Key events
John Brewin
Thanks, Sarah. I’ll deal with the lunchtime crowd.
Right I am just going to run for a coffee and a bite to eat but I shall leave you in the very capable hands of John Brewin…
Kate Connolly
It was against her better judgment that Bea Riemer agreed to join her friends in the fan zone near the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin this week. “I have been gradually getting into the tournament,” the 25-year-old business student said, but until then she had been concentrating solely on Germany’s games at the Euros, “watching at home, in the gym and in a restaurant, my attention easily diverted; cautiously optimistic, a bit nervous of joining a bigger crowd.”
Witnessing Georgia’s magnificent 2-0 win over Portugal on the big screen, though, surrounded by fans of both those teams and others, has changed her whole attitude, she said. “This is one massive, fabulous party, and I don’t need to be in the stadium but I do need to be among other people, participating in the rollicking fun.”
Read more on fan reaction here:
Would you like an insight into Italy’s head coach? Well we have you covered:
“I thought you might be interested to know that the 15’000 fans will not follow the eagerly awaited match in Geneva’s Fanzone,” Peter Greenwood emails. “The Fanzone is closed this afternoon because of the impending mega-tempest forecast from 4 pm.”
Thank you Peter for that information. Hopefully the 15,000 supporters will be able to find somewhere to watch the game elsewhere.
Aston Villa have appointed Robert de Pauw as their new manager after Carla Ward stood down from her role at the end of the season.
He signs a three-and-a-half year deal with an option to extend a further year.
De Pauw joins after a spell with Bayer Leverkusen.
Switzerland boss Murat Yakin is hoping his team can upset defending champions Italy. “We did our homework, we didn’t just watch these three games, but the preceding ones too,” he said.
“Italy are able to vary and play many different systems. This is the home of tactical football and I really like the way they do things. They can defend collectively, go man for man all over the pitch, something that for example Atalanta do. We are ready and perhaps we can surprise Italy too.”
Björn has got in touch about Germany’s potential team news this evening.
“Discussions have erupted on German Social media as to whether we should drop Florian Wirtz for tonight’s match.
“As a Leverkusen-fan (have been for 26 years), I might be a bit biased, but he is the best German midfielder, ever – however he is being played on the wings, rather than as the free-ranging director that made possible our Double, and that is just wrong.
“At the same time, I can admit that he looks exhausted from a very long club season.
“Thus, I want to see Nagelsmann put Florian Wirtz into Gündogan’s position, taking the reigns of the German game. But if he doesn’t, then I’d be fine with resting him for a half time. Musiala may be the better dribbler, but Wirtz’ footballing IQ is off the charts, and he makes everyone around him look better, so let’s not shoot ourselves in the foot, please…”
Consistency is sometimes key, just ask Sarina Wiegman. She started the same starting XI throughout the Euros with the Lionesses and they won the trophy.
There is more news in the transfer market and this is a big one. Mary Earps has left Manchester United, she is expected to sign for PSG imminently.
Earps joined the club in 2019 and has since won the Women’s FA Cup. Rumours around her departure had been swirling since January.
The England international’s final game for United was a 6-0 loss to Chelsea.
Ben Thomas has got in touch and spoken about the England selection discussion:
“All of these different XI’s and formations show that there is no clear cut way to victory for England and that essentially no one knows what is best for us, and I trust Gareth way more than I do these others so-called experts. Especially when a lot of them are chopping and changing our back 4 which has been really solid so far.
“Many armchair experts also point out that Jude looks dead and then proceed to stick him in next to Rice where he’ll have to do a load more running. Dropping Saka and Foden at this stage is also a huge risk. But what do I know?”
It is definitely tricky picking the starting England team, I think Southgate won’t change much. I could see Kobbie Mainoo coming into the midfield.
All 26 players train for England
England have reported that all 26 players were in training today ahead of their last 16 match tomorrow.
It had been reported that Kieran Trippier was an injury doubt after missing two training sessions but he is back with the full squad today.
What are the routes for each team to reach the final? England have helpfully posted a graphic to easily see every one of them:
Anthony Gordon has been in the headlines this week with a lot of supporters wanting to see him in the starting XI. He has certainly made himself noticeable on and off the pitch. He has a graze to his chin after falling off of a bike in a recovery session.
In his press conference yesterday he detailed how he went “10 feet in the air chin first”. “I could have [been hurt] with the speed I was going down a hill,” he said. “I could have ended up anywhere. It was on the golf course and I’ve managed to land on the only bit of gravel there was.” Read more:
Kári Tulinius wants to nab a Georgia player for the Iceland team. He emailed:
“As an Icelander, I have to be realistic that more than half the players currently at the Euros would walk into the national team. That said, I’d love a goalscorer who can play on his own up front and be counted on to take one of his chances. So I’d happily offer Georges Mikautadze Icelandic citizenship.”
A great choice of goalscorer Kári, three goals already in this Euros, I think a lot of other supporters wouldn’t mind his name in their team’s starting XI.
Marcus Christenson
England evaluation so far: All the pre-tournament optimism has evaporated, three plodding group-stage games sucking all the energy out of the team and the fans. OK, the first half against Serbia was decent but since then there have been questions about the players’ fitness, Gary Lineker calling the team’s performance against Denmark “shit” and Gareth Southgate having beer cups thrown at him.
Harry Kane has been out of form and so has Jude Bellingham, the team’s two biggest stars. The Trent Alexander-Arnold midfield experiment failed and so did the Conor Gallagher midfield experiment. Will Kobbie Mainoo start now? Will Luke Shaw finally play a part? There have certainly been more questions than answers so far.
Owen from Brighton has emailed and got involved with our player stealing chat. He said:
“I know that for England Pickford is perfectly competent. (Spectacularly saving shots which are going wide excepted). However if I was going to nick another player it would be Donnarumma or Oblak
“Both have basically single handedly kept their teams in the tournament and as it goes in a quality keeper might be the difference.”
That’s quite a bold steal for England, as you say Pickford is doing a good job. He just took his major tournament clean sheets tally to 11. Italy’s Donnarumma and Slovenia’s Oblak are in good form but I’m unsure how many supporters would switch them in for Pickford. If we could do a nationwide survey it would be interesting to see the results.
England supporters will be contemplating whether manager Gareth Southgate will switch up his selection for their last 16 match. Will Cole Palmer come in? Will Bukayo Saka move to left-back? Here the Guardian writers have picked their starting XI’s:
I’d love to hear from you. Fans are always keen to discuss selection of which of their national players should start but if you could have a player in your team that you could steal from another nation who would it be? Get in touch and let me know. And, of course, there is always snack chat. If you have read one of my blogs before I do love to talk about snacks. Email me or post on X (@rendellx).
A little side note away from the Euros as Chelsea have announced a signing. Omari Kellyman has left Aston Villa to join the London club.
The 18-year-old midfielder has signed a six-year deal.
He said: “It is fantastic to be standing here as a Chelsea player. It’s a massive club with an amazing history, so it is great to join. It is a dream come true for sure. I’m buzzing to have put on the shirt and can’t wait to get started.”
The discussions around Bukayo Saka at left-back became public domain when Ian Wright spoke about it on ITV. He said: “As great as Saka has done for England in terms of what he creates and his goals and assists, he is a natural left-sided player. He started playing for England on the left at youth level.
“He started at Arsenal on the left. If that’s going to give you the balance and gets you Cole Palmer in the team, it’s something you have to at least look at.”
But the Arsenal forward has a different stance. He told BBC 5 Live: “No, obviously I love Ian Wright and he says so many great things about me but I don’t think putting me out of position is the solution. But at the end of the day, I think we can talk about this but it’s in Gareth’s hands so we will just have to trust whoever Gareth selects on the day.”
Who could replace Kieran Trippier in the England team? Well Gareth Southgate has a few options. Sky Sports report Ezri Konsa will be the preferred choice but the manager also has Joe Gomez to call upon.
And with the discussions happening over the past few days, will we see Bukayo Saka slot into the left-back position? That would make way for a player like Anthony Gordon to slot into the team. But Saka himself told BBC Radio 5 Live yesterday that playing him out of position would not solve anything for England.
Kieran Trippier was not in training on Friday after missing an earlier session in the week. It is understood England are hoping he will be able to make the game.
Trippier injury doubt
England defender Kieran Trippier is an injury doubt for their last 16 match against Slovakia on Sunday, according to Sky Sports.
He has a calf issue that he has been carrying through the end of the season. Trippier started all three of England’s group matches.
More to come.
The jeopardy of knockout football is upon us. Lose and you are out. Knockout football also brings with it one of the most nerve-wracking aspects of the sport: penalty shootouts. So how does each team stack up for penalties? Read this to find out more:
Denmark head coach Kasper Hjulmand has every faith in his team. He said: “At the start I considered Germany one of the favourites, and it’s too bad that they’re playing us,.
“They have quality and talent, and expressed themselves very well in the group. But we also have quality and talent, and they’ll have to be very, very good to beat us.”
Denmark are aware of the tricky game they have lying ahead of them. Defender Jannik Vestergaard said: “We know that to win the tournament it would be a bit of an upset. But we like being underdogs.
“Germany will be favourites, but we like being a bit of a pain to the opposition and playing to our strengths.”
Julian Nagelsmann was also asked if Germany are prepared for the knockout stage. He said: “We started with an easier game than we expected, then a more complicated game against Hungary, who were brilliant, then a third game against the Swiss, which was difficult, but we got a late equaliser.
“So in the end we had to deal with different things in the group stage so I think we are well prepared for the knockout stage.”
One important question is on Germany supporters’ minds: Can Antonio Rudiger play tonight? He had a hamstring issue but he did return to training on Friday. Germany head coach Julian Nagelsmann was asked about it at his press conference: “He’s very important. Our medical staff have been trying everything this week to get him fit again, and in training he looked good.
“We’ll see what happens overnight in terms of muscle issues. We have to wait and see what will happen, but at the moment he looks like being fit again so we’re happy to have him back. If nothing special happens (overnight) he could play.”
Jonathan Liew
First, the insects. There has been an infestation of mosquitoes at Germany’s training camp in Herzogenaurach in Bavaria, one that has claimed numerous victims, with a fortnight of humid weather rendering the squad’s outdoor viewing garden – which sits right next to a forest – almost unusable in the evenings. “I have already been bitten two or three times,” the striker Maximilian Beier admitted. “But if that’s the biggest problem, then fine …”
Then, the thunder. The DWD, Germany’s equivalent of the Met Office, is warning of severe thunderstorms, torrential rain, large hailstones, hurricane-force winds and perhaps even tornadoes across the west of the country on Saturday: perfectly timed to coincide with the crunch last-16 clash against Denmark in Dortmund.
If Germany’s Euro 2024 campaign is beginning to take the appearance of a biblical ordeal, then rest assured: there are still plenty of potential plagues to come.
Read the full piece here:
Jonathan Wilson
Germany Denmark analysis: Imperious against Scotland and good enough against Hungary, Germany misfired sufficiently in their draw with Switzerland to cast doubt on the sustainability of their improvement under Julian Nagelsmann. Were they actually that good against Scotland, or were Scotland just terrible? The link-up between Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz has been effective, but there are doubts as to whether they’re best served with Kai Havertz dropping off or the more robust talents of Niclas Füllkrug at centre-forward.
Are Denmark good enough to trouble them? Probably not – although that’s what people thought before the final of Euro 92 which Denmark won 2-0. They flickered against Slovenia and England but are very reliant on Christian Eriksen for creativity. Well as he played in the opening game, the Manchester United midfielder struggles to last a full 90 minutes. But Denmark are solid enough, so if Germany aren’t quite at their sharpest, they could make life difficult.
Verdict Solid Germany win
Jonathan Wilson
Switzerland v Italy analysis: Italy are unbeaten against Switzerland in 11 games stretching back to qualifying for the 1994 World Cup but they look vulnerable here. They were worryingly open against both Albania and Spain and the switch to a back three against Croatia only seemed to make them flatter going forward. In goal Gianluigi Donnarumma has had a fine tournament, but a lack of creativity and the absence of a top-class centre-forward are major issues.
For all the pre-tournament talk that they might be over the hill, Switzerland, by contrast, have been incisive and inventive, with their coach Murat Yakin having a clearly defined and different plan for each game. Breel Embolo is now fit enough to start and his hold-up play, supplemented by the pace of Dan Ndoye going beyond him, represents a major threat. The one caveat is that they were less effective when Scotland sat deep against them – which may offer Italy a game plan.
Verdict Narrow Switzerland win
Preamble
Good morning and welcome to today’s Euros news blog. We have been without European tournament football for three days and withdrawal symptoms have started to kick in but thankfully we will all get a football boost today with the start of the last 16.
The knockout rounds begin with Switzerland v defending champions Italy. Switzerland have had a good tournament so far, finishing second in their group behind hosts Germany. They take on Italy who have not shown their best yet but have displayed glimpses, particularly in the build-up to and the finish of Mattia Zaccagni’s equaliser against Croatia.
The fixtures don’t stop after Switzerland v Italy with Germany v Denmark. Hosts Germany have been one of the teams to show what they can do, especially with their 5-1 drubbing of Scotland in the opening game of the tournament. Denmark, meanwhile, have not been as imposing but they are not a team to under-estimate.
We will be previewing both matches more throughout the day, as well as bringing you any breaking news from around the rest of the Euros. Let’s get started.
