War!

I was happy to see Argentina win against England, despite the fact that I no longer live or enjoy football as I used to, and probably never will as I enter the winter of my life.

I have seen it all, been hurt and sad, especially in this tournament, so I was expecting nothing from the semifinal, except the hope of seeing a fair and good match between great sportsmen, and no references to history of politics (where I am frankly also much more knowledgeable than the idiotic rabble).

As expected it was dramatic nevertheless, more intense than pretty, but fair enough. 

As many say that the entire tournament is fixed, they should probably look towards England, who had everything to win the match after going ahead 0-1 by the new Barcelona player, Anthony Gordon. But instead of pressing for another goal, England decided to defend deep, giving away the entire match to the Argentinean World Champions, and notably Messi, who after a poor match, suddenly had space and time to create perfect passes into the English area; the little master (whose skills I do not know how FIFA has fixed) provided the assists for both Enzo Fernandez’ and Lauraro Martinez’ goals.

Spain-Argentina in the final; the two best amid the top four in the world who made it to the semifinals in a tournament that despite 48 teams lacked real surprises (frankly, Cape Verde and DR Congo were not surprises). Two sides that have much in common, whose players in many cases know one another, and specially Messi, who is facing many players he knew as kids in Barcelona. Two different sides, two different cultures, two different nations.

It would be a beautiful story if I believed in any of the beauty. Instead what I see is two sides, two countries, that hate one another. 

This is war by other means, nothing else, and as any war, it sells, the rabble loves it. I have one prediction: it will be ugly, it will be violent, and whoever loses, will not accept it, because what characterises the world of today, is accusing the others of cheating whenever you do not win.

Why so surprised?

England were great in their first match winning 4-2 over Croatia, so they were obviously favourites against Ghana today. But Ghana managed to hold the favourites to a 0-0 draw that is probably a small disappointment for the English, who nevertheless appear to have the best odds of winning the group in their last match against Panama.

That said, I find it somewhat baffling that Mexican TV commentators called it one of the big surprises of the tournament: Ghana are in my view a solid side, with technically skilled, disciplined and athletic players, who can match all European sides, and defeat many of them, something they have proven before. Besides the fact that they are managed by the experienced manager Carlos Queiroz, they count players in top clubs in England, Spain, France, with wide experience at all levels.

Anyone who did not know that Ghana would not be a walkover for England, does not watch enough football.

Ghana have four points for two matches, and nobody has yet scored against them. They will face Croatia in their last match in what will surely be one of the matches to watch. Croatia fought hard to defeat a solid Panamanian side 1-0 (more surprising than Ghana is in fact how good Thomas Christiansen's side is), so they need a victory to pass Ghana in the group, and at least a tie to ensure a best third place.

I put my money on my dear old Black Stars. 

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

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.

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:

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: 

 

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.

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: England-Iceland (2016)

ll countries appear to have a golden generation in football, and the 2016 Iceland side most definitely count as Iceland’s Golden Generation, that put the small northern Atlantic nation on the footballing maps of the world. 

Already during qualification the Icelanders had caught the attention of the world: they were particularly strong at home in Reykyavik, not losing a single match, and defeating teams like the Czech Republic, Turkey and Netherlands. And it was the Netherlands that suffered the Icelandic unlikely rise, as the lost at home to Iceland, that sealed Iceland’s first qualification ever to a major tournament. 

Iceland’s squad was managed by the former Swedish manager Lars Lagerback, with lot of experience and who had built a solid team with a mixture of players from medium level European clubs. Their most notable player was the 38-year old veteran Eidur Gudjohnsen, who with a long career in clubs like Chelsea and Barcelona, was playing in Norwegian Molde at the time, but did no longer play a leading role. In the meantime players like Aron Gunnarsson and Gylfi Sigurdsson, from Cardiff and Swansea respectively, played leading roles. Defense was built around Ragnar Sigurdsson, from Russian Krasnodar and Kari Arnasson from Malmø FF. Midfield was complemented by experienced and solid players like Johann Berg Gudundsson from Charlton Athletic, Birkir Bjarnasson from Swiss Basel, and Emil Hallfredsson from Udinese. Finally, they had some interesting strikers in Jon Dadi Bodvarsson from 1.FC Kaiserslautern and Kolbein Sigthorson from Nantes in France. 

Despite their qualification results and the experienced side, expectations were not high as they drew giants Portugal, Hungary and Austria in their opening stage group, and they opened against one of the favourites: Portugal. Although Portugal heavily criticized the Icelanders for their defensive posture, truth was that the 1-1 result was not just surprising, but fully deserved, as the Icelanders showed that qualification had not been a one-off event. Followed by a large crowd of fantastic fans they went on to tie 1-1 with the later group winners of Hungary, and defeated Austria 2-1 to sensationally make it to the last-16, where they were to face none other than England! 

As almost every tournament, England entered as favourites, at least to themselves, but this time there seemed to be reason for some optimism: England had qualified in style, winning all their matches. The team, managed by the experienced Roy Hodgson, was full of players playing at the highest level in the Premier League, in teams such as Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham. The team captain was the veteran superstar Wayne Rooney from Manchester United, complemented by other strong striker’s such as Tottenham’s Harry Kane and Leicester’s Jamie Vardy. The Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart had experienced Gary Cahill from Chelsea in front of him. Experienced midfielders like Liverpool’s James Millner and Jordan Henderson, as well as Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere also complemented some exciting young players such as Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford, Tottenham’s Dele Alli and Manchester City’s Raheem Sterling. 

All in all it seemed expectations were justified, and they had no reason to complain about their first round grouping with Wales, Slovakia and Russia. 

But it did not start well. The first match against Russia ended 1-1 with a last minute Russian equalizer. In the derby against Wales England pulled a hard-fought last minute 2-1 victory, only to miss winning the group when they only tied 0-0 with Slovakia in the last match in a disappointing match. Still, without playing well, England was through and probably felt they had little to feat when facing Iceland in the knock-out phases. 

Roy Hodgson lined up a three-man defense and gave the opportunity to many of the younger players. In the meantime Iceland had no changes from their previous three matches, and although a hard fighting side, they also appeared predictable. 

Only 4 minutes into the match Daniel Sturridge was awarded a penalty kick that Wayne Rooney scored on. Perhaps England were two optimistic, but only two minutes later the defender Ragnar Siggurdson scored following one of the long throws from Aron Gunnarson, one threat that England knew they should have defended against. Iceland were on fire and barely ten minutes later the Nantes player Kolbeinn Sigthorsson got a shot through between the defenders. Hart was too slow, and although getting his hand on the ball and slowing it, it still passed him and went into goal. 

2-1 for Iceland, and much of the match to go, so one would expect England to pressure, and they did, but never really created much danger except for many long-shots that never really threatened the Icelanders who, as the match advanced, not only seemed to fight harder and harder, but also became more threatening in the counterattacks. Sigthorsson even came close to score on a bicycle kick, which would have been a complete humiliation for England. 

Many called it one of the greatest humiliations of an English side, but truth is that they played very poorly in a match where they should have shown more. Roy Hodgson immediately resigned while England had to lick its wounds and look forward to the next tournament. In the meantime Iceland and their splendid fans were unexpectedly in the quarterfinals facing the French hosts. They lost the match 5-2 in Paris, but it was definitely a memorable tournament for a side that took Europe with storm for the first time!
 

Nice, 27th June 2016, Alianz Riviera 
Attendance: 33,900 
Referee: Damir Skomina (Slovenia) 

England- Iceland 1-2 

England: Joe Hart; Kyle Walker, Gary Cahill, Chris Smalling,; Danny Rose, Eric Dyer (Jack Wilshere, 45), Dele Alli, Daniel Sturridge; Harry Kane, Wayne Rooney (c) (Marcus Rashford, 86), Raheem Sterling (Jamie Vardy, 60). Coach: Roy Hodgson;
Iceland: Hannes Haldorsson; Birkir Mar Sævarsson, Kari Arnason, Ragnar Sigurdsson, Ali Freyr Skulason; Johann Berg Gudmundsson, Gylfi Sigurdsson, Aron Gunnarsson (c), Birkir Bjarnason; Kolbein Sigthorsson (Elmar Bjarnason, 76), Jon Bodvarsson (arbor Ingvi Traustason, 89). Coach: Lars Lagerbäck 

Goals:
1-0 Wyne Rooney (pen) (4) 
1-1 Ragnar Sigurdsson (6) 
1-2 Kolbein Sigthorsson (18)

Spain World Champions

Spain have become World Champions defeating England 1-0 on a first half strike by the Real Madrid player Olga Carmona. Only her third goal on the national team, the second having come in the semifinal against Sweden. Spain were the better team throughout the match and deserved the victory. England were saved by a larger defeat by a strong Mary Earps on goal.

Spain have been growing for years with a solid base at FC Barcelona, and despite internal struggles before the tournament they have shown stamina, and if anything, will only grown stronger. Certainly they are the side to defeat right now.

It has been a great World Cup with a lot of surprises and fantastic matches and teams. Thanks to everyone and look forward to the next one!

The 2023 finalists

Already when we had the four semi-finalists we knew one team that had never won before would be World Champion. And now we have a final with two sides who have never been there before: Spain versus England.

Spain has been a rising power for many years, and the rising power of FC Barcelona (defending CL champions) and Real Madrid has become to transfer to the national team. That said, internal disagreements and their 0-4 loss to Japan in the first round cast some doubt on how far they could get. There is no doubt that they could go all the way now: they defeated Sweden 2-1 in a close-fought match. Only in the 81st minute Spain went ahead by the young Barcelona striker Salma Paralluelo, and while it seemed that they were on their way to victory, Sweden striked back in the 89th minute by Rebecka Blomqvist, and it appeared to be extra time. But one minute later, following a corner kick and poor defending by Sweden, Olga Carmona had a strike from outside the penalty kick that went over the Swedish goalie.

All in all Spain has shown that they are never beaten and will keep fighting, and that is a strength when going into the final.

England are defending European champions and went into the tournament as favourites, but have not looked strong throughout. But that may also be their strength: they have won matches where they have not necessarily looked as the best side. 

This was not the case against Australia. Despite massive home support, the English kept their head cold and looked stronger most of the match despite Australia's brave fight. It was Ella Ann Toone who brought England ahead in the first half on a great strike from inside the penalty area, following the buildup by a strong Alessia Russo. Australia went forward in the second half and it was a fantastic strike by Samantha Kerr that brought them the equaliser (perhaps one of the best goals of the tournament), and renewed hope for Australia. But seven minutes later Lauren Hemp won a clumsy duel with the Australia defender Ellie Carpenter, and pushed the ball past the goalkeeper.

Australia pressed forward and Samantha Kerr had two big chances to equalise, but in the end it was the Arsenal striker Alessia Russo who scored England's third and put England definitively in the final.

It will be a great final with two teams that both have chance. Also the first all-European final since 2003 (when Germany defeated Sweden), and the first final since 2007 without the USA. The poor showing of the USA is witnessed by the fact that this is the first World Cup ever when USA are not among the top-3.

A unique World Cup already!

Colombia out and other results

 With time difference and limited coverage, it continues to be difficult to follow the World Cup in Australia/ New Zealand. That said, results and matches continue to be very exciting as we have now reached the semifinals.

The first big news was the elimination of the defending champions USA by Sweden in a tense penalty knock-out. It was in fact refreshing: the North Americans were a bit too cock-sure, bordering arrogance, in what they should have known would have been a difficult tournament.

Sweden on the other hand are a team to support (my favourites at this point), and showed their great potential when they eliminated Japan 2-1 in the quarterfinals. Japan, who were looking as potential champions.

Sweden will face Spain, in their first semifinals ever. Spain have been improving throughout the tournament and must be considered a candidate, specially as they defeated a strong Netherlands 2-1 in an exciting quarterfinals, with late goals, and a splendid victory strike by the young Salma Paralluelo (this match I did watch).

England, defending European champions, should be considered favourites as well, although they have not looked that strong. They were outright lucky to defeat Nigeria on penalties (I watched this match); not to say the bad taste they left with Lauren James ugly and deserved red card. In the quarterfinals they also struggled to defeat an exciting Colombia 2-1 (another match I watched wearing my Colombia shirt), whose fans have been the best of the tournament. Colombia largely lost to their own mistakes after Leidy Santos had brought them ahead on a splendid strike. But Lauren Hemp and Alessia Russo gave England the victory, and a semifinal where they will face the hosts of Australia, who are there after defeating Denmark and the favourites of France.

Thank you Colombia!

Surely some exciting semifinals:

• Spain-Sweden
• Australia-England
  

No surprises

I have had a great weekend. Can't say I focused on football. I did not watch Saturday's matches.  But I watched both today's matches, and although I was slightly disappointed I have to say the right teams got through.

Poland really had nothing to offer against a France where Kylian Mbappé has come out as the best player in the world: two goals where the Poles gave him space, and the match was really over. The Poles were a disappointment because they were so obviously happy just to have gone through their group, and yet they did not offer any opposition to France as they faced no expectations. France, in the meantime, appear more and more to be the team to beat!

England-France will be the quarterfinal. A clash for sure because of the historic rivalry between the two countries (and not just football). 

England defeated Senegal 3-0. 

I was wearing my Senegal shirt, but was very disappointed, although I have to credit England's deadly counter-attacks. The first two goals by Jordan Henderson and Harry Kane were simply superb counterattacking play, and although one can blame Senegal's defense, I think credit should also go to the English team.

Senegal fell, but will be missed, specially their fans, who many fans from many countries that feel entitled could learn a lot from.

Every fan should look forward to England-France. I will. 

It should be a great football match, and I hope the best wins, although I will not support any of these teams as one of them progresses.

But so far we have seen no surprises! The top teams have delivered, and it is indeed in the knock-out phases that we see the strength of the favourites, more than in the group phases. I hope we will see at least one surprise in the remaining matches!

The World's 16 best footballing nations

The Qatar World Cup continues to be an ugly political event that has come to symbolize ugly nationalism, disrespect, inequality, abuse and greed.

But I think this is just a symptom of our world.

In footballing terms the group stages have been interesting. After Brazil sensationally lost to Cameroun (and frankly this is as surprising as Argentina losing to Saudi Arabia or France losing to Tunisia) it is the first tournament since 1994 during which no team has gone through with maximum points (the same happened in 1958 and 1962, so it is not a common occurrence). But more interesting is that this is the first World Cup where all continental federations (except Oceania) are represented with at least one team (CONCACAF 1, CONMEBOL 2, CAF 2, UEFA, 8, AFC 3). 

The eight matches are as follows:

• Netherlands-USA: The Dutch got through with two victories and one difficult tie to Ecuador, and are surely not as strong as they should be. USA is the only representative from CONCACAF and looked well-organised to defeat Iran and tie England. It will surely be difficult for the Dutch, but I hope they prevail
• Argentina-Australia: Despite their opening loss to Saudia Arabia Argentina won the group and remain favourites. They are surely huge favourites against Australia. The Asian representatives went through on hard work but winning against two poor sides, Denmark and Tunisia. They were overrun by France and should be on their best to defeat Argentina (but certainly not impossible). I support Argentina wholeheartedly.
• France-Poland: The defending champions are looking strong, but lost to Tunisia in a match with many substitutes. They are surely favourites against the Poles, who look delighted just to have gone through. That said, no expectations could be Poland's strength as they still have quality players who could hurt France. But I expect France to prevail.
• England-Senegal: England will underestimate Senegal, that is a given, and I will surely support Senegal, where other players have stepped up in the absence of Sadio Mané. Koulibaly was spectacular against Ecuador and will face English players he knows well. It will be a close match I think, with England as weak favourites.
• Japan-Croatia: Japan winning the Group of Death is one of the surprises, and Croatia have surely seen that Japan defeated both Germany and Spain, although also that the Japanese do have weaknesses. If Croatia can take advantage of their quick passing then they could hope for a repeat of 2018. Japan I think are slight favourites though.
• Brazil-South Corea: The Corean victory against Portugal means that they prevented us from a repeat of the "Maracanazo" classic between Brazil and Uruguay. Don't mind that though. Corea and in particular their fans are the best side through. Brazil are enormous favourites, but the Coreans do and should not fear anybody, and could cause a sensation!
• Morocco-Spain: This is probably the clash I look most forward to. Neighbouring countries; the African upstart with a great team and confidence, against the European giants with some truly fantastic players. It has all the ingredients to be a fantastic match!
• Portugal-Switzerland: The Portuguese went through on first place with two wins and one loss, but appear not to have been tested yet. Switzerland will surely be a test. They showed their quality already in last year's Euro when eliminating France in an extraordinary match, and in this tournament have shown themselves solid in the back, but also strong in attack when it counted against Serbia. This match could go to either side!
  

Now that every team has played

The first round of the World Cup is over, so it is a good time to assess what has been good and bad, and what teams are worth looking out for.

• Qatar: besides the fact that they should never have had the World Cup, they are a poor footballing nation, and hopefully will be out in the first round
• Netherlands: defeated Africa's best side, Senegal, and for that they should be counted on. Another test will be against an Ecuadorian side that is stronger than was expected
  
• England: their 6-2 win over Iran was noteworthy, and surely they must be counted as candidates. But at the same time it was a strange match with political overtones and an injury, so England must still be tested against stronger opposition
• Argentina: a sensational loss to Saudi Arabia does not necessarily mean they are out; in 2010 Spain opened by losing to Switzerland and went on to win the entire thing. However, an Argentina led my Messi appears to lack this kind of stamina, and the side also shows weaknesses in defense that will prove good for opposition
• France: despite the absence of some of their key players the defending World Champions are looking to defend their title. France has star quality substitutes in every position, and although they were up against a quite primitive Australian side they will probably face little problems in overcoming Denmark and Tunisia to win the group
• Belgium: one of the favourites undeservedly won against a fantastic Canadian side, and should therefore still be considered favourites. Canada will be interesting to follow though, and could easily become the darlings of the tournament if they pull good results in their coming matches
• Spain: after their trashing 7-0 of Costa Rica they are surely one of the candidates for the title. But although they played well, it was against a very cheap background: Costa Rica's match must stand as one of the worst performances of any team in World Cup history. Spain will get far I think, but will be tested against better teams
• Germany: Their loss to Japan was a surprise, but not a huge one. Germany cannot win by name alone, and everyone seems to have forgotten that four years ago they lost to South Corea, In my view Hansi Flick made a tactical error when withdrawing Musiala and Gundogan, giving all initiative to the Japanese, who knew Germany well (most players play in German clubs). That said, Germany has slow defenders, something that will make them suffer against bigger teams. I expect Spain to defeat them, and Germany may likely be on the way out
• Japan: they have been improving over the past two decades; anyone who has watched football should know this, and nobody seems to recall four years ago when they defeated Colombia and almost eliminated the mighty Belgians in one of the best matches of that tournament. Anyone who is surprised about Japan should simply shut up and stop watching.
• Brazil: They passed their test against a defensive and disciplined Serbian side winning 2-0 in a match where Richarlison scored what is the best goal of the tournament so far. They overcame a difficult match, and with few visible weaknesses are, in my view, the favourites to take the title after the first round of games.

 Of course, as in any World Cup, many things can and will happen. Teams will improve, others will decay.

Fantastic England

 The Euro 2022 final between England and Germany was a great match, as expected. Both teams played great football and the title could have gone to either side. When Ella Toole brought England ahead (another great goal as she had done against Spain) one thought England had the edge, but in fact they appeared nervous as Germany pressed on and scored a fantastic goal by Lina Magull, who was one of the best players of the match.

Extra time. Anything can happen, and indeed it was a bit of a coincidental goal by Chloe Kelly, after a corner kick, that gave England the winning goal. Indeed, the victory could have gone to both sides, but over the entire tournament England were surely the best team, and as they all say, football finally came home. And contrary to the overpaid guys, it is difficult not to be smitten by the joy and great football of the English ladies.

Congratulations to England! 

Cheers!

Euro 2022

The last couple of months have been busy with work and personal things. I have had an extraordinary vacation in Denmark watching the Tour de France (with the Danish Jonas Vingegaard currently in the yellow jersey, but doubting he will win), and have watched little football.

Of the little I have watched, it has been the women's Euro 2022 taking place in England. In Denmark there was much excitement about a tournament in which they came runners-up in 2017. But for Denmark it was a huge disappointment, and I must admit that if a national team is to excite me, these women totally failed. In the opening match against Germany Denmark were lucky only to lose 0-4 to a magnificent German side. And notwithstanding that the Germans were magnificent, the Danes lacked spirit and fight, besides committing basic mistakes in defense. Although Denmark had a  chance to qualify to the second round by defeating Spain in their last match, they also lacked fighting spirit and ambition as they defended in a match they had to win (and deservedly lost 0-1).

While Denmark should be disappointed, this is nothing compared to Norway, who were considered favourites for the title, but were eliminated in the first round, and in particular their 0-8 defeat to England will ring out as one resounding humiliation for years to come. In the meantime England, the home side, look like the team to beat: 14-0 and three victories. But certainly Germany, Sweden and perhaps even France or the Netherlands are looking very strong in what looks like an exciting knock-out round:

• England-Spain
• Sweden-Belgium
• Germany-Austria
• France-Netherlands
  

Why not throw them out?

 Hungary’s fans behaved as racist animals in their enormous defeat against England in Budapest. Besides the happiness that we should all have when Hungary loses, and the way we should celebrate when these people don’t qualify for the World Cup, this again brings to the forth the football organizers’ lack of willingness to do anything about it.

Firstly, if Hungary has already been ordered to play three matches without fans by UEFA; how come FIFA does not act on this? Do they not talk to each other? Or just assume that the racists are not interested in World Cup qualifiers?

Secondly, why such feeble punishments? Three matches without fans and some fine that they can pay with pocket change? Why not something like banning them from playing home games, not for a few games, but for years? Or rather, in my view, why not show that we mean to combat the scourge of racism by simply throwing out the teams of the tournament?! This would not be new: countries have been banned from World Cups for “government interference” or even using overaged players… 

I know some people would argue that a majority should not suffer from the animal behavior of a minority. But when the racism happens consistently at every game and there is no internal rejection of this behavior by the “majority”, then the majority is, sorry to say, complicit in the behavior. This includes everyone; also those in and around the team: your fans are part of your team, not just when they are great, but also when they are beasts (England knows this…), and so you carry a responsibility too; don’t’ turn away from it.

So these teams should just be thrown out of the tournament. 

Nobody will miss them.

Racism in Portsmouth

 It was with interest that I saw that the second-rate club of Portsmouth in England sacked three players from its youth academy for their racist messages against the English players who had missed penalties in the Euro 2021 final between England and Italy. They did the right thing in taking action against the youths, but I just wonder if the club is taking the right action; they appear to be doing what is expected of them, rather than taking any responsibility for themselves: these players are academy players and are only that stupid if this is an accepted behaviour in the academy. I doubt they would say things like this for the first time. And they are young players, likely young teenage idiots (like most of us have been) too full of themselves to think before they act.

They have done something deplorable, and they do not belong in the academy. I understand that part. But I would expect that the club tries to look upon themselves and what type of academy they are creating; what type of values they are educating their players with. As part of a community, what type of "Portsmouth" they are envisioning, where young men appear to feel comfortable being racist assholes.

Whatever the club has done to the youths, it should not take away the responsibility of Portsmouth itself.

The finals

I had a long trip from San Salvador to Denmark, but I managed to watch this weekend's two great football finals where the home teams, each in their own legendary stadium, lost to the away side.

The Copa America final on Saturday at Maracana Stadium between Brazil and Argentina, was won 0-1 by the Argentineans through an excellent first half strike by Angel di Maria. The Brazilians were not bad, and managed to put some pressure on Argentina in the second half, but in the end the Argentine defense stood strong and Argentina even had the biggest chances for a greater victory.

Argentina's first international title since 1993, and the first time Lionel Messi, losing three finals before this one, had taken a title with his national team, so in every way this was a special (and well-deserved) victory for the Argentineans.

On the European championship final: much of England had for days been prematurely announcing that football would come home, hardly aware that football is already home everywhere else in the world. And this kind of premature celebrations hardly win any sympathy: while the English were (understandably) disappointed most of the world (including myself) celebrated Italy's European Championship triumph.

Having watched the match, England should be disappointed: they went ahead 1-0 after only two minutes on a goal by one of the tournament's best players, Luke Shaw. England kept playing well, but slowly Italy got more comfortable on the pitch, while England, oddly, retreated more and more to defend their lead. One can only feel that they should have kept pressure, trying to close the deal, instead of more or less openly inviting Italy back into the match. 

The Italians do not say no to an invitation and Leonardo Bonucci's second half equalizer was fully deserved as England totally left the match to the splendidly unforgiving Italians.

As  extra time was approaching its end Gareth Southgate made some curious changes, clearly aimed at putting in the kickers for a nerve-wrecking penalty kick contest: Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho came in at the end, and it were exactly those two who missed for England after they had been put in a golden position by Pickford's save of Andrea Belotti's kick. Even though Jorginho missed another for Italy, the only 19-year old Bukayo Saka did not have the nerves to make a proper kick, which was saved by the best player of the tournament Gianluigi Donnarumma (only 22-years old, he may well become one of the best goalkeepers in footballing history), giving Italy their second European champion's title, the first being in 1968.

The most talented young players from England were punished for their infinite talent, and that was the most heartbreaking thing in a final won by the best team of the tournament.

Italy was the best team of the tournament as a whole; a solid, attacking team, scoring most goals (alongside Spain) and with one of the best defensive records, they showed few weak points. All in all, a splendid team, and I reiterate that I find this the best Italy side I have ever seen.

England, in the meantime, won few friends: granted, they played the tournament with the cynical planning required to win a tournament; winning, but not impressing, with a strong defense and some extremely talented players. That said, they seemed too calculating, too careful, despite their immense talent, something that only became too obvious in the final. 

But more than the team, the English fans won no friends in the rest of the world. The vast, vast majority of English fans are good, decent hardworking people (like the vast majority of fans in the world), but they retain a greater minority of brainless hooligans than anywhere else in the world, and their society seems in total denial that they exist: booing at national anthems, using lasers against opposing sides, insults and spits, were sadly overshadowed by the fans storming Wembley before the match and most of all by the racist insults suffered by English players after the defeat.

Who the hell wants to win with supporters like that...?

I have never supported England and never will, but I understand the greatest disappointment that real English fans may feel (even in their denial): that their team's achievement of reaching a final will forever be overshadowed by the memory of the idiotic few ruining the party of the many.