On 15/06/2024 at 16:54, Robbie said:

Half time

Spain 3 Croatia 0.

Spain looking good, Croatia have had three reasonable chances but failed to take them. 

 

Final score Spain 3 Croatia 0 Croatia missed a penalty in the second half. 

Spain won comfortably but for once not convincing in defence at times.

And Croatia had the majority of the play which is unusual for Spain.

The last of the three matches today is Italy v Albania from Dortmund.

And what are start by Albania scoring the fastest ever European Championship goal in 23 seconds.

Italy 0 Albania 1

Italy have turned it around and replied with two quick goals

Italy 2 Albania 1.

Good game this so far between Italy and Albania, in fact the ones I've seen Germany v Scotland and Spain v Croatia were both good watches too!

I thought Spain looked a bit disjointed at times but I was impressed how they were able to give up more of the ball but the press the Croatian defence well. They mixed it up a lot more too and I loved the switches of play into the space for the quick wingers to run into.

Italy look pretty impressive now, after that awful mistake at the start, they are starting to dominate and create the better chances...

Half time 

Italy 2 Albania 1

Very entertaining match. A quick fire goal for Albania after 23 seconds. I must say Italy are good going forward, Albania defending too deep.

But what a complete howler by Italy for the Albania goal. The Italian player at a throw in picking out the Albanian player in the Italian penalty area, Even Italian defenders can do Notts style howlers @Wheelbarrow repair man

 

 

Italy appeared quite ordinary again, and Albania might have posed a greater challenge had they shown more urgency at times. It was an engaging match with some solid opportunities towards the end. The announcement of added time seemed delayed. The referee appeared eager to conclude the match once the four minutes of added time, plus a bit more, had elapsed.

The Euro 24 match schedule for Sunday is as follows.

D: Poland vs Netherlands 

(Hamburg, 15:00)

C: Slovenia vs Denmark 

(Stuttgart, 18:00)

C: Serbia vs England 

(Gelsenkirchen, 21:00)

I enjoyed the Italy match. They came back strongly after falling behind, but failed to finish Albania off and the second half was almost an exhibition of Ardleyball - they dominated possession, but nobody wanted to take a risk to score the decisive third goal. They nearly paid for it at the end. Looking at who else is in their group, Italy needed to win that one.

Sounded like a brilliant atmosphere too.

Entertaining Group D Match between Poland & Netherlands.

Poland took the lead from a corner but Netherlands equalised through a deflected shot on goal.

Netherlands have created a hateful of chances but have been wasteful.

Half time 

Poland 1 Netherlands 1

Poland can be proud from their defensive performance today, however the Netherlands get the winning goal late in the second half.

Final score.

Poland 1 Netherlands 2

 

The half time score in the group C match between Slovenia & Denmark is 

Slovenia 0 Denmark 1.

A dream for Christian Eriksen as he scores the goal for Denmark.

Denmark well worth their lead, Slovenia not offering a lot up front.

Denmark looked the better side in the first half, however Slovenia had a much better second half and scored a deserved equaliser.

Final Score

Slovenia 1 Denmark 1

Group C

Serbia v England 8pm start.

CMON England.

It's time for what's important now. I hope everyone is watching! My dad and I have taken over the living room. Let's do this, ENGLAND!!

JUDE BELLINGHAM

Serbia 0 England 1

Great play for Bellingham's goal, he still had to work to score. This is the start we need. Serbia are playing too defensively. It's like watching Scotland all over again.

England played really well up to when they scored, & for 15 minutes afterward, but since then they have been backing off and Serbia are looking dangerous at times.

An improvement is needed in the second half.

Half time.

Serbia 0 England 1

England are under the cosh. Much more energy in this second half from Serbia 

CMON England.

Final Score 

Serbia 0 England 1

The least said about that second half the better.

Must improve 

serbia looked much better in the second half, we were happy to be defensive but i would have pushed for a second just to take that pressure off that was opening up for them. i think they should be proud of how they performed, they looked much better than scotland and created some good chances when they pushed.

i am very happy with the win.

Agree @liampie. Sometimes when England score they hold back a little then become defensive, then get deeper and deeper & that's the frustrating part of England's game at times.

On the positive side, we won the game and Jude Bellingham was the man of the match, he could become England's Messi. He is class with a capital C

I need to start by saying the clean sheet and win, that's what matters, but it was quite boring.

Serbia did very well in the second half, no way could they have continued to play how they started. I think the Netherlands has had the best start that I have seen (albeit wasteful on goal). At times, I wanted England to be braver, to be more direct, but other than Jude Bellingham we had little idea. Bukayo Saka did well in spells, but he's very overrated. Good player, but he reminds me a lot of Aaron Nemane. He's either brilliant or lacking.

Kyle Walker did well making space and shaping up the defence, I think the subs shook things up, but we went too defensive.

Conor Gallagher looked useful, no idea how his close control with his foot ended up being given as a handball. I think the referee started to bottle it towards the 70th minute, making some very poor decisions. He did well up to that point, but allowed Serbia to get away with so many niggling challenges. Jarrod Bowen also made a difference. I like him. He does what is needed, and although he got criticised for his clearances. He would win the ball, who cares if he kicks it up the field to nobody. I mean, only Harry Kane was up top at that point, and we risk injuries demanding him to hold up the bathe fieldll.

Good opening result, but a performance England must improve on.

Well what can you really say? Another typical England performance under Southgate. Great First Half Poor Second Half, I know lets go defensive , if the 3 Lions play like that against a Good Team they're Gonna Get Battered. At least it's a Win.

@Wheelbarrow repair manEngland started very well but after the goal they became more and more cautious and defensive.

But like you said, it was a typical England performance under Southgate, which I believe has cost us going on to win tournaments.

I also think Serbia bullied us especially in that second half. The other teams in our group will be looking at that match with interest & may look to copy Serbia's tactics

Bellingham is something else, but we know he's going to be targeted like he was in this match.

Saka became ineffective in that second half when Serbia became much more physical after the first thirty minutes.

Kane only had a few touches in the match and his link up play, which is usually an important party of England's build up play was non existent last night.

But although I was looking for a much better opening performance from England, a win is a win, and England teams have always started slow in tournaments, so I'm happy that we won.

@Robbie

You're right about Bellingham, he's something else. But like you say he's a marked man, and all the opposition Hard Men are going kick him from one end of the Pitch to other if they can.. Or they'll pull on his shirt stamp on him and bully him either to injure him or get some reaction out of him to get him Sent Off.