressed for the first time ever in a major tournament, The Georgians celebrated as if they had won the tournament, understandably, and it is clear that they play with the heart and commitment that the Belgians completely lack.

Both Belgium and Georgia are facing difficult matches: Georgia will face the undefeated Spanish side, while Belgium will face the mighty French side, and will have to show their fans that there is still something worth to cheer in Belgium.

Germany-Denmark

Denmark made it through on second place after England. It was not elegant and awfully lucky for a side that seems afraid to attack (Denmark used to be so good at counter-attacking!!!! What happened!!!???) and starts to defend against teams that are frankly not very good. Because all due respect to Serbia, but when you have to win a match and you play like that, you do not deserve to go through.

So I do not understand why the Danes did not go after the victory, but defended a 0-0 that got them through on second spot, ahead of Slovenia (who are also through after 0-0 with England), because they are a higher ranked team.

Now Denmark will face the German hosts. Switzerland, a far better team than Denmark, showed that the Germans are not invincible, but at the same time that you have to play your best. Denmark will this have to play their best, but most of all, and this is what worries me, they have to believe that they can win instead of defending the entire match.

Of course, it is arrogant Germany, nobody the Danes would rather defeat, but we have to face that it will be nearly a miracle if they do.

New Spain and Old Italy

Before the tournament Spain did not look like the big favourites, but they certainly do now. Under the leadership of the hapless Luis Enrique Spain had not impressed, but the former youth manager, Luis de La Fuente, has forged a splendid side based on the immense talent base in Spain. Lamine Yamal, only 16 years old, is only one example, but other players that have come forward include Nico Williams, Pedri, Fermin Lopez, as well as players whose talent was wasted during Luis Enrique, such as Dani Olmo and Marc Cucurella. And frankly, older experienced players are there too.

Spain last night defeated Albania 0-1 with ten substitutions. They have won the group with maximum points and a score of 5-0, and are looking like the team to beat in the tournament.

It seems we have a new super Spain in the making, more direct that the old Tiki-Taka side.

Croatia and Spain were playing their everything to follow Spain through. Croatia had to win, while a tie would be sufficient for Italy to defend the title they won in 2021. As would be expected it was a match full of drama. In the second half the veteran superstar Luka Modric brought Croatia ahead after having missed a penalty, and a lot of relief to a Croatia side that nevertheless drew back to defend. Italy understandably pushed forward, but we had to move to the 97th minute, the last kick of the match, before the Lazio winger Mattia Zaccagni brought relief to Italy and deep heartbreak to Croatia. 

1-1 and Italy are through to continue defending their title, like in the old days, while Croatia are out, and are probably looking at a farewell to the veterans that have done so much for Croatia over the years, most notably the Great Luka Modric.

Thank you.

The fucking world we live in

Every tournament it gets worse, and it just saddens me. The racism, xenophobia, hate... It is not the fault of football, but with football it just becomes almost legal to express extreme viewpoints; to say what you think, but apparently it is not legal to actually think.

Serbia is angry that Croatian and Albanian fans shouted "kill Serbs" during their match. Truly despicable, and cannot understand why a match like that is not suspended. At the same time you see images of these Serbs shouting racist slogans and not letting a black man on a train, and one feels that they are as despicable as the Albanians or Croatians.

Sad truth is that everyone all over the world is the same....

Then we hear Germans (Germans!!!) complain about the colour of their players, something we have seen in England, France as well. I am happy that at least Julian Nagelsmann strongly criticised it, but I am afraid he is another lone voice fighting the tide of hate that envelops all our societies.

As I said, it is not football's fault. It is our societies; full of ignorance and idiotic tribalism (both ignorance and tribalism are sadly concepts worn with pride by most people everywhere in the world).

Although it is not football's fault, it becomes difficult to get excited about the game when all you see is that; when friendly taunting and mutual respect, a place to meet other cultures and nationalities in a friendly sport, becomes just what is the most characteristic trait of the human race since times immemorial: pure and evil hate. 

The fucking world we live in.

Copa America 2024

More great football as the European championship continues underway, as Copa America started last night with the World Champions of Argentina defeating Canada 2-0 in the opening match. Argentina are also defending Copa America Champions, and are eager to retake the title. The sixteen participating teams (ten from CONMEBOL and six from CONCACAF) are distributed as follows:

Group A:

• Argentina
• Canada
• Peru
• Chile

Group B:

• Mexico
• Ecuador
• Venezuela
• Jamaica

Group C:

• USA
• Uruguay
• Panama
• Bolivia

Group D:

• Brazil
• Colombia
• Panama
• Costa Rica

It paints to be an exciting tournament running in parallel with the Euros.

Scottish return

Scotland played a dreadful opening match against Germany losing 1-5. In the meantime Switzerland had played a great match defeating Hungary 3-1, so everything appeared to be set for Switzerland and a second victory.

But this time Scotland rose to the occassion with a great atmosphere by both team's fans.

It was a not a well-played match, and Swizterland made numerous errors, while many of Scotland's players simply lacked the technique to do what should be done. But both teams, specially the Scots, played with spirit and commitment. In a quick counterattack they were a bit lucky when Fabian Shar pushed Scott McTominay's shot across the goalline, but the lead was deserved. At the same time Anthony Ralston gave away a pass to Xerdan Shaquiri who scored (another) spectacular goal to make it 1-1.

Scotland went for the victory in the second half even though Switzerland had a goal ruled a tight off-side. The Swiss appeared more satisfied with the tie, as it almost secures them advancement to the nexto round, while Scotland will have to go for the victory against Hungary.

Hungary are a good side, but no matter what happens, the Scots have shown that they are still a competitive side that has spirit and energy.

The darlings

After the first round of Euro 2024 (although there are still today's matches to go), there are two teams that have come forward as the "darlings"; that is, underrated teams that may cotninue to charm us with their fight, commitment, and great fans.

The first candidate is Romania. They had last participated in 2016, and the last time they won a match at the Euros was in 2000. Yesterday they were not favourites against Ukraine, but with massive support from their fans (and we do not count their horrible black-clad Ultras whom we could live without) they took apart the poor Ukranians with 3-0. Notably Nicolae Stanciu's first goal may be the best goal of the tournament so far.

The other sides in the group are Belgium and Slovakia, and by many Belgium has been considered huge favourite to win the group. But not withstanding that they are yet to face a splendid Romania, the Belgians disappointed in their opening match by losing to a hard-fighting and well-organised Slovakia, who were an example of how a small teams can defeat a favourite with tenacity and organization. After seven minutes Ivan Schranz bought the Slovakians ahead and they held on to the score until the end despite heavy pressure from the Belgians (and two VAR goals by Lukaku annulled, with specially the second goal is an example of how VAR should NOT be used). 

In the end it may be Slovakia and Romania that will surprise and become the fan favourites of the tournament.

Playing with the speed of old turtles

After a great Euro 2021, Denmark disappointed enormously in the 2022 World Cup. Back then there were several excuses from the political pressure to the weather. Even though they struggled to qualify for the 2024 Euros, there have nevertheless been expectations building in Denmark that the team managed by Kasper Hjulmand would get a good start at the Euro and surprise again with a combination of experienced players and some youthful talents.

Today we saw that Denmark is mostly talk and that Hjulmand has no capacity to motivate his team when things get difficult.

Denmark started well. Christian Eriksen brought them ahead 1-0 on a splendid strike and Denmark had possession and pressure. But they played so slow!!!! The pace was of a turtle, and they lacked imagination to get through a Slovene side that had nothing to offer.

Second half the Slovenians moved forward, as would be expected, and they Danes fell apart in nerves over the pressure of a side that they should be superior too. This is when a manager needs to motivate and push his team forward, but Hjulmand just sat on his bench looking like a surprised schoolteacher. Denmark got more and more nervous, lost possession, made mistakes, and the defense of three otherwise experienced players were giving chances to Slovenia that Andraz Sporar missed and missed to Denmark's luck.

But you cannot rely on luck. You need energy, and Denmark lacked it. After a splendid strike from Benjamin Sesko hit the post, the Slovenes were lucky when a shot by Erik Lanza changed direction and meant an equalizer for the Slovenes. 

The Danes remained surprised, nervous and disappointed the rest of the match. 1-1 was a bad result for both sides, but Slovenia must be happier as expectations were not that big.

In the meantime, Denmark had big expectations, and it now seems unlikely that they can get anything from playing England and Serbia in the next two matches. 

20 Years of blogging!

Time flies. 

Twenty years ago, on June 16th 2004, Facebook had just been founded but not become a global phenomenon. Twitter, Instagram, TikTok or WhatsApp did not exist yet. Lionel Messi had not played his first match for FC Barcelona, while a young Cristiano Ronaldo was starting his career in Manchester United. Spain had never won a World Cup, Manchester City did not belong to the Abu Dhabi Group, and FC Porto had just won the Champions League.

I was also a nerd (as I still am), finishing my Masters degree in Denmark, and wondering what the future would bring...

I had a World Cup football website since 1998, but blogging was a new thing, where people could write articles about whatever they wanted. So I started blogging, inspired by my friend Stig, who blogged about cool stuff, but I decided to be a nerd and blog about football, just as the 2004 European Championship had started, and Denmark had tied Italy.

How much has happened since then! I don't know what I would have thought if someone had said to me that 20 years later I would still be blogging ("get a life"!?).

As these twenty years feel to have flown by, I have gone from a young sexy student to a middle aged bald and chubby professional; I have gone through ups and downs in life as well as in football, something that I have expressed in this blog (and sometimes not), but in the end, this blog, with more than 1500 posts, has been here following me as I have seen and experienced many changes in my life, the world in general, and the footballing world in particular!

Sometimes I blog, sometimes I don't. Whenever I feel like it. Blogging is no longer cool; it is like writing with an ink-feather after the invention of the printing-press. But here I am, an old ugly fart, writing about a thing that is special to me, football. 

Football, no matter where I have been, at what time, across cultures and generations, it is a common reference point anywhere in the world. That makes it even more special, and I will try to keep blogging about it, amid my ups and downs...

Thanks if you take the time to read this.

Seen from Glasgow

 Yesterday I happened to be in Glasgow, Scotland, as the charming Scots and their Tartan army faced Germany at the opening match of the Euros in Munich. There was a good expecting atmosphere and pubs were full even though there were apparently 200000 Scots in Munich.

Germany has not been strong in the last tournaments and a hope for Scotland could be that Germany would succumb to pressure.

But no such luck for the hapless Scots.

Germany were far superior from the first minute of the match. Relentless pressure, quick passes and a splendid Toni Kroos in midfield, and the Scots had absolutely nothing to offer. Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz ran around the Scots, and by halftime each had scored splendid goals alongside Kai Havertz’ penalty goal that also cost Ryan Porters a red card.

Second half Germany went down a gear but were still far superior. Substitutes Niclas Fullkrug and Emerson Can scored, while Scotland’s undeserved goal was also scored by a German, Antonio Rudiger own goal.

There was still a good atmosphere in Glasgow as the match ended, but probably not as in Germany, who look to be going for the title.

Greatest Euro Matches: England-Italy (2021)

Euro 2020 did not take place in 2020: Due to the global Covid pandemic of 2020 the tournament had to be postponed to 2021. Additionally, led by the later-disgraced UEFA president Michel Platini, UEFA had decided that not one nation would host the tournament, but instead the tournament was to be hosted by 11 cities in 11 different countries to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the tournament. Even though the pandemic was in its wane, this caused enormous logistical problems as many countries still had restrictions about travel and assembly. 

The city chosen to host the final was London, and at the time of the final there were still many travel restrictions, another advantage for England who throughout the tournament that football would “be coming home”. 

England had reason to be optimistic, if not arrogant. Managed by former England player Gareth Southgate, he had taken England to the 2018 semifinals. The team surely counted with an extremely strong combination of experience and talent from the Premier League, perhaps the strongest league in the world. Jordan Pickford from Everton was in goal, behind Manchester City’s Kyle Walker, John Stones, Manchester United’s Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw, as well as Atletico Madrid’s Kieran Tripper. Midfield included Liverpool’s Jordan Henderson and Manchester City’s Jack Grealish, but also some very talented youths such as West Ham’s Declan Rice, Manchester City’s Phil Foden, Chelsea’s Mason Mount, Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka and Borussia Dortmund’s Jude Bellingham and Jadon Sancho. Finally attack included the team’s captain and topscorer, Tottenham’s Harry Kane, Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford and Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling. 

England walked through qualification, scoring an impressive 37 goals in 8 matches, and only losing one match to the Czech Republic, but winning their group. Therefore expectations were high when they got into a group with Croatia, Scotland and the Czech Republic. Despite winning the group the side did not look impressive though: they defeated Croatia and Czechia, 1-0 in both case, and tied Scotland 0-0. Not many goals, but a strong defense. 

The first real test came in the last-16 when they faced their arch-rivals of Germany, defeating them 2-0 and really creating expectations about the title. In the quarterfinals England trashed Ukraine 4-0, and faced Denmark in the semifinals in a match that had to go into extra time and was only won after a controversial penalty that Harry Kane scored on the rebound. 

As they were to face Italy at home, England’s fans were almost prematurely celebrating as they were to face Italy at their legendary Wembley Stadium. 

Since winning the 2006 World Cup Italy had not impressed at World Cups. They had been eliminated at the group stages in 2010 and 2014 and had even failed to qualify to Russia 2018. Things had been a bit better in the European Championships as they had made the 2012 final, but were trashed by Spain. After the debacle in the 2018 qualification the former player Roberto Mancini, with ample experience in clubs such as Inter Milan and Manchester City, became manager. The goal was to qualify for the European championship, something he managed in style by winning ten out of ten matches, although the group had not looked too strong with runners-up Finland and Greece.

The squad was strong though and counted a talented young goalkeeper from AC Milan in Gianluigi Donnarumma. In defense the veteran captain from Juventus, Giorgio Chiellini, continued to play at an incredibly high level and complemented by strong players such as Alessandro Florenzi from Paris St. Germain, Lazio’s Francesco Acerbi, Napoli’s Giovanni di Lorenzo and Chelsea’s Emerson Palmieri. In midfield was the workhorse from Paris St. Germain, Marco Verrati, alongside Chelsea’s strong defensive midfielder Jorginho, including Inter’s Nicolo Barella, Juventus Federico Bernardeschi or Juventus Federico Chiesa. Strikers included Lazio’s Ciro Immobile, Napoli’s Lorenzo Insigne and Sassuolo’s Domenico Berardi. 

Italy looked strong from the start of the tournament: They won all their three matches, 3-0 over Turkey, 3-0 over Switzerland and 1-0 over Wales. They struggled to defeat a hard fighting Austrian side 2-1 after extra time in the last-16, but then played a great match to defeat the strong Belgians 2-1 in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals they faced one of their archrivals, Spain, and won after penalty kicks to make it to the final against England. 

As it had been in the semifinals against Denmark they away fans were limited to Italians living in London, who faced a hostile English crowd who booed the Italian anthem and were insisting that “Football is coming home”. We were reminded of the worst of English fans; there were big fan troubles and English racism against their own players after the match had been lost. 

That said, it was the start of dreams for England: after two minutes Kieran Trippier passed the ball towards the far post where an unmarked Luke Shaw brought England ahead 1-0 on a half-volley. 

The fastest goal in a European Championship final. 

England were in ecstasy, but also appeared overly careful after the goal, and slowly Italy started to take over possession and get chances, but were kept away from big chances from Pickford and the defense. While England was leading at half-time it did not feel that the match was over, but that Italy would be hard to defeat. With two changes 10 minutes into the second half Italy continued to dominate possession, and one felt that Southgate, leading 1-0, was pulling back too much. After Italy steadily getting closer Italy finally scored. Following a corner kick Verrati hit the post, and Juventus’ Leonardo Bonucci was there to pick-up the riposte. 

At 34 years of age, Bonucci remains the oldest player to have scored in a European Championship final. 

Italy continued dominating against an England side that looked almost afraid in how careful they were playing in front of their home crowd, and the match ended 1-1 after extra time as well. 

Gareth Southgate made changes in extra time that seemed to prepare for penalty kicks as he brought on Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho in the 120th minute. At the score 1-1 on penalty kicks Andrea Belloti missed for England, and when Harry Maguire brought England ahead 2-1 it seemed that things were going England’s way. But following Bonucci’s goal, Marcus Rashford missed the goal entirely and score was 2-2. Following Bernardeschi bringing Italy ahead it was Jadon Sancho’s turn to miss when Donnarumma saved his shot, and suddenly the great Jorginho could make Italy champions, but a great Pickford saved. The last one to shoot for England was the young Bukayo Saka. He had to score, but his short was saved by Donnarumma, and Italy were champions of Europe for the second time since 1968. 

It was a big disappointment for England, but at least Football stayed home with Italy.  

London, 11th July 2021 Wembley Stadium 
Attendance: 67,173 
Referee: Bjorn Kuipers, Netherlands 

England-Italy 1-1 (AET) 
Penalty kicks: England-Italy 3-2 

England: Jordan Pickford; Kyle Walker, (Jadon Sancho, 120), John Stones, Harry Maguire; Kieran Trippier (Bukayo Saka, 71), Luke Shaw, Kalvin Phillips, Declan Rice (Jordan Henderson, 74 (Marcus Rashford, 120)), Raheem Sterling, Mason Mount (Jack Grealish, 99); Harry Kane (c). Manager: Gareth Southgate 
Italy: Gianluigi Donnaruma; Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Leonardo Bonucci, Giorgio Chiellini (c), Emerson Palmieri (Alessandro Florenzi, 118); Jorghinho, Nicolo Barella (Bryan Cristante, 54), Marco Verrati (Manuel Locatelli, 96); Federico Chiesa (Federico Bernardeschi, 86), Lorenzo Insigne (Andrea Belotti, 91), Ciro Immobile (Deomenico Berardi, 54). Manager: Roberto Mancini 

Goals:
1-0 Kyle Walker (2) 
1-1 Leonardo Bonucci (67) 

Penalty kicks:
1-1 Domenico Berardi 
1-1 Harry Kane 
Andrea Belloti missed for the Italy 
1-2 Harry Maguire 
2-2 Leonardo Bonucci 
Marcus Rashford missed for England 
2-3 Federico Bernardeshci 
Jadon Sancho missed for England 
Jorginho missed for Italy 
Bukayo Saka missed for England

Greatest Euro Matches: France-Switzerland (2021)

France won the World Championship of 2018 in Russia, and were surely considered one of the favourites to take the European title in 2020. That said, due to the COVID pandemic the tournament 2020 could not be the year that they would be able to take the title, as the entire tournament was postponed to 2021. Gthis nevertheless appeared to mean nothing with a team captained by the experienced Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris and with strong defenders such as Real Madrid’s Raphael Varane and FC Barcelona’s Clement Leglet. The wingbacks were the Bayern Munich players Benjamin Pavard and Lucas Hernandez. In the meantime Manager Didier Deschamps had too many brilliant midfielders to choose from: Paul Pogba from Manchester United, Ngolo Kante from Chelsea, Moussa Sissoko from Tottenham, Andrien Rabiot from Juventus or Kingsley Coman from Bayern Munich. And it attack, complementing one of the world’s best players, Kylian Mbappe from Paris St. Germain, were such stars as FC Barcelona’s Antoine Griezmann and Ousmane Dembele, Chelsea’s Oliver Giroud and Real Madrid’s superstar Karim Benzema. 

In every way France looked awesome, but had not been perfect in qualification, losing one match to Turkey, but still winning their group. 

In the group stages France ended in the so-called “Group of Death” alongside Germany, Portugal and Hungary. Although playing in Munich France defeated Germany 0-1 in their opening match and 1-1 and 2-2 with Hungary and Portugal respectively was enough to win the group and make it to the last-16 where they were to play the unfancied Swiss. 

Despite being unfancied Switzerland was a solid and organised side of experienced players who played in good clubs, mainly in Germany. Borussia Monchengladbach’s Yann Sommer was the goalkeeper in front of strong defenders such as Borussia Dortmund’s Manuel Akanji, Borussia Monchengladbach’s Nico Elvedi,Torino’s Ricardo Rodriguez and Newcastle’s Fabian Schar. Midfield counted the strong Arsenal player Granit Xhaka and Liverpool’s Xherdan Shaquiri. And as strikers Switzerland counted with Mario Gavranovic from Dynamo Zagreb, Benfica’s Hafis Seferovic or Borussia Monchengladbach’s Breel Embolo. 

Switzerland had won their qualification group ahead of Denmark, Ireland, Georgia and Gibraltar. In the first round of the tournament they were in a difficult group with Italy, Wales and Turkey. They tied Wales 1-1 in their opening match, but were destroyed 0-3 by Italy in their second match. Defeating Turkey 3-1 in their last match was enough to take them through on third spot, and to face the French World Champions in a match in which they were certainly the underdogs. 

Perhaps it was the typical French arrogance, but they started the match doing nothing. Instead, it was a determined Swiss midfielder from Frankfurt, Steven Zuber who made a perfect pass from the left, and Hafic Sevfrovic perfectly headed the ball into a Swiss lead. The French defense had looked like they were sleeping, and now France had to prove themselves as Switzerland defended deep with a strong Yann Sommer in goal. That said, besides some shots from outside the area France looked wobbly and were losing, deservedly, 1-0 at halftime. 

Deschamps put on the young Bayern Munich player Kingsley Coman on for defender Leglet in the second half to put more pressure, but it was the Swiss who had the chance to make it 2-0 when a well-playing Steven Zuber rushed down the left side and was taken down inside the area. The subsequent penalty by Ricardo Rodriguez was nevertheless saved by Hugo Lloris. 

Instead of 2-0 the penalty appeared to give the French renewed energy and their combinations started working when Real Madrid’s great Karim Benzema made a brilliant first touch on a pass from Mbappe and made it 1-1. Two minutes later Antoine Griezmann went into the area and his shot was half saved by Sommer, but the ball ended with Benzema who headed it in for 1-2 for France. 

The match had completely turned around within five minutes, and now France were playing like the World Champions that they were, although their defense continued to look shaken during the few Swiss attacks. 

Fifteen minutes before time Paul Pogba scored one of the best goals of the tournament on a spectacular long shot that ended in the corner of the goal. Fantastic goal, and with 3-1 it seemed that France were dancing their way to the quarterfinals. 

But Swiss tenacity and a poor French defending are a dangerous combination. 

Wolfburg's Kevin Mbabu, who had come in a few minutes earlier, was given all the time in the world to lay a perfect pass into the French area where Seferovic again rose above a sleepy Raphael Varane and made it 2-3 on another header, and the French World Champions looked incredibly shaken. 

Arrogance can quickly become frustration, and the Swiss put pressure. Gavranovic, who had come in for Shaquiri, had a goal cancelled because of a tight off-side. But not giving up, Gavranovic rounded Kimpembe in the 90th minute and with a flat shot towards the far corner he made it 3-3. Again the French defense did not look like World Champions but more like Sunday school boys. 

Everyone thought 3-3, but Kinglsey Coman almost gave the French the victory hitting the crossbar in the last second of the match, which thus had to go into extra time. 

 Both teams were visibly tired in extra time. Switzerland defended heroically as the French pushed forward. Yann Sommer made good saves from Benjamin Pavard and Olivier Giroud, and Mbappe missed a big opportunity to make it 4-3, but in the end it was all in vain as it ended 3-3 and the match went into penalty kicks. 

 It was 100% accuracy from both sides before the last kick by none other than Kylian Mbappe. His shot was saved by Yann Sommer, who could immediately celebrate the sensational victory of Switzerland against the World Champions. 

 Switzerland faced Spain in the quarterfinals, whom they also gave a close match, only to lose in penalties. But their elimination of France in this extraordinary match will always be remembered. 

Bucharest, 28th June 2021 Arena Nationala 
Attendance: 22,642 
Referee: Fernando Rapallini, Argentina 

France-Switzerland 3-3 (AET) 
Penalty kicks: France-Switzerland 4-5 

France: Hugo Lloris (c); Raphael Varane, Clement Lenglet (Kinglsey Coman, 46 (Marcus Thuram, 111)), Presnel Kimpembe, Benjamin Pavard, Adrien Rabiot; Paul Pogba, Ngolo Kante, Antoine Griezmann (Moussa Sissoko, 88); Kylian Mbappe, Karim Benzema (Olivier Giroud, 94). Manager: Didier Deschamps 
Switzerland: Yann Sommer; Ricardo Rodriguez (Admir Mehmedi, 87), Manuel Akanji, Nico Elvedi; Silvan Widmer (Kevin Mbabu, 73), Remo Freuler, Granit Xhaka, Steven Zuber (Christian Fassnacht, 79); Xerdan Shaquiri (Mario Gavranovic, 73), Haris Seferovic (Fabia Schar, 97), Breel Embolo (Ruben Vargas, 79). Manager: Vladimir Petkovic 

Goals:
0-1 Seferovic (15) 
1-1 Benzema (57) 
2-1 Benzema (59) 
3-1 Pogba (75) 
3-2 Seferovic (81) 
2-2 Gavranovic (90) 

Penalty kicks:
0-1 Gavranovic 
1-1 Pogba 
1-2 Schar 
2-2 Giroud 
2-3 Akanji 
3-3 Thuram 
3-4 Vargas 
4-4 Kimpembe 
4-5 Mehmedi 
Mbappe missed for France