Thank you very much for joining me (and others). Have a lovely rest of the day.
Sarina Wiegman says it feels “strange” to be preparing for two crucial European Championship qualifiers in the middle of the summer off-season, but that her England team are fully focused on ensuring they qualify for next summer’s finals in Switzerland.
Speaking of famous cyclists. Here is Denis Law having the time of his lift.
In other big sporting news!
“Re the best player who had been eliminated,” says Krishna. “Is that even a contest with KDB in the reckoning now that Belgium is knocked out (yet again). That inadvertently brings us to the worst player who has been eliminated Romelu Lukaku.”
KDB had a very good game against Romania but was he the best throughout?
Full England squad train prior to quarter final
England’s full squad trained on Wednesday as they stepped up preparations for Saturday’s Euro 2024 quarter-final against Switzerland.
Gareth Southgate’s group had a day off on Tuesday as they enjoyed some rest and recovery following the 2-1 extra-time last-16 triumph against Slovakia.
England returned to training on Wednesday lunchtime, with all 26 players taking part at their Spa & GolfResort Weimarer Land base.
Luke Shaw took part in the session as he looks to feature for the first time for either club or country since mid-February. The Manchester United left-back has been recovering from hamstring issues and was due to face the media on Wednesday afternoon. But striker Ivan Toney spoke instead of Shaw at England’s media access in Blankenhain.
The PA news agency understands the change in schedule was not down to an injury concern, just the fact that the left-back had a change of heart over speaking as he would rather talk when he has returned to action.
Stefan Zajic emails in: “Jan Oblak was remarkable through 120 unrelenting minutes from Portugal, but the reason he’s my favorite player of the tournament is probably obviously his out of this world save of Ronaldo’s penalty.
“He will have that forever. Stopped an absolute rocket from one of the world’s best ever with the game on the line, bringing him to tears.”
Get your fill of The Knowledge, carefully collated by the Guardian’s boffins who work out of a cubby hole in the basement.
Toni Kroos wants to retire? Come on, mate.
1 - Toni Kroos leads the following rankings at #EURO2024:
— OptaFranz (@OptaFranz) July 3, 2024
🥇 489 touches
🥇 431 passes
🥇 125 line-breaking passes
🥇 134 passes in the final third
🥇 94% pass completion rate under pressure
World-Class. pic.twitter.com/IObbf8anFH
Julian Wait emails: “I am a bit surprised that the bookies are not considering Granit Xhaka for player of the tournament. That must change if they beat England. I’ve seen Xhaka twice in person here and watched his other games, and he’s just brilliant in the simplest of ways. He retains possession AND is progressive with the ball. Is he being seriously undervalued? For the record, I am not an Arsenal fan.”
Maybe things will change after Saturday …
The Georgia squad are welcomed back home after a fine Euros.
“Lobotka is a nice shout but I have to go for the Czech goalkeeper Jindřich Staněk,” says Sunil Malik. “The Czechs got a lot of stick for some reason, but they were the most unfortunate team to go out with refereeing howlers in every game of theirs; with Staněk being extremely reliable and near perfect at the back before going off injured in the final group game.”
Seeing as you mentioned him, Sunil.
Manchester United have told staff that up to 250 people are set to be made redundant as part of sweeping cuts, the PA news agency understands.
British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe completed his purchase of a 27.7 per cent stake in the Premier League club for £1.25billion in February. Ineos took charge of football operations as part of the agreement and commissioned a cost review as they moved to shake things up behind the scenes as well as on the field.
PA understands staff were told at a meeting on Wednesday that around 250 of the circa 1,100-strong workforce will be part of the club-wide redundancy programme.
The club believe a restructuring is needed, especially in an era of new financial regulations, and feel the staffing level does not reflect their current performance level on the field.
Paul MacInnes on Cody Gakpo and his influence for Netherlands.
Gakpo was the Dutch player of the year when he burst on to the international scene in Qatar and within weeks he had signed for Liverpool for £35m. What has followed since has required a period of adjustment, with the player acknowledging the help he has received from his Anfield teammates when he collected his man-of-the-match award in Munich on Wednesday.
Ivan Toney takes on, I believe, Andy Dunn at darts prior to his press conference.
Spain will put sentiment to one side on Friday when they play Germany in the Euro 2024 quarter-finals knowing that victory would spell retirement for veteran midfielder Toni Kroos who has already hung up his boots at Real Madrid.
Forward Joselu heaped praise on last season’s teammate at Real Madrid, but said Spain were laser-focused on winning in Stuttgart to reach the Euros semi-finals regardless of the implications for Kroos.
“It’s a shame we have to send Toni into retirement like that, but hopefully we will win on Friday and it will be Toni’s last game, for our own good,” Joselu told a news conference. “We have to believe in ourselves and not worry about another player ... I love Toni, we care for him, but I think Friday is Toni’s last game.”
Kroos, 34, made an emotional farewell to Real Madrid fans in May after a remarkable decade at the club where he made 464 appearances and helped them win more than 20 major trophies including five European Cups. He plans to retire after the European Championship.
“It’s been a pleasure for me to play with him. I think he reflects all that is Real Madrid, the values of the club,” added Joselu. “He’s a fundamental player for Germany, as well as for Real Madrid, we need to keep an eye on him on Friday.”
Updated
Re coffee storage, Joe Pearson says: “Don’t tell me you’re one of those freezer people.”
I just have a special little jar.
Do not forget to send in your favourite player of the tournament thus far … who has been eliminated.
I enjoyed Slovakia’s Lobotka.
Get your Euros Daily fill, courtesy of little old me.
That’s nice. If you speak neither Romanian nor German, you can probably still get the gist.
💛 🇷🇴 The perfect guests. Following their elimination from #EURO2024 last night, @hai_romania left their Munich dressing room spotless with a touching letter to their German hosts. pic.twitter.com/UZwmxqxyjk
— UEFA (@UEFA) July 3, 2024
Audio content for your lovely ears. You’d have thought Pougatch was pretty busy in Germany but no one is too busy for Football Weekly Daily.
'International football is not about patterns of play. It's about moments and who can take advantage of them. Why not the Dutch?'@markpougatch joins @maxrushden and co on the Football Daily podcast at #Euro2024 https://t.co/S0xag5oUIR pic.twitter.com/kcD05ejZQX
— Guardian sport (@guardian_sport) July 3, 2024
Big news coming out of the England camp. I was pretty surprised he was being put up for the press conference.
Ivan Toney will now be speaking at today's England press conference rather than Luke Shaw. Told there is no injury concern or setback, it's just that Shaw had a change of heart over speaking today as he would understandably rather talk when he has returned to action 🏴
— Simon Peach (@SimonPeach) July 3, 2024
Krishna emails: “Marital / family harmony is not at risk anymore with Romania out of the picture; must be a relief. Just tell the family that the whole family can be neutrals from the semifinal onwards.”
We can now get back to bickering over where I store the coffee.
He’s not wrong.
getting this in before it happens to anyone in particular so I don’t the usual You Are A Bias, but the disciplinary rules at the Euros are daft. You shouldn’t miss a semi-final for getting 2 bookings in 5 games. That’s not a huge crime. It compromises too many big games.
— Michael Cox (@Zonal_Marking) July 3, 2024
TRANSFER NEWS!
Juventus have signed Sweden midfielder Hanna Bennison from WSL side Everton for an undisclosed fee. The 21-year-old spent three years on Merseyside and had one season remaining on her contract, after arriving for what was understood to be a transfer fee in excess of £150,000 in 2021.
Updated
Switzerland head coach Murat Yakin says his team are ready for a “big fight” against England in their Euros quarter final on Saturday. The Swiss made relatively light work of Italy in the round of 16, so will not be overly concerned by facing Gareth Southgate’s side.
“We played against Germany we were good, we played against Italy, also a big team, and why can’t we beat England?” he told a press conference. “We’re in a good mood now. Let’s see, it’s a good challenge and my team is ready to have this big fight against England.”
Yakin also has plenty of sympathy for Southgate who is under pressure after four underwhelming performances. “Of course, when you have big players and can choose from many players and leave at home some good players and you don’t get a result, in UK you have these problems,” he said. “I know this myself from last year a little bit, just focus on the football game, not what we read in the newspapers, that’s the only thing we can do as a coach.”
A lively night in Istanbul.
Thank you, David. What an afternoon we have ahead of us.
That’s my stint for now. I shall hand you over to Will Unwin for more hot news and debate from the Euros.
A quick plug for this epic piece of work from Marcus Christenson, Steven Bloor and Garry Blight. Everything you need to know (and more) about every squad member in Germany. Why not read up on the Swiss ahead of Saturday’s quarter-final.
Great piece here from Ben Fisher ahead of the England v Switzerland clash on Saturday. A particularly special occasion for Kwadwo Duah.
Have you had the Gunok “best save ever” debate yet? Compare and contrast.
So Turkey’s keeper Gunok apparently made a world class save last night.
— TV Football 1968-92 (@1968Tv) July 3, 2024
But was it better than this?#Banks pic.twitter.com/PoiWkQYVbr
An UNBELIEVABLE save from Mert Gunok! 🤩
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) July 2, 2024
Is this save of the tournament so far? 👀#BBCEuros #Euro2024 #AUTTUR pic.twitter.com/PXd7pY4oVb
Right, OK: Banks, Grobbelaar, Gunok. What does that say to you about saves - from relatively close range efforts - that specifically involve near-instinctive clawing/shovelling of the ball upwards and sideways just over the angle of post and bar?
— Adam Hurrey (@FootballCliches) July 3, 2024
....There's too many of them?… pic.twitter.com/fz4w4iBKTg
Palhinha set for €56m Bayern move
Some domestic transfer news from a player still very much involved in Euro 2024. After a false start last time, Portuguese midfielder Palhinha is finally off to Bayern.
This isn’t the only blog in town today. Oh no. Two more offerings below…
England’s left side remains a riddle. Can anyone solve it? Get in touch, like Rick.
Rick Harris via email: “I happen to think that Jack Grealish would have been very similar to Phil Foden in terms of left flank ineffectiveness. The reason surely that City signed Doku was because Grealish is incapable of consistently beating the fullback and getting to the goal line to cross the ball to the waiting strik…. Er, well actually Doku didn’t do much of that either, but my point is that having decided Rashford’s league form should be the reason to ignore his international form, plus of course Southgate never fancied him anyway, Anthony Gordon and Luke Shaw must surely start against the Swiss.”
Xhaka to start against England
Word from the Swiss camp: Granit Xhaka will start against England. The Switzerland captain trained alone again this morning, as he did on Tuesday, as he continues to manage a thigh issue. The forward, Ruben Vargas, was also doing individual work as they attempt to manage his load. The Swiss, who are based in Waldau on the edge of Stuttgart, appeared in fine spirits. Yann Sommer, their dependable No 1, and the rest of the goalkeepers donned “battery-powered, shutter-effect sunglasses” which supposedly improve visual skills. The spectacles, made by VisionUp, “stimulate your brain and improve your vision” and can “obtain better athletic performance”, according to their website. Oh, and Xherdan Shaqiri’s bulging calves looked as impressive as ever.
Who is your Player of the Tournament? In betting order, this is how the bookies see it. It’s worth noting that nine of the last 10 winners of this accolade played for the eventual champions. The odd man out was Antoine Griezmann, who scored six goals (three more than anyone else) when France finished runners-up to Portugal on home soil in 2016. If Germany lose to Spain, that’ll be the two market leaders, Musiala and Kroos, done for.
Player of the Tournament
6/1 Jamal Musiala
7/1 Toni Kroos
8/1 Jude Bellingham
10/1 Rodri, Kylian Mbappe
12/1 Cody Gakpo
16/1 N’Golo Kante
20/1 Fabian Ruiz, Lamine Yamal
25/1 Harry Kane
33/1 Cristiano Ronaldo
Updated
Breaking officials news. Go on lads. All eight English officials have been appointed to the quarter-final fixtures. Referee Anthony Taylor, his assistants Gary Beswick and Adam Nunn as well as VAR Stuart Attwell are among the team selected to take charge of Spain v Germany.
Referee Michael Oliver will once again be in action too, leading a team involving assistants Stuart Burt, Dan Cook as well as David Coote (AVAR) for France v Portugal. These take the appointments for English officials to 37 for the tournament so far.
Great reader spot here. Who do we reckon built it? I’ll go Steve Holland, with Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink doing the main tower.
Jonny Rodwell via email: “The Ed Sheeran England camp news is one thing, but the bigger question, to me, is...who built the Lego Hogwarts castle?! It’s clear at the front of the room. People think players spend all their time on Call of Duty, but it seems they are so online now they are part of the Tik Tok Lego fanatics!!”
England in training on Wednesday. Jude Bellingham looks happy, larking about and all that.
England squad all train ahead of Swiss clash
Hot news from England’s training camp. They’re all running about. All 26 of them. Even Luke Shaw. Pictures to follow.
From PA Media:
England’s full squad trained on Wednesday as they stepped up preparations for Saturday’s Euro 2024 quarter-final against Switzerland.
Gareth Southgate’s group had a day off on Tuesday as they enjoyed some rest and recovery following the 2-1 extra-time last-16 triumph against Slovakia.
England returned to training on Wednesday lunchtime, with all 26 players taking part at their Spa & GolfResort Weimarer Land base.
Luke Shaw took part in the session as he looks to feature for the first time for either club or country since mid-February.
The Manchester United left-back has been recovering from hamstring issues and will face the media on Wednesday afternoon.
Perhaps a half-time team talk from a comedian would lift England’s spirits. Then again, let’s recall this classic tale from former Manchester City star Paul Lake.
A typically low key Mel Machin expressed caution and warned us against complacency, but then a mischievous grin played across his face as he informed us that he’d arranged for one of his pals to give us a quick motivational pep talk. What do we need this for? We’re 3-0 up, for Chrissakes’ I remember thinking, wondering which former colleague of the gaffer’s was going to get wheeled out. From the direction of Roy Bailey’s physio room toddled Eddie Large, the Mancunian funny man and City fanatic who, in those days was a huge primetime TV star with his weekly sidekick ‘supersonic’ Syd Little. What followed was the most surreal half-time team talk I’ve ever experienced. Eddie wearing a shiny grey showbiz suit with rolled up sleeves, proceeded to dole out individual advice to each of the players using his well known repetoire of celebrity impersonations. So Deputy Dawg ordered me to keep tight in defence; Frank Carson told Nelly to use the width and pace of Whitey; Cliff Richard advised Trevor Morley to shoot on sight; Harold Wilson told Bob Brightwell to keep it simple and Benny from Crossroads told Andy Dibble to stay awake. Final score: 3-3.
And, all together now… as if they’ve not been through enough.
I mean, whose idea was this? Who next if they beat the Swiss? Coldplay? Get someone uplifting in like The Go! Team.
“C’mon, c’mon, rise yourself, get on with it, look for ya win. Oh, Rob…”
Ed Sheeran visits the England camp to give them a private performance 🎙️ pic.twitter.com/vp0vBD5SEc
— GRM Daily (@GRMDAILY) July 2, 2024
Updated
A very simple question… are these Euros any good or not? Turkey v Austria sure entertained but don’t be skewed by recency bias. Overall, are you impressed? Opinion certainly seems split.
Boring, isn’t it? Just staying in watching the Euros with your life. Not for me. I like it. pic.twitter.com/4yyalTimCR
— Luke (@LukeOfNorfolk) July 2, 2024
The topic that just won’t go away: social media abuse. It’s tackled here – in the context of England’s under-fire players - by Grimsby Town chairman Jason Stockwood. Beyond the Mariners, Jason is also a technology entrepreneur.
It’s hard to overstate how bad online interaction can be for players, who are constantly under the spotlight. A generation of young players are advised to stay off social media, but it’s a herculean task. Positive reinforcement can be addictive when things are going well, but a poor performance can create a downward doom cycle for those young minds. In the past, they only had to endure terrace shouts, which, though brutal, ended when they left the stadium. Now, they face a legion of critics online, with negative comments persisting long after the final whistle and into their weekends.
Staying with Ronaldo, while his antics and theatrics are an entertaining sideshow for the neutrals, Ben Fisher is very much taking the angle that he’s now more hindrance then help to Portugal’s chances of winning the Euros.
No player has had more shots than his 20 without a goal in Germany this summer and he is on his longest scoring drought in major tournaments: eight games dating back to the World Cup in Qatar, when he scored a penalty in the opener against Ghana.
Thanks Tom. Let’s open with a chuckle even though you’ve probably seen it. I wonder if CR7 has, or will his people have protected him from it? And, yes, there’s a graphic for the obvious follow-up question: what about Messi?
Cristiano Ronaldo's major tournament free-kick success?
— Opta Analyst (@OptaAnalyst) July 2, 2024
1/60 (1.7%) pic.twitter.com/dI0RxqlyYr
For those that wanted a Lionel Messi comparison... pic.twitter.com/P475rcvrnd
— Opta Analyst (@OptaAnalyst) July 2, 2024
Anyway, I’ve got other fish to fry now, liveblog-wise, so am going to put you in the expert hands of David Tindall for the next while. Bye.
Now we’ve got a couple of days to take stock, conversation will turn to our deepest emotions teams of the tournament, games of the tournament and so on. What about the best of the eliminated players? First name on the teamsheet for me would be Mamardashvili, and Kvaratskhelia wouldn’t be far behind. Anyway, over to you …
But it wasn’t just fans of teams who’ve progressed filling their streets yesterday. Here’s a taste of the welcome back Georgia got in Tbilisi:
Lots of emotion among Turkish fans throughout Europe last night …
Turkey's Demiral faces Uefa investigation over 'far-right gesture'
Merih Demiral is facing an investigation for using a far-right gesture in celebrating his goals against Austria. More from PA Media
Turkey’s Euro 2024 last-16 matchwinner Merih Demiral is under investigation by Uefa for allegedly making a political gesture as he celebrated his country’s victory over Austria.
Demiral scored twice as Turkey beat Austria 2-1 in an entertaining encounter in Leipzig, both following corners from teenage star Arda Guler.
Uefa issued a statement on Wednesday morning confirming an ethics and disciplinary investigator had been appointed in accordance with Article 31 (4) of its disciplinary regulations to look into “alleged inappropriate behaviour”.
Uefa is understood to be investigating whether Demiral gave a so-called ‘wolf’s salute’, a gesture linked to the Turkish nationalist movement. Demiral, who plays for Saudi club Al Ahli, opened the scoring in the first minute and added a second just before the hour mark. Michael Gregoritsch pulled one back for Austria and they almost forced extra-time but for a wonderful save from Turkey goalkeeper Mert Gunok.
Updated
Some pre-quarter-final stats courtesy of PA Media:
The tournament’s two highest-scoring teams meet in Stuttgart, with Germany on 10 goals to Spain’s eight. Spain’s 82 shots also lead the way while Germany’s Jamal Musiala is level with the Netherlands’ Cody Gakpo – and eliminated pair Ivan Schranz and Georges Mikautadze – atop the Golden Boot standings.
Elsewhere though, Switzerland have attempted only 46 shots and opponents England 45, by far the lowest figures among qualified teams, while frustration in front of goal has been the theme of France and Portugal’s tournament.
France are yet to score from open play, with two own-goals and a penalty seeing them this far, while Cristiano Ronaldo’s 20 efforts on goal for Portugal are more than any other player in the tournament but he has failed to find the net.
That includes an extra-time penalty saved by Slovenia’s Jan Oblak on Monday night, though Ronaldo did score in the shoot-out that followed - in which Diogo Costa saved all three Slovenia attempts, a European Championship record. Turkey have faced comfortably the most shots on their goal of any quarter-finalist, 59 after Austria’s barrage of 21 on Tuesday.
The average of 2.27 goals per game is comfortably down on Euro 2020’s 2.78 as well as the respective marks of 2.69 and 2.64 at the 2022 and 2018 World Cups.
Euro 2020’s goal stats were helped by that one manic Monday when Spain beat Croatia 5-3 and France and Switzerland drew 3-3. That’s one thing this tournament, superior to the last one for my money, has lacked.
Media news from the England camp: sitting behind the desk next to Gareth Southgate later today will be the much missed, much discussed Luke Shaw.
This week’s Knowledge leads off topically on one-sided penalty shootouts, after Slovenia drew a blank on Monday. No mention though of the game that most came to my mind while watching it – the Netherlands’ total choke after Italy’s bus-parking masterclass in the Euro 200 semi.
Some transfer talk now: it’s been a busy summer among Europe’s biggest clubs in the women’s game and Sky is reporting that Chelsea are close to agreeing terms with Lucy Bronze after the full-back’s departure from Barcelona.
There’s more than a few good men out there. Here’s our old mate Krishna Moorthy with a cinematic retread:
Football Fan: I think I am entitled to the truth.
Gareth Southgate: You can’t handle the truth! Son, we live in a world that has fields, and those fields have to be populated by men with skills. Who’s gonna do it? You? You, Gary Lineker? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. You weep for Grealish, and you curse the manager. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know -- that Grealish’s drop, while tragic, probably saved games; and my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, gets you to semis.
You don’t want the truth because deep down in places you don’t talk about at parties, you want me on that ground -- you need me on that ground.
We use words like “pass,” “shoot,” “VAR.” We use these words as the backbone of a life spent achieving nothing. You use them as a punch line.
I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the ennui of watching a football match that we pretend to play, and then questions us on why we are playing like this.
I would rather that you just said “thank you” and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick a Jose or a Conte. Either way, I don’t give a DAMN what you think you’re entitled to!
As it happens, it’s interesting that dropping Grealish hasn’t figured too highly in all the soul-searching and agonising. Possibly because he’d just have added yet another note of left-sided uncertainty rather than solved it, such is the current befuddlement.
In other continental tournament news, Colombia held Brazil to a 1-1 draw in the Copa América in Santa Clara, which means the former top their group and Brazil face a tricky quarter-final against Uruguay. Colombia will face Panama.
Preamble
Morning everyone. So, the quarter-final lineup is complete, with a couple of mild surprises – not many will have had Turkey as quarter-finalists, and after their underwhelming group-stage performances, Netherlands turning it on and winning so convincingly yesterday might also count as a mild head-turner. But these Euros’ best matches have all involved either Austria or Turkey so it was mercifully no surprise that their meeting last night was another cracker, featuring the save of the tournament, by Mert Gunok from Christoph Baumgartner in injury-time. The only regret surrounding it from a neutral perspective was that it denied us another half-hour of fun.
So now we’re looking ahead. We’ve got two days of twiddling our thumbs and trying to find other things to talk about before it all resumes with the big Spain v Germany set-to in Stuttgart on Friday.
On the England side of things, we should be hearing from their opponents, Switzerland, this morning and we’re waiting on news from Uefa to see whether the European governing body’s head honchos consider his obscene/banter gesture at the end of the Slovakia game is deemed worthy of further punishment. Talking of Bellingham, Barney Ronay has written about his alpha energy, and the dilemmas over how to deploy it, here.
In the meantime, here’s some of last night’s pieces to digest:
