Piroschka van de Wouw/REUTERS
The others can be attractive: English national team
It was still early on Tuesday evening when one was inclined to say that the 2024 European Championship had been a great success so far. There was refreshing, at times inspiring football of good quality to be seen, also in terms of tactics, speed, efficiency, passion and understanding of the game. There were great, thrilling games of a rather one-sided nature (Germany’s 5:1 against Scotland, Spain’s 1:0 against Italy) and those that were so thrilling because of their openness – above all the 3:2 (Córdoba result!, as they say in Vienna) of the no longer so secret dark horse favorite Austria over the B team of the Netherlands. Even the organization and styling were appealing – apart from Deutsche Bahn, nobody seemed to embarrass themselves for a long time, and the Adidas color scheme on the pitches and stands went well with the television images being transmitted. Apart from the fact that traditionalists like me find it hard to get over the Germans playing in all white, the Dutch playing in all orange (instead of white and orange) and similar away shirt nonsense. Away with it!
But as I said, that was early Tuesday evening. Late Tuesday evening it was said:
Everyone hates Group C. The European Championship could be so great – if it weren’t for Group C. Because England is playing in that group. And Slovenia and Serbia (luckily already out). And Denmark, but they can’t really do much about it. And on this Tuesday evening (June 25th) they all played goalless. Four teams, two games, four useless goals with nets and everything.
Now, it was said unanimously on television afterwards, there must be such evenings at a European Championship. It would be great if only good football was always on show. Every favored nation has to go through such a valley at least once, they said – reminding us of games played by the DFB teams against Ghana or Serbia in previous tournaments. That sharpens the senses, that prepares you for the final phase, and then you have to adapt, they said.
From the moment they scored the 1-0 goal against Serbia, England played as if it were the knockout rounds and back in 2004: score one at the front and then close it at the back. The others can do attractive. Attractive goes home early. Gareth Southgate, legendary penalty shootout misser and current Three Lions coach, became more and more unlikable by the minute, even more incompetent, at least in the eyes of fans and experts. And they should know.
He is simply trying to play French football à la Didier Deschamps – who is still in office and has been doing it for years. In other words, he is forcing a team full of gifted bodies into a strict defensive corset, with one superstar helping out up front with a superstar moment. And England has several of those, at least in name.
So kick and wait, instead of kick and rush. It really does seem to be all they can do. England’s superstar team blundered through the preliminary round and were lucky that the less able Serbs and Slovenians couldn’t do any better and that the Danes thought they were on a level playing field with a 1:1 draw. So with the imaginary England, the Super England, the big favorite.
But it is not just for football aesthetic reasons that we should hope for an early exit for the English, preferably in the round of 16, as well as for the French and Italians. While the latter at least play with a passion that can cover up their inferior offensive qualities – Gianluca Scamacca, for example, is not without reason reminiscent of Carsten Jancker, just without his goal threat.
So if you go by the preliminary round, the order should be something like this: the title goes to Spain; Germany, Austria, Holland could reach the semi-finals; Portugal, Italy, France and Team X (Belgium?) could reach the quarter-finals. If the tournament tree wasn’t so skewed that Germans and Spaniards and Dutch and Austrians would meet in the quarter-finals.
What is striking is the east-west divide. But that’s no surprise, it’s the same everywhere, and not just in football. The Croatians’ golden days are behind them again, they’re out with applause. There are no successors in sight (Hungary disappointed; Bulgaria didn’t even make it). The surprise team comes from Georgia. The Slovenians, the Slovakians and the Romanians are also still in the competition.
And what about individually? The stars are the stars. There are those who are already riding off into the sunset with their feet a little worn out (Lewandowski, Modrić, Kroos, CR7); those who await the future wearing masks; those who are a promise (Jamal, Pedri, Musiala, Wirtz) that is sometimes kept and sometimes not (Jamal, Pedri, Musiala, Wirtz). There are a few new names that you have to remember (Calafiori, Gakpo, the Albanian Asani) and a whole lot that you can forget straight away. Füllkrug could actually be the top scorer – good old German school of centre-forwards, you always need them now and then.
And the mood is the mood. There is a lot of talk of a summer fairytale 2.0, to which the guests have contributed so far, especially the Scots, the Austrians and the Dutch. Yes, exactly those who we were previously glad weren’t there. All in all, there seems to be a little less politically correct hypocrisy surrounding the tournament, it’s just not taking place in Qatar or Saudi Arabia. And even at Ukraine games, the Eurocentrism can be perceived as comparatively modest. As I said, this European Championship has actually been quite pleasant so far.
