Central defender Antonio Rüdiger can probably play in the round of 16.Image: imago images / Chai vd Laage
EM-News kompakt
Day 15 of the European Football Championship in Germany. Like Thursday, there are no games today before the knockout phase starts tomorrow.
Because there are countless major and minor news items every day during a European Championship, watson informs you daily with “European Championship News compact” in a short and concise manner about the most important news of today. This way you can always join in the conversation and not miss anything. We update this blog several times a day, whenever there is something new.
This is your EM update from June 28, 2024. Click here for yesterday’s news.
Nagelsmann announces: Rüdiger can play against Denmark
Germany’s injured defender Antonio Rüdiger will probably be able to play in the round of 16 against Denmark on Saturday. This was announced by national coach Julian Nagelsmann at a press conference on Friday evening. At the moment it looks as if Rüdiger is fit. If nothing happens, he could play tomorrow. Today’s training session went well.
The Real Madrid central defender suffered a strain in his right thigh in the closing stages of the last group match against Switzerland. The DFB team will face Denmark in the round of 16 in Dortmund on Saturday evening at 9 p.m.
Andrich presents new hair color
One day before the round of 16 match against Denmark, the DFB team completed its final training session in Herzogenaurach. Robert Andrich showed off his new hair.
Has beautiful hair (blonde): Robert Andrich.Image: dpa / Federico Gambarini
The midfielder didn’t change anything about the cut, but he did change the color. While Andrich usually wears brown hair, or at least that’s what it looks like, he suddenly showed up with peroxide blonde hair during training on Friday. The knockout phase, that should be clear, can now begin.
Hamann counts Kane and Bellingham
England have advanced to the round of 16 as group winners, but fans and experts still agree: The Three Lions have been one of the biggest disappointments of the 2024 European Championship so far. Despite enormous individual class, they have largely lacked a concept in attack, and none of their stars have shone.
In his column for Sky Didi Hamann therefore writes that coach Gareth Southgate has to change his team in “two or three positions”. He has two specific personnel in mind: “Of Phil Foden and Jude Bellingham only one can play, for me that would be Foden. For me you have to take Bellingham out, Foden in the middle and Cole Palmer and Anthony Gordon on the sides.”
Harry Kane (l.) and Jude Bellingham (m.) have not been able to convince at the European Championships so far.Image: dpa / Marius Becker
Bellingham has only been offering average services since Christmaswhich is why Hamann is not surprised by the weak European Championship performances.
The ex-pro also mentions Harry Kane. “With Ollie Watkins you have an agile striker who goes into spaces that Kane doesn’t go into or can’t get into at all,” he says, referring to the striker’s fitness level.
Southgate needs to think about this, as does the striker’s club: “Bayern is in transition and wants to get back to the top of the world, but when I look at the top of the world, Kane’s performance has nothing to do with that.”
“Really great”: Slovenians not against DFB team
The constellation in Group C was special: Denmark and Slovenia had the same number of points, the direct duel ended in a draw and the goal difference was also identical at 2:2. The ranking was ultimately decided by the fair play assessment, or more precisely a yellow card.
Milivoje Novakovič is assistant coach of the Slovenian national team.Image: imago images / eibner europa
The assistant coach, Milivoje Novakovič, was the one to receive this card. The former striker of 1. FC Köln is not at all annoyed about this card. “It’s fine with me,” he said in an interview with the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. He continued: “I think this is not just good for us, it’s really great. So the card has helped us.”
The Slovenians thus avoid a duel with Germany in the round of 16, and instead the DFB team will face Denmark. However, Slovenia is not in for a walk in the park, as their next opponent is Portugal.
Today, the DFB professionals can take a breather.Image: dpa / Federico Gambarini
European Championship round of 16: These games are coming up
There are no European Championship matches today either. In order to give all teams roughly the same amount of time to prepare for the knockout matches, all teams have a free day.
These are the round of 16 matches at a glance
- 29 June: Switzerland – Italy (6pm / Berlin)
- 29 June: Germany – Denmark (9pm / Dortmund)
- 30 June: England – Slovakia (6pm / Gelsenkirchen)
- 30 June: Spain – Georgia (9pm / Cologne)
- July 1: France – Belgium (6 p.m. / Düsseldorf)
- July 1: Portugal – Slovenia (9pm / Frankfurt)
- July 2: Romania – Netherlands (6 p.m. / Munich)
- July 2: Austria – Türkiye (9pm / Leipzig)
Which European Championship show will still be on TV
All of the European Championship games are only shown on MagentaTV, for which you need a subscription. Thanks to a cooperation with RTL, some games are also shown on the Cologne channel. Despite the break in play, the RTL EM studio will be broadcast again today at 8:15 p.m.
ARD and ZDF will also show almost all of the games in the knockout round. On days when there are no games, the public broadcasters will broadcast their normal programs. On ARD, this includes the “Quizduell-Olymp” at 6:50 p.m., hosted by Esther Sedlaczek.
ZDF, on the other hand, at least has a bit of football late in the evening. The channel broadcasts “heute-show spezial” from 10.30 p.m. The preview states: “Lutz van der Horst and Fabian Köster chase the ball at the European Football Championship in Germany.”
Podcast-Tipp: “Toni Kroos – The Underrated One”
For the time between games, we recommend the new watson podcast “Toni Kroos – The Underrated One”, of which several episodes have already been released. Here you can find all the information about the six-part series, which can be heard for free wherever podcasts are available. For example here directly on Spotify.
You can also listen to episode 1 directly here:
What’s happening with the DFB team today
The final training session in Herzogenaurach begins at 11 a.m., with the first 15 minutes open to the media. The German national team then travels to Dortmund. Julian Nagelsmann and Robert Andrich will appear at the press conference there at 7 p.m.
Recommended reading: the watson top texts on the European Championship
You want to know more? No problem! Here we recommend texts from our editorial team.
- Three games, not a single goal: Cristiano Ronaldo has had a disappointing European Championship so far. Now there’s also a moment of shock. You can read our article about it here.
- Antonio Rüdiger could miss the round of 16 due to a strain in his thigh. World and European champion Andi Möller would replace him with Robert Andrich. Here you can find out what speaks for the Leverkusen player.
- There are still a good two weeks until the European Championship final. Singer Leony will perform the official European Championship song “Fire” before kick-off in Berlin’s Olympic Stadium. In the watson interview she talked about her excitement.
In his weekly column, fan researcher Harald Lange writes exclusively on watson about the things that are currently affecting football in Germany.
Immediately before the first round of 16 matches, it is time to take stock of the 2024 European Championship. Apart from the unfulfillable promise to hold a climate-friendly European Championship and some organizational difficulties in logistics and with travel to and from the event (a shout-out to Deutsche Bahn), we have been experiencing an exciting and atmospheric football festival in the heart of Europe since June 14.
2024-06-28 17:16:00
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