After an anonymous group stage, will it be possible to see them in the preliminary round?
Before the start of the round of 16 of Euro 2024, with Switzerland-Italy scheduled for Saturday 29th at 18:00, it’s time to take stock of how these European championships went for the sixteen national teams that qualified for the knockout stage. It certainly won’t be a time for experiments for the CTs who, starting tomorrow at 18:00 onwards, will be playing for those who simply want to access the quarter-finals but also those who will be playing for credibility or even the bench.
However, it is right to turn the magnifying glass on some of the seventy-two footballers (excluding reserve goalkeepers) who have not yet had the chance to set foot on the field but who could represent valid solutions for their national teams.
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The only ones excluded from the debate, as they drew heavily from all the outfield players called up, were Portugal’s Roberto Martínez and Spain’s Luis de la Fuente.
Raoul Bellanova – Italy
In the national team’s last match against Croatia the coach Luciano Spalletti surprisingly sent his Italy onto the field with the 3-5-2a module that experts and fans thought was one of the few certainties given the composition of the list of players called up. Di Lorenzo took his place on the right wing, Spalletti’s trusted man, with whom he became champion two seasons ago with Napoli, but almost never used in his career as a full-back
Unfortunately, the poor results have been seen. Di Lorenzo, who is not having a good time both from a technical and personal point of view due to the tensions born with Napoli and with its fans, has not played a good tournament so far. Maluccio on his debut with Albania; completely swept away from the field against Spain due to the overflowing talent of Nico Williamsa very young and very fast direct opponent, anonymous and never proactive with Croatia even though he was never really put in the best conditions to perform.
It is therefore here that the doubt arises whether a younger, fresher and more functional footballer like Bellanova could be useful. Already in Taurus, the winger born in Rho has shown himself to be a formidable force for attacking spaces from the backs of the opposing wingers, creating a superiority that, until now, Di Lorenzo has never managed to achieve. With Switzerland, a team that has masterfully learned to move the ball around, he will also need to put it on an athletic level if they want to emerge unscathed and aim for qualification to the quarterfinals.
Matthijs de Ligt – Paesi Bassi
It is no use ignoring the fact that the career of Matthijs de Ligt is not going exactly as we all expected when we admired it soaring in all its magnificence in Ajax’s unforgettable run in the Champions League five years ago. From then on a slow decline between the multi-million dollar transfer to Juventus, the surprise move to Bayern Munich and now to his first European championship with the Orange jersey without yet collecting a minute on the pitch.
While he seems to have physically recovered from the torn knee ligaments, the worrying thing is the boy’s mental condition, who has made it known since the Dutch national team’s retreat that he is constantly followed by a psychologist: “Certain moments can be hard and talking about it with someone can help you feel lighter and ready to put your energy back on the field, rather than exhausting it with a thousand negative thoughts.”
Not even the arrival of his wife Annekee served to shake things up, On the contrary. Looking at the photos published on Instagram, you can see how de Ligt’s embrace of his wife is much more than an affectionate gesture and that the exchange of glances smacks of a request for help from someone who would like to be anywhere except in Germany to witness the crumbling of a very promising elite-level career.
From starter until his debut against Poland, the blond centre-back has been ousted by the old sailor Stefan de Vrij who has almost never made a bad impression except for a few small lapses in the last match against Austria. This is where de Ligt could and should take away Koeman’s sleep.someone who in recent years has never missed an opportunity to take the boy’s side when he ended up, despite himself, in the eye of the storm.
The only images of De Ligt we’ve seen so far at EURO 2024: in training gear.
Charles De Ketelaere – Belgium
One of the most disappointing national teams seen in the group stage is undoubtedly Belgiumalways a team that enjoys greatness hype before every major tournament but which ends up deflating just a few minutes after the kick-off of the first official match. It happened again this year. The red devils, who barely managed to qualify for the round of 16 in an accessible group with Slovakia, Ukraine and Romania, tactically and technically they tried everything in order to unleash their attacking quality but never succeeded.
In the three matches played, the Italian-German coach focused on the trio made up of Trossard, De Bruyne e Tissue behind the increasingly dull and unfortunate Romelu Lukaku, then relying on the physicality of Lukebakio or the speed of Bakayoko or Openda during the match. The only player who was not affected in the slightest by Tedesco’s ruminations is Charles De Ketelaerewho is returning from an extraordinary season in Atalanta.
There is no reason why the fresh European champion with the Atalanta shirt has not yet tasted the pitch, other than a hypothetical overlapping of the areas to be occupied with De Bruyne, the only true untouchable of the team even in a decidedly below par tournament.
However, Tedesco has shown that he is very willing to look for adjustments. In defense and midfield, two important corrections have been adopted: Vertonghen in the place of Debast to have a player better suited to lead the defensive line e Tielemans in the place of Original Mangala to improve ball control in the build-up phase. In attack there were fewer changes: Doku, De Bruyne and Lukaku are virtually three untouchables and the first choice on the right was one between Trossard – starter on the first and last matchday – and Lukebakio – starter in the second – but neither of them gave a sense of real reliability.
So this isn’t the right time to bring in CDK’s talent? On the other hand, Belgium seen up to this point is a team that thrives on moments and individual plays that are not even well made and who better than a freak of elegance like De Ketelaere can put a patch on it?
De Ketelaere comfortably sitting on the bench during the match between Belgium and Romania. In the background Leo Trossard, his rival for a place in the Red Devils’ attacking midfield. (Photo: Alamy)
Adam Wharton – Inghilterra
Southgate arrived in Germany already with a heavy price on his head. He too will be aware that if the English national team does not lift the cup to the skies – and perhaps even if they do – for him the journey will end after seven years that started well and ended in decline.
The lack of a brain in midfield seems to be the most long-standing problem that the former Three Lions U21 coach is finding himself facing during the German expedition. Southgate’s big gamble was to use Trent Alexander-Arnold and Declan Rice as midfielders, trying to take advantage of their form to compensate for the absence of a playmaker more classic. The result – it may or may not be surprising – was however a moderate disaster, so much so that Alexander-Arnold ended up being replaced prematurely in the first two games and then directly lost his starting place in the third, opening up space for a classic raider like Gallagherperhaps even less comfortable than him.
Bellingham and Mainoo didn’t fare much better, so perhaps the time has come to make a last-ditch attempt, proposing on the field Adam Whartonborn in 2004 at Crystal Palace who has only been with the national team for a few months.
England’s midfield problems are one of the topics covered in the latest episode of Charisteas, Sportellate’s podcast on Euro 2024.
Southgate called Wharton “a special footballer that this national team has been missing for too many years”. It’s a shame that he didn’t live up to his words, always leaving him on the bench. The young product of the academy of Blackburn Roverswho in less than four months has gone from playing on the pitches of the Championship to establishing himself as one of the best emerging midfielders in the Premier League, would make Declan Rice’s life much easier, taking the responsibility out of building the game and letting him do what he does best.
Wharton, unlike other England midfielders, he is very good at both moving the ball around quickly and eluding the opposition’s pressing thanks to the innate gift of the wise use of one’s body. If desired, his inclusion in midfield could also bring Alexander-Arnold back to his natural role and therefore add a man of high technical caliber to the starting eleven. All it takes is a little courage. Southgate is on his last resort and Wharton himself seems to already have the broad shoulders to bear even a possible failure. We don’t have to wait any longer, the future is today.
Summary clip of Adam Wharton’s plays on the day of his debut against Bosnia in the friendly preparation for the European Championship.
Ibrahima Konaté – France
There are many events that happened during the group stage that led to the belief that Deschamps’ France is much better at posing problems than solving themregularly presenting itself as its own worst enemy.
The climate did not seem serene even before to tell the truth because of the strained relations between Deschamps and some important members of the dressing room. An investigation by The team has made it known how the CT’s communication has totally changed compared to the past, limiting the confrontation with the players to pure formalities and preferring to appear much more emotionally involved in front of the cameras. The harsh reprimand directed at Camavinga after the final whistle of France-Poland seemed exaggerated to everyone, as did the not so veiled digs at Antoine Griezmannmindful of less than enthusiastic statements about the lack of pleasantness of the game expressed by the Blues.
One of the many who paid the price was the Liverpool defender Ibou Konatere, given as a top headline by all the transalpine newspapers before the start of the tournament together with Upamecano. The excellent figure of William Saliba in the preparatory friendlies he sent the technical commissioner into crisis, who already in the debut match had Konatè sit on the bench in place of the Arsenal defender, also confirming his faith in Dayot Upamecano despite a less than stellar season with Bayern Munich.
Liverpool centre-back Ibou Konate warms up for France’s opening match against Austria, which they narrowly won. (Photo: Alamy)
In some ways, things are going even worse with the national team for the former Leipzig standard-bearer: Upamecano has in fact been put to play as a right-sided centre-back to hide his limitations in possession, with the only result of having also weakened his qualities with the Saliba himself, forced to play on the left side, unlike at Arsenal. Furthermore, the penalty awarded to Poland for the naive foul on Swiderski from Verona also smacks of comedy, given Upamecano’s status. Continuing to insist on it, without giving space to a reliable defender like Konatè, seems to be an inexplicable choice.
2024-06-28 15:00:00
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