The 2024 European Football Championship is underway in Germany. As we get closer to the end of the championship, the level of excitement is rising. The atmosphere in the last matches in the groups foreshadowed the excitement of the qualifying matches.
Now we have entered a period where everything will be decided in 90 minutes, or 120 minutes with extra time or in a penalty shootout, and after the second round, we are experiencing the excitement of the quarterfinals.
I shared the schedule of the day in the quarterfinals on my Tangled Social account and said that the teams I saw as favorites were Spain and France. My prediction came true and even though it was difficult, both teams became rivals in the semifinals.
It was a pity that Germany, as the hosts, were eliminated in the quarterfinals, because they have been the most difficult team to play against Spain so far. Spain is one of the most dangerous teams in the tournament when they have the ball, they have shown that in the games they have played so far, but when they don’t have the ball it is a question mark as to what they will do. I believe this question mark was removed in the Germany game because in the moments when Germany dominated the game, they gave up a lot of defensive space. If Germany’s forwards had been a bit more skillful with their final passes and final strikes, the sad and the happy might have switched places.
In the other match of the day between Portugal and France, my expectation was that both sides would concentrate on defense. Based on the first half, I can’t say I was wrong. It was a rather boring game and both teams chose to leave space in the midfield instead of dominating each other. In a game where the winner would advance to the semifinals, it was surprising that there were only 6 fouls in the first half, but considering the game plan chosen by both teams, it was quite normal. In the second half, the more attacking sides competed with each other in terms of last-ditch ineptitude.
The fact that Portugal’s play is not based on attacking play has been criticized by many, but it seems that Portugal’s preference for a slow and boring game for years has not been resolved despite the change of coach. The rhetoric of their coach has not yet been reflected on the pitch as Portugal still prefer a slow game. Even though I am the favorite in the match, France’s play surprises me. I was expecting better from them, but it looks like they have come with a squad of players who don’t enjoy the way they play and they just want to get on with it. In the matches they played, they scored only three goals from the flowing play and two of them were own goals. It’s no surprise that the 120 minutes of their semifinal against Portugal ended without a goal, as both teams struggled going forward and with their finishing.
Even though I had France as the favorite before the match, I believed that Portugal would have a better chance if it went to penalties. But you have to admit that France’s players performed flawlessly on penalties, scoring all 5 of their penalties, 3 of them in spots that were impossible for the goalkeeper to reach. Watching joy and tears in the same frame makes me love this game even more.
We have two more quarterfinal matches ahead of us and we will see who will qualify for the semifinals; of course I will make predictions about them, but that will be the topic of the day!
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