Toni Kroos has criticized what he sees as often too extreme reporting on the German national team. “It’s very often black and white,” said the 2014 world champion in a podcast with his brother Felix called “Einfach mal Luppen” after the preliminary round of the European Championships at home. There are pitfalls, but then it’s turned around again “so that it’s possible to be European champions next time.”
The older of the two Kroos brothers recalled the situation of the German Football Association’s selection after the two defeats against Turkey and Austria at the end of 2023. “Last November we were all happy that this European Championship was taking place in Germany, because we probably wouldn’t have even taken part in a European Championship if we had qualified. But it was still completely clear: We are allowed to play, but we will definitely be eliminated in the group,” said the 34-year-old Real Madrid midfield star.
This has completely changed, at the latest with the 5:1 win against Scotland at the start of the European Championship. “Then the tournament gets off to a good start and we are of course European champions after one game, that’s clear. But if we don’t get 5:1 in every subsequent game, the euphoria goes down again.” He spared the fans from criticism. “They’re celebrating, they’re happy, they’re dreaming.” The team of national coach Julian Nagelsmann will face Denmark in the round of 16 on Saturday (9 p.m., in the WELT sports ticker) in Dortmund.
9.59 a.m.: The crazy security operation to protect Ronaldo
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9.31 a.m.: The European Championship has an inglorious record
Referee Istvan Kovacs is the focus of attention in Turkey’s victory over the Czech Republic. The number of penalties handed out during the match rose to a new record high. The anger is particularly great in the Turkish camp, although they were not at all innocent in the flood of cards.
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9.09 am: This is how the round of 16 will be shown on TV
The TV channels have announced the distribution of the round of 16 matches of the European Championship. The first match of the knockout round between Switzerland and Italy (6 p.m.) will be free-to-air on RTL. The subsequent match between Germany and Denmark (9 p.m.) will be broadcast by ZDF.
All matches will also be shown on the paid provider MagentaTV. Austria vs. Turkey will also be shown exclusively there next Tuesday (9 p.m.).
The round of 16 at a glance: Saturday, June 29th: Switzerland – Italy (6 p.m.) RTL/MagentaTV Saturday, June 29th: Germany – Denmark (9 p.m.) ZDF/MagentaTV Sunday, June 30th: England – Slovakia (6 p.m.) ZDF/MagentaTV Sunday, June 30th: Spain – Georgia (9 p.m.) ARD/MagentaTV Monday, July 1st: France – Belgium (6 p.m.) ZDF/MagentaTV Monday, July 1st: Portugal – Slovenia (9 p.m.) ARD/MagentaTV Tuesday, July 2nd: Romania – Netherlands (6 p.m.) ARD/MagentaTV Tuesday, July 2nd: Austria – Turkey (9 p.m.) Magenta
8.27 am: Kane doesn’t care about the English team’s minimalism
England captain Harry Kane believes that criticism of his team’s poor performance at the European Championships in Germany is exaggerated. “We should be proud that we won the group. We have done that in previous years, but it is hard. Of course we can play better. We still had room for improvement, especially in the first two games,” said Kane in a video interview recorded by the association at the training camp in Blankenhain. “We still have more in the tank.” The Three Lions won Group C, but only scored two goals in three games.
The 30-year-old Bayern star remembered the past few years and the successful knockout matches of the 2021 European Championship runner-up. Kane specifically mentioned the duels with Germany (2-0) and Ukraine (4-0) at the 2021 European Championship or the comparison with Senegal (3-0) at the 2022 World Cup. This time, on Sunday (6 p.m.) in Gelsenkirchen, they will face Slovakia. The tournament tree looks very favorable, after all, hosts Germany, France and Spain are all the other big favorites in the other half of the tournament. British media and experts are vehemently demanding that national coach Gareth Southgate give more playing time to young talents such as Kobbie Mainoo and Cole Palmer. Kane also liked Palmer’s performance in the 0-0 draw against Slovenia. “He had a breathtaking season at Chelsea. That’s very impressive. That’s the standard we have in this team. It was great to see Cole on the field,” said the captain.
7.57 am: Twelve games over the ten million mark
The European Championship is a ratings hit. Twelve live broadcasts from the home tournament have broken the ten million mark in the preliminary round that has now been completed. The viewing figures are on average higher than at the last European Championship in 2021. However, according to AGF Videoforschung, the match between Turkey and the Czech Republic (2:1) on Wednesday evening on ARD only reached 7.834 million and a market share of 33.5.
The most watched European Championship match of the preliminary round was the third match between the DFB selection and Switzerland, with an average of 25.566 million people. The most successful broadcast without a German team was the 1:0 match between the Spanish national team and Italy, with 13.042 million people on ZDF.
The figures do not include fans who watched games at public viewings, on the Internet or via Telekom.
7.01 a.m.: Outlook no longer so gloomy
Sports philosopher Gunter Gebauer sees a clear upturn in mood in Germany as a result of the European Championships. How long this will last remains to be seen. “The first few days wiped away some of the gloom. It felt like you were wearing fogged-up glasses. Now you take them off, clean them a bit and everything looks a little bit better again,” said the 80-year-old on the ZDF morning magazine. “The outlook for the future was gloomy before and has suddenly become much better.”
In Gebauer’s opinion, whether the European Championship party will bring about a lasting change in the mood in the country in light of the crises of recent years will depend on how the DFB team progresses during the tournament. “That depends very much on how things go from here,” said the professor emeritus at the Free University of Berlin. “If this mood continues, this look into the future, into the present, and the idea comes: we can control things, change things, we can make a difference in this world, even if it’s only in football – then there will be a good sense of self-confidence.” Gebauer did not want to draw a comparison with the summer fairytale at the 2006 World Cup because “history does not repeat itself.”
22:03: “I think the Danes are the most structured opponent”
Niclas Füllkrug does not expect the German national team to easily win against Denmark in the round of 16 of the European Football Championship. “I think that the Danes are the most structured opponent we could have faced. They are hard-working, they have a structure with and against the ball and an idea of where one cog fits into another,” said the striker on Wednesday on MagentaTV.
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The Danes finished second in Group C after three draws, behind European Championship runners-up England. Füllkrug reiterated that the DFB team knew they had to win this game if they wanted to go far. “You have to win against big nations,” said the 31-year-old Borussia Dortmund striker. His late goal to make it 1-1 against Switzerland gave Nagelsmann’s team the group win.
21:00: Frankfurt fan zone evacuated due to thunderstorm
The fan zone in Frankfurt am Main was closed on Wednesday due to a heavy storm. Before the storm began, the area on the banks of the Main was cleared during halftime of the European Football Championship matches, a spokesman for the Frankfurt police told the German Press Agency. The matches between Slovakia and Romania (1:1) and Belgium and Ukraine (0:0) were taking place at that time.
20:00: England’s offensive star Foden leaves European Championship camp
Attacking star Phil Foden has temporarily left the training camp of the English national football team for the European Championships in Blankenhain. The FA announced this on Wednesday. The 24-year-old had travelled back to Great Britain because of “an urgent family matter”, it said in the brief statement. According to consistent media reports, this is the birth of his third child. In April, Foden and his partner Rebecca Cooke announced on Instagram that they were expecting a baby.
The Three Lions will play their round of 16 match in Gelsenkirchen on Sunday (6 p.m.). So far, Foden has been in national coach Gareth Southgate’s starting lineup as a left winger in all three games. However, the Manchester City professional was not involved in either of the two English goals.
For England’s national team and Southgate, a departure during the tournament is nothing new. At the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Raheem Sterling temporarily left the team because his house at home had been broken into. Sterling missed the World Cup round of 16 against Senegal and came on as a substitute in the quarter-finals against France. After that, England were out.
5:00 p.m.: Völler talks about BVB transfer – and then backtracks
Is the transfer of national player Waldemar Anton from VfB Stuttgart to Borussia Dortmund already complete? That is at least what the audience believed after a statement by DFB sports director Rudi Völler on Wednesday at the German team’s European Championship headquarters in Herzogenaurach. Numerous clubs were interested in the defender, including Bayer Leverkusen, the club where Völler worked for many years.
“He ultimately decided on Dortmund,” said Völler in his comments on a possible replacement for the injured Antonio Rüdiger in the European Championship round of 16 match against Denmark. A little later, DFB spokeswoman Franziska Wülle intervened and said that Völler had merely reported the status of the transfer reports in BILD.
“I didn’t want to announce anything here, let’s see if I’m right or not,” Völler added with a smile.
All games of the home European Championship at a glance:
Schedule of the European Championship 2024 with all results
European Championship schedule as PDF to print
