EURO 2024

[Vesper 28,764]

lol

the sweaties lost on the last kick of the game

[NikkiCFC 7,941]

19 minutes ago, nyikolajevics said:

You wouldn’t tell this is a football game between two teams that need nothing but win. Very comfortable tempo.. Glad if both of them knock out.

Agreed. This will fuck some other 3rd place team. 

[Vesper 28,764]

down the worst team in the tournament

unless you count Poland perhaps

it was a horrid game

Edited June 23 by Vesper

[Magic Lamps 11,653]

That’s how you break down stubborn defences. We saw this game 10x at Chels last season and never made that late equaliser. You need a target man. That’s why I see next season becoming a disaster for us, Maresca has no plan B like this. 

[Vesper 28,764]

Scotland did get done hard on a no pen called when it clearly was

VAR didnt even look at it

[Magic Lamps 11,653]

6 minutes ago, Vesper said:

Scotland did get done hard on a no pen called when it clearly was

VAR didnt even look at it

Var has been atrocious this tournament again. A swiss defender  did a Harry maguire memorial headlock on one of our attackers and var couldn’t care less 

same time our disallowed goal was a joke with a soft foul happening ages before u related to the shot 

[NikkiCFC 7,941]

3 minutes ago, Magic Lamps said:

Var has been atrocious this tournament again. A swiss defender  did a Harry maguire memorial headlock on one of our attackers and var couldn’t care less 

same time our disallowed goal was a joke with a soft foul happening ages before u related to the shot 

Pen should have been given. You can't hold player like that. But disallowed goal was right decision, clear foul. 

Also there was nothing in penalty appeal from Scotland imo. 2/3 right. 

[Special Juan 27,421]

On 21/06/2024 at 15:44, Vesper said:

he played well the 2nd half

That wasn't well, he was just bang average again but people get that little bit excited when he does a little turn or manages to dribble without losing it

[Fulham Broadway 16,827]

Gareth Southgate 'set to AXE Trent Alexander-Arnold and replace him with Conor Gallagher' for England's final Euros group game against Slovenia 

About time

[Vesper 28,764]

Marc Cucurella: Spain finally falls in love with ‘Roberto Carlos 2.0’

Chelsea defender has had difficulties on and off the pitch but ‘11 out of 10’ performances at Euro 2024 have earned him comparisons with Real Madrid legends

https://www.thetimes.com/sport/football/article/marc-cucurella-spain-euro-2024-football-n33zx6krh

Spain’s base in the southern German town of Der Öschberghof has been a fun place to be over the past couple of weeks.

The squad were already a tight-knit bunch, but after two impressive wins over tough opponents, including the reigning champions Italy, spirits are high.

This weekend laughter echoed around the five-star hotel louder than at any other point. The reason behind the guffawing? Marc Cucurella’s singing. The left back had missed a putt during a round of golf with Álvaro Morata and in doing so he had to complete a forfeit.

“If I sank the putt, Morata would sing and if I missed, I would,” Cucurella said. “It wasn’t a long put and I’m usually lethal, so I said yes easily [to the bet], but I buckled under pressure.”

Cucurella, who grew up in the outskirts of Barcelona playing futsal and played only once for the club despite coming through La Masia, was told to stand up in front of his team-mates and reprise a song that has gone viral thanks to a video made by a Spaniard called Adri Navarro.

The words, sung to an electro beat, go something like this: “Cucu Cucu-rella, he eats paella … Cucu Cucu-rella, he drinks Estrella … [Erling] Haaland trembles, when he sees Cucurella.”

Cucurella, 25, has become anything but a figure of fun on the pitch over the last week.

He had been so dominant and energetic in the win over Italy that it prompted one journalist to remark that “it looked like there were five Cucurellas out there” in a question to Luis de la Fuente after the match. The Spain head coach did not disagree. “He was magnificent in all aspects of his game,” De la Fuente said.

Cucurella defended well, recovering the ball seven times and creating space for Nico Williams to cause havoc with a series of underlapping runs.

Marca, the daily newspaper in Spain, gushed about Cucurella in the ratings section of their newspaper after the Italy game, comparing him to Real Madrid full backs past and present.

“A born ball recoverer and creator of danger: his game has been the perfect mix between Marcelo and [Ferland] Mendy. Tremendous … Final grade: 10 … even 11.”

For the Spain fans watching in the stands and at home, Cucurella’s display did not go unnoticed. Some of them started mocking up memes of the left back’s head on the body of the legendary Brazil defender Roberto Carlos.

The Spain midfielder Mikel Merino revealed that meme, and others, had been shared on the players’ WhatsApp group during their time in Germany.

It has been a strange couple of years for Cucurella. Back in 2022, Pep Guardiola wanted to sign the defender but City’s chief football operations officer at the time, Omar Berrada, argued that Brighton & Hove Albion’s £50milllion valuation was too high.

Brighton argued that Cucurella was as good as Ben White, whom they had sold to Arsenal for £50million the previous summer.

When City withdrew from negotiations for Cucurella, Berrada jokingly wished Paul Barber, the Brighton chief executive, the best of luck in getting anyone to pay the fee.

When the two met at the next Premier League meeting a few weeks later, shortly after Cucurella had joined Chelsea for £62million, Berrada smiled and congratulated Barber on a job well done.

The signing of Cucurella was surprising, mainly because Chelsea already had Ben Chilwell but Graham Potter, the manager at the time, managed to shoehorn both in the team, using the Spaniard as the left-sided centre back in a three-man defence and the Englishman as a wing-back.

Potter’s successor, Mauricio Pochettino, preferred to play four at the back and started the season with Chilwell in the team. Manchester United tried to sign Cucurella on loan but his wages were too high and they wanted to insert a break clause in January, which Chelsea would not agree to.

An ankle injury kept Cucurella out of the team for three months at the turn of the year, but he started the last 14 matches of the campaign, and impressed, which is why De la Fuente named him in his squad in March, ending a four-year exile.

The Spanish coach knew him well because he had worked with Cucurella when he was the under-21s’ coach and the full back was in his squad for the 2020 Olympics, in which Spain finished second.

De la Fuente has tried eight left backs in less than a year and Cucurella would not have made the cut for Euro 2024 had José Gayà and Alejandro Baldé not been injured.

“It hasn’t been easy this season, but I have worked hard for the opportunity to come and once it arrived, I took it,” Cucurella said.

Cucurella has endured challenging times off the pitch too. In an interview with AS on Sunday, he spoke about the difficulties of finding the right education for his autistic son.

“We didn’t find the ideal place at first. He got frustrated but we have found a new school for him and we have made a lot of progress. We are enjoying it a lot,” he said.

“It has changed our lives, they [autistic children] have made us see the world in a different way because they are more complicated than a common child, but when you achieve things it gives you great satisfaction.”

Cucurella’s dream is to return home to his partner and three children with a winner’s medal around his neck in three weeks’ time. He has a party trick up his sleeve if Spain do win the tournament. This time it does not involve singing.

He has promised his team mates that if they lift the trophy, he will dye his long curly locks red for the celebrations.

Edited June 24 by Vesper

[Vesper 28,764]

3 hours ago, Fulham Broadway said:

Gareth Southgate 'set to AXE Trent Alexander-Arnold and replace him with Conor Gallagher' for England's final Euros group game against Slovenia 

About time

Conor Gallagher set to replace Trent Alexander-Arnold in England midfield for Slovenia game

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5584013/2024/06/24/gallagher-alexander-arnold-england-team-news/

England manager Gareth Southgate is set to make a change to his midfield for Tuesday’s final group game at Euro 2024 by bringing in Conor Gallagher for Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Southgate’s team lead Group C on four points from their opening two matches and will aim to finish top when they face Slovenia in Cologne.

Normally deployed at right-back for Liverpool, Alexander-Arnold was utilised in an unfamiliar role alongside Declan Rice against Serbia and Denmark — an idea that has divided opinion.

The 25-year-old was removed after 54 minutes of the Denmark meeting but his three chances created and five line-breaking passes in the final third surpassed any other England player.

GO DEEPER

Southgate feels England are too tired to press - is he right?

Gallagher replaced Alexander-Arnold in both ties and the Chelsea academy graduate, 24, is now expected to be granted a starting berth.

Southgate has made alterations to his starting line-up in the third fixture of his three previous major tournaments and then also tweaked it for the first knockout round each time, suggesting his Slovenia selection is not necessarily a sign of things to come if England advance further.

Ahead of the contest, Rice told ITV: “It’s funny because people were calling for Trent to play in midfield. Half the country are calling for Trent to play in midfield, and then you play him in midfield, and then you want to bring him down.

“I don’t get it, I don’t get it at all. I’ll defend all of my boys until the day I never pull on an England shirt. Trent is one of the best players I’ve ever seen. Don’t call for someone to play in a position and then backtrack all because you think he’s had a bad game or something.

“I’ll tell you now: Trent can play in midfield. I’ve seen it at England, I’ve seen it for Liverpool, he’s unbelievable. That’s what I say to the people who say that type of stuff.”

For Slovenia, star forward Benjamin Sesko is dealing with a thigh injury ahead of Tuesday’s match but is expected to start.

GO DEEPER

Breaking down what Harry Kane did on and off the ball for England - and what needs to change

[NikkiCFC 7,941]

But pivot with Rice is not perfect either. Rice should be solo 6. And Conor one of the 8s.

Spain with 2nd team tonight. Italy dropped Chiesa. 

[cosmicway 1,318]

Do you think the Albs can score against Spain tonite (> 0.5) ?
It's supposed to be a "gift bet" at 2.37.

[NikkiCFC 7,941]

6 minutes ago, cosmicway said:

Do you think the Albs can score against Spain tonite (> 0.5) ?
It's supposed to be a "gift bet" at 2.37.

Spain is top of the group no matter what. Maybe if they got offered narco money from our neighbors they may even lose? 🤔

[cosmicway 1,318]

19 minutes ago, NikkiCFC said:

Spain is top of the group no matter what. Maybe if they got offered narco money from our neighbors they may even lose? 🤔

Yeah but it is the Italians who have a certain love affair with Albania, not the Spanish.

[cosmicway 1,318]

Odds for invasion of the pitch ?

[Vesper 28,764]

UEFA Euro.

Croatia HRV vs Italy ITA

24 June 2024 at 20:00.

 

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[Vesper 28,764]

UEFA Euro.

Albania ALB vs Spain ESP

24 June 2024 at 20:00.

 

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