England "crawl" into the semi-finals: Real Madrid version of Euro 2024?

(Dan Tri) - When coach Gareth Southgate danced to celebrate in front of England fans, it seemed that all anger and criticism about the "Three Lions" performance against Switzerland on the evening of July 6 was dispelled.

Highlights England beat Switzerland on penalties in Euro 2024 quarter-finals

The ability to win at the crucial moment

In the 108th minute of extra time in the third semi-final of Euro 2024 between England and Switzerland, after a siege by the Reds, Eberechi Eze, the Whites' left-back, won the ball. Eze dribbled out of his own penalty area and, surrounded by opposition players, did not know who to pass to. He ended up sending a long, hopeless pass upfield to Harry Kane. England's number one striker did not seem to want to receive the ball, although his efforts to keep the ball at least helped him somewhat in a very lackluster match. Before Eze's pass, Kane had only had 25 touches, an average of one every 4.5 minutes. Then Kane had his 26th and 27th touches, which were difficult because the pass was not ideal for control, the space was tight near the touchline, he was tightly marked by the opposing defender and there were no teammates around to coordinate with.

England won against Switzerland despite not playing better than their opponents (Photo: UEFA).

With the responsibility of a captain and a striker, Kane still tried to dribble the ball and was nudged off the sideline by Manuel Akanji, fell close to the technical area of ​​the home team and was helped up and replaced by coach Gareth Southgate. That was Kane's last move of the match and vividly reflected the deadlocked, terrible, disappointing performance of the England team in the quarter-finals in particular and the Euro 2024 finals in general. In the stands, Swiss fans hung a sarcastic but accurate banner about Southgate and his team. In short, England's nickname is the Three Lions, the squad is as powerful as lions, but in reality they play football like "three cats". In the 90 minutes of official play, the England team only had a late equalizer thanks to a moment of brilliance from Bukayo Saka. The classy shot from the edge of the penalty area by the Arsenal star in the 80th minute was the Three Lions' first accurate shot. A similar scenario to the round of 16 match against Slovakia. In the 30 minutes of extra time, England continued to fend off Switzerland's repeated attacks. The Three Lions' usual formation was an asymmetrical 5-1-1-2-1, with Saka as a right-back, not a right-forward. Despite playing "like a cat", England still dragged their opponents into a penalty shootout, where Southgate's students suddenly turned into lions.

Coach Southgate calmly overcame public pressure to bring England to the semi-finals of Euro 2024 (Photo: UEFA).

Not the players from the land of watches, Bellingham, Saka and teammates were the braver and more accurate on the 11m mark to defeat the better team in 120 minutes. In the 100th match in his 8th year leading the England team, Coach Southgate won the ticket to the semi-finals of a major tournament for the third time. This strategist led the Three Lions to the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup, the final of Euro 2020, and only stopped at the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup against the French team. These were all tournaments where the England team played impressively, creating excitement and confidence for fans.

Real Madrid Real Madrid version at Euro 2024

During that time, Southgate tried to find control. Control the dressing room, control the ball, control the midfield, control the message... But at Euro 2024, Southgate let go of all technical factors. England crawled into the semi-finals thanks to luck (let's say) and moments of brilliance (even though football is a team sport ), like a version of Real Madrid at the national team level. Over time, especially with 6 Champions League titles in 10 years, there was no more murmuring about whether Real Madrid deserved to win or not. No one analyzed what style of play Real Madrid used, how they pressed, how they attacked.

The England team showed their mettle and tenacity in the same style as Real Madrid (Photo: UEFA).

The Royal team is like a tightrope walker, skillfully walking on the fragile line of life to reach the finish line. In general, winning a lot is convincing. Analysts will "draw" the advantages of the champion. From courage, understanding of the tournament to the ability to intelligently adapt to each specific situation. Returning to the England team, the "obituary" is written for Southgate through each match, but somehow, as the facts have shown, he brought England to the semi-finals of a major tournament for the third time. In the past, the England team only reached the semi-finals of a major tournament three other times (World Cup 1966, 1990 and Euro 1996). So should we criticize or erect a statue of Southgate?! Is a team that looks bad but keeps winning really a bad team?

Dantri.com.vn

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/tuyen-anh-let-vao-ban-ket-real-madrid-phien-ban-euro-2024-20240707084632627.htm