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WCAD 3-15: Euro MD1 Review
69 Plays1 year ago
Austin and Amit review a surprisingly exciting Matchday 1 from Euro 2024. The guys check their priors on the favorites, go over Romelu Lukaku's very bad day, talk whether Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia can sustain their strong starts, and recap a bonkers set of matches on the final day of Matchday 1, all while previewing the upcoming action on Matchday 2, and dreading the upcoming England-Denmark showdown.
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Transcript
Excitement for Major Tournaments
00:00:01
Speaker
Here at the World Cup After Dark podcast, we love major international tournaments. And it feels like every major international tournament kind of follows the same kind of script.
Slow Start and Momentum Build-up
00:00:13
Speaker
There's an easing in process, right? And and I don't know if it's if it's because group A always features the host. I don't know if if group B just naturally turns out this way. But tournaments kind of slowly take a little bit of time to build up. And then it always feels like every major tournament has that one moment or that one day when you feel like, all right,
00:00:34
Speaker
It's on now. We really arrived and the euros took a little bit to get going. But here, as we record our first recap podcast on the world cup after dark show, I'm Austin Miller. He's a metallic today. We're going to review match day one from the UEFA euros.
Cautious Beginnings and Historic Upsets
00:00:48
Speaker
It felt like maybe this weekend, Sunday, maybe Monday was the point when the Euro really hit that. All right. We're in it now moment. Yeah, for sure. It's been really fun to get a little bit of chaos. And I'm with you. There is always a feeling out process. I think the World Cup in particular and to an extent the euros, you know, you don't want to
00:01:13
Speaker
be out on the first day, so everyone's a little tentative. I think at the Euros, you know this is a tournament overall compared to other tournaments, has a lot of factors that contribute to less chaos relatively. sure um That's not to say it can't happen, and it did happen. By Monday, we got two really big upsets, which we're here to talk about. ah Belgium fell to Slovakia, which was I'm putting an air quotes, the largest tournament upset in the history. Okay. All right. which yes quotes my air quote my my my My anger is is not at you here.
FIFA Rankings: Usefulness and Limitations
00:01:48
Speaker
Let's stop. Like FIFA rankings have their purpose. oh I know. I know. FIFA rankings do not have their purpose in the top, I don't know, 20 to 40 of teams. FIFA rankings are generally useless, but we're not the third best team in the world.
00:02:01
Speaker
Yeah, and Slovakia are are not the 50th best team in the world. If you watched that game, you'd come away thinking, yeah, Belgium's better, but like, you know, by like a normal amount. Anyways. Very quickly. Sorry. I'm just on my high horse. Let's do it. Let's do it. FIFA rankings are valuable for sorting teams that are like between 80th and 200th in the world. but but They serve their purpose to generally like tell you like this team is really bad. This team is generally bad. This team is kind of okay. They don't serve to different teams.
00:02:37
Speaker
I agree. I think you could bring it up to like 60 and just terms of like being useful for like, Hey, they're almost the top 60 team in the world. sure And then past that, it's like, you got to play to find out. ah home Okay. Sorry. I interrupted you. Sorry. That was rude of
Tournament Unpredictability and Dominance
00:02:51
Speaker
me. No, no, no, no. That was a big upset. And then also Ukraine-Romania was was a pretty big upset. um And then we also saw some good games in terms of France ah-Austria. um Things slowly got better. Overall, 12 games were played. um I want to say nine of them went to ah just the favorite one.
00:03:15
Speaker
I mean, a few of them were close, but nine of them just the favorite one. And that goes to the lack of chaos relatively to other major tournaments. um That's not going to stay that way. The soccer has been generally good. There's been a lot of quality. The fields are great, you know, which is nice to have a major tournament. It's kind of what you expect. um But with all that quality on the field, right, it's It's very technical, very tactical, and the better teams generally figure out how to assert their will. That's why the favorites have won. But at the same time, we're also seeing the beauty of international major tournament soccer.
High Quality Soccer and Atmosphere at the Euros
00:03:52
Speaker
Lots of goals from distance, slip-ups, drama in that sense, um and teams figuring out how to approach this format. So it's been very fun so far. Germany has been great.
00:04:04
Speaker
The atmospheres have been great. The crowds have been full-throated. Missed that the last year I was in COVID. You know, don't need to rag too much on the 2022 World Cup, but the atmosphere certainly weren't this good. They just yeah had been really good in Germany. The thing about the Euros is. You, I mean, you know, but like Europe is not that big of a place, like geographically. And so it makes it very easy to converge on Germany. Like Albany, Albany, ge no, the great Danes are not competing at the Euro. ah Albania, as I should say, Albany is not that close to Germany. Albania is pretty close to Germany, right? And it's a huge moment. and So they all flooded. That's what makes it really cool. All right. I mean, let's check our priors here.
Dominance of Top Teams
00:04:43
Speaker
Yeah, yes. Oh, you you love my phrases. Yeah, it's good. The teams that we thought would be favored, I don't think we've changed our opinion on anybody after what we saw in the first match day. No, I think the top two, the top four, the top six are all still in those buckets. Yep. England and France are the top two. They did nothing to impress you. They're not gonna wow you. We never expected them to wow us. They didn't wow you. They both won 1-0. Both of their managers went to bed smiling and comfortable because they played the game they wanted to play. There were no chances. There was no danger.
00:05:21
Speaker
They really controlled those games. and Yeah, they were both one goals, but you said it well. That is particularly how their managers want to play. And one of the reasons why they're the two best teams is they don't have to play particularly well to beat you. They can win without Committing too much and selling out too much. That's what makes them good Spain and Germany. I thought two of the best attacking displays um yeah i think opening round Spain in particular were impressive because we expected Croatia to be a good side The scoreline may be flattered Spain a little bit in that match But Spain looked really good Germany looked really good Which is good because they have it looked really good in a major tournament in a while also Scotland are not very good So but take that with a grain of salt, but look, you can beat the team in front of you in Germany, did that and they did it easily. Spain, I thought was, was particularly impressive. And then kind of moving down that those, those tier buckets, you're exactly right. The teams that we thought would kind of be in the top six floating around are still there. Portugal huffed and puffed a little bit today against the Czech Republic. That was maybe a bit of a surprising result, but at the end of the day, they got the three points. That's what matters.
00:06:29
Speaker
Italy are are in an interesting spot in that they also kind of had to huff and puff a little bit to get their lead. And then they got to play big team major tournament football and just shut everything down. And Belgium are are obviously the big surprise coming into this with no points. um Your dark horse is a bit. Yeah, that was a really tough look for me. um Me, personally. I had them as my favorite dark horse and Ukraine looked um bad, to to be honest. I mean, I don't think they were horrible. I think Romania took two shots of distance that both were mistakes from goalkeeper, Andrei Lunin, who just had a great season at Madrid when Thibaut Courtois was out.
00:07:11
Speaker
But once the goals were scored, they didn't look like they had a ah responses. They didn't get their striker involved. Mikala Mudrik was horrible as he has been for a little bit now for Chelsea. Yeah, you were kind of holding out some hope that like Chelsea Mudrik and uk Ukraine Mudrik were going to be two different entities. and Yeah, so listen, they they're still going to be have some stuff to say and Belgium losing also helps them. That group is wide open. But um yeah, no, they were my favorite dark horse, and they were not very good. To be fair, though, the other dark horses that we liked the most, both of us, I think, Switzerland, acquitted themselves fine. Turkey showed they can attack and have attacking talent. at Arta Guler, who scored yeah some really wonderful goals in Turkey, Georgia, our favorite game of of the window.
00:08:00
Speaker
i think yeah I think that was game of the tournament so far. The atmosphere, the fact that neither of those teams tried to play suffer ball, strangle the gate, like, because they just knew they were incapable of doing it. That led to a lot of chances. There was a ton of attacking. Turkey ended up winning 3-1 because they scored an empty net goal. I feel like I'm talking hockey here at the end of that. But it that any score line wouldn't have surprised it. the Turkey could have won 5-1. They could have drawn 2-2. That was just a really good game. Really good game. in georgia we ah competent a little better than I thought which all the you know smaller teams outside of Scotland and even even Hungary were pretty competent Albania were pretty competent did they do anything against Italy not much but Italy should have killed that game off to 3-1
00:08:47
Speaker
multiple times. Italy didn't seem interested in scoring a third goal, but Albania defended them very well. Everyone here is solid. Slovakia you know pulled a big upset. Slovenia played ah really well against Denmark and got a ah draw. um That was impressive. Austria was the other team who I really liked as a dark horse. And I don't think you change it. There's no reason to change your opinion on them at this point. No, they played really well against France. They kind of took control of the midfield, not full on control, but they gave them a really good battle and played them pretty dead, even gave up an own goal, kind of, you know, played their style, which, again, is unique in terms of the most, I think, pressing and directness out of anyone and our teams that can press. But
00:09:37
Speaker
um So everyone is about who we thought they were. yeah I feel like coming in, a few pleasant surprises for sure with Slovakia and Romania. I'm not sure if they're going to hold up, but definitely on match day one, I was impressed. Look, when four third-place teams go through, three points from your first game is a great place to be, because you take one point from your last two games, and you feel really good about your chances to go through. All right, but let's lightning round these groups. Let's talk about some of these matches. We can spend more time on the interesting matches and less time on the uninteresting matches. Speaking of uninteresting matches, let's start with the tournament opener. Germany 5, Scotland 1.
00:10:13
Speaker
This was never a contest. the the The Scotland game plan was muck it up, bunker, get to the 75th minute. maybe And that they just didn't make it 10 minutes. And that was that. They didn't. And even for bunkering, their line was too high. And also, they didn't pressure the ball. You can't do both. yeah If you're going to bunker, put 10 guys in the box and say, we're going to build a wall and hope that way. ah Germany has too much had too much quality passing. Tony k Cruz, like it took them, Atlanta Donovan was on this. um Just a side note, he gets some flack on the discourse. I think he's perfectly capable of telling you what's going on in a game. Is he the most exciting caller commentator that you might want? Maybe not, but like as the Fox caller commentators go, he'll tell you, like listen to him, he will tell you what the teams are doing. Scotland's striker was not marking Tony Cruz, and so he just had all day
00:11:11
Speaker
to pick every pass he wanted, as usual for him, like 95% completion, long switches, Germany just pass, pass, pass. And eventually they got the ball to Musiala, Ilke Gundogan, really quality dribblers and passers. And there's just too much quality on the field. And Kai Havertz was good here. Fulkirk didn't start. And I think for me, he's a big X factor for them. They didn't need him until this was a party. They they literally just like, looked like a training exercise for how fast they moved the ball. Good stuff from Germany. And look, you're not going to make any sweeping conclusions about Germany's favorite status or anything like that from this game. But Germany has been particularly poor at major international tournaments for a while now. So starting off with a 5-0 win where you check all the boxes and make the home crown happy, there's not a whole lot more that you can do in this game. So credit to Germany for that.
00:12:03
Speaker
I think a big theme out of all the teams is who can defend um because no one can really defend in an international tournament if the other team wants to come just launch the ball at you. You have to score on the counter. But like we didn't find that out about Germany. we Spain, Loki gave up a lot of chances. We'll talk about them in the next group. And England and France are are good, but like We don't know that I'm a Germany yet. Attacking wise, I agree with you completely. They look the part. Switzerland 3-1 winners over Hungary a minute. Not a whole lot to take away here. Switzerland looked pretty good. They scored too soon for us to get a Shaqiri party in the second half, which is a bit of a shame. So we don't really know what he's looking like yet. It's not good is the answer to the question. ah Look, Switzerland are the better team. Hungary are not a good team. This group is exactly what we thought it was.
00:12:55
Speaker
Yeah, I hate to say it's that boring, but it kind of felt like that. Hungary even got a very good goal. It was a really, really good cross from Dominik Shobuzlai to Hungary striker ah Barnabas Varga. I said, don't sleep on him. Scoring goals at Faragavaros. But look, like, He got one really nice goal, and it didn't really matter. They had it to one goal for what? 10, 15 minutes in the second half? I would have to bring on the big dude playing in Korea, the Kaley. I was a big fan of the ah the hungry nine coming off the bench. I want to see more of that guy.
00:13:28
Speaker
Yeah. Look, Switzerland are good and they have a clear game plan. And they didn't even start Brie Lombolo, who I think they're going to work in, or Noah Okafor. They started Quadwoa. Dua, 27-year-old at Ludogratz-Rozgrad. He just did the striker thing very well. they Look, they have a very clear identity. They hit ah decent long balls. They pass. If you bunker, they'll chip the ball over you. um They've got a a bunch of really good passers, including Granit Jaka. Look, they were they were really solid. And they have a good goalkeeper too. um So I don't know. and They should finish second. Maybe they'll give Germany a game. They can push them. I didn't feel like I learned too much.
00:14:13
Speaker
Yeah. You, uh, you like what you see for match day one in group. I am it cause you're going to see it again on match day two. Cause we're just switching. Who's playing who Germany get hungry, Switzerland play Scotland. The recipe is going to be exactly the same. Scotland are going to try to bunker. Maybe it'll work. Hungry are going to try to frustrate Germany. Maybe it'll work. Odds are Scott, uh, Switzerland and Germany are going into their matchup on match day three, both on six points. This isn't the most exciting group. We don't need to spend any more time on it. Group B, Spain three, Croatia nil. This match meant a bit closer than the final score. Spain did the Tiki tack at Spain football, but they also threw in Alvaro Morata running straight lines behind the defense with success. This was kind of fun for Spain. Yeah, their new front line is awesome. Morata, I think,
00:15:00
Speaker
I've always been, I always had a soft spot for him because he like looks the part of like a really great striker and then he hasn't always finished. But listen, it's a skill when you you run behind the defense, get the ball and score. yeah Ask Harry Kane, that's his skill set. Um, but also, you know, let me in your mall, the Barca youth product, really great dribbler. Um, and he's fast too. He crossed the, the goal to Danny Carvajal, which was really nice. And the Nico Williams on the other side. So while Spain can do the pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass thing, they can also, you know, give you some verticality. Um, which I think has always been the next level when you're building a possession side, you got a little electricity in there. You got a little.
00:15:45
Speaker
juice um And Croatia were were not too bad, but... When you gave Spain space, they were ruthless exploiting it. um With that pass. This was like, it was 15 to 20 really bad minutes for Croatia, right? Yeah, other than that, they were solid. They piled it on. Marada, Fabian Ruiz, Carvajal, everything from the 29th minute to 45 plus 2. And that turned into a 3-0 score line. And then the game's basically over it. And you can kind of throw out what happened after that. But it wasn't like Spain just passed him off the pitch for the whole game. They just had one really good segment.
00:16:18
Speaker
Yeah, Croatia showed up and tried to, like, play tactical possession soccer with Spain. Tried to, like, do it with them, and it was fine until their center backs got caught out 40 yards from goal too wide from each other. Yeah, old and slow. Well, that was the scouting report, right? Turns out they're old and slow. Yeah, their midfield is fine. I think Croatia are going to be OK, but they need goals. They didn't get goals. They had chances. They were missing. You know, I saw a lot of people saying Mario Manzukic was in this game. They'd have scored. Well, they're probably right. um they They didn't finish their chances. um And then they test against Albania coming up because that's going to be a completely different script for them. It's from one edge of the pendulum all the way to the other. And so but I think that's where you'll kind of find out about Croatia here.
00:17:06
Speaker
Agreed. And last thing on Spain is yeah we said Fabian Ruiz. I mean, to me, i I knew he was in the squad. He was at PSG. yeah i He was really impressive. The goal was good. The pass was good. And, you know, somehow Spain just kind of keeps spawning these midfielders that have insane vision and skill. And, you know, he wasn't even on the radar as like, you know, if everyone's healthy, you're starting Gavi and Pedri and it's day you're not expecting this guy and he was really good I know he's that PSG like he's not like a nobody he's a very good player but
00:17:41
Speaker
um They've just got ah they've got the talent. i' The only my big worry for Spain going forward is their full backs. Danny Carvajal still is defying everything. But like if you're going into a big game, he scores. No, I'm i'm serious. That matters. yeah um But if you're going to a big game in Cucarella and Carvajal or your full backs, that can be exploited defensively. But until then, with the ball, but and Spain look like the best with the ball, as they often do.
00:18:12
Speaker
other game in this group of me. Albania got the fastest goal in your way for your own history. Absolute gift from Italy set the pro Albanian crowd and Dortmund absolutely into rapture. It was insane. It was great. Then Italy went in like every team, even England, even France have a Ah, man, we got to go for it mode, right? And Italy just got put in that mode way earlier than they expected. And they just made it count. And they scored twice. And then from there, they got to turn off, ah, we got to go for it mode and got to turn it on to a low of event football mode. And that's what they did for the final 75 minutes. And they won this game 2-1.
00:18:47
Speaker
yeah It was a little disappointing that we didn't get to see them like have to do that longer or try their ideas. The goal came on a corner kick, which, good. Italy should be good at corner kicks with their center backs and headers. You also like like cho have to mark the back post. alll be like yeah you at mistake you're allan it you're coming into the euro you're in the group of death i've pegged you that i you're gonna get through the group of death you get absolutely gifted a one mill lead like there are things you can like live with and things you can't live with and giving up an unmarked setpiece goal at the far post that's a thing you can't live with like
00:19:24
Speaker
Like, no, you just, you got to do better than that. You just do it. We know this about international football too is set pieces are super magnified when you don't have your best ideas. You're not playing club soccer with these people all year and you can work your, your really well-rehearsed system. yeah You can spend an hour on the training pitch and have five really good set piece routines. or just have the tallest center backs. You gotta also spend an hour figuring out how to mark those guys. Unacceptable. But yeah, it was a little, Italy, ah I'm still not convinced their attack is that good. I think they could do the huffing and puffing and like do everything that a team should do like when they're trying to attack. But I'm not sure their talent is that good. Skamaka like kind of just stood there and didn't like run in behind a ton.
00:20:12
Speaker
and To Italy's credit, they didn't seem interested in playing that ball a ton. All they wanted to do was get it to one side of the field, wait until Albania brought four defenders over, and they're like, eh, let's bring it to the other side. And like, listen, when you have Jorginho, like, as you're pulling the strings in your center midfield, like, great. Take care of the ball. It was all a little like a sleep inducing for me. Also like your two one up in a, in like in a game where you've already gifted them one goal, like yeah, don't give them a chance. And and listen, even the last like five minutes, 10 minutes Albania was like, all right, let's get our goal.
00:20:50
Speaker
ah Italy's center backs just dealt with one-on-ones very well. That was their plan. Albania was like, send it long, win a one-on-one in the box, something off that. Italy's center backs were very good. So they can defend. I'm convinced they have a good defense, not convinced they have a great offense, but doesn't matter right now. Coming up in this group, we mentioned Croatia-Albania. That's a big one for Croatia. The Albanian points matter in this group because if things go don't go right and the two other quote unquote big games, you better have three points at the bank there. Spain and Italy should be good. I admit um i like how you how you put in a rundown here. This game needs an early goal.
00:21:23
Speaker
like somebody's got a score so that somebody else has to go for it. Cause if not, they're just going to continually pass. Like you could put two balls out on the pitch. I think like Spain and one for Italy, and it's still going to be nil, nil. Cause they're just going to keep passing their old ball around. That's the, that's the best description of how this game could go. It it could be really fun, but I'm worried it won't be. It needs the right recipe, right? Like early goal, put a team, preferably from Spain maybe or Italy to get the early goal for Spain. We'll see. yeah Odds are kind of like a terse, nil, nil, terse, one, one draw is probably the most likely result here. And that really kind of serves both of those teams.
00:22:00
Speaker
Group C admit. Oh, Gareth Southgate, major tournament, England, guess what they did? They won 1-0. They out XG'd Serbia 0.5 to 0.2. Gareth Southgate got home, made himself a cup of coffee, and just was like, that's what we wanted, boys. Right? That's exactly what England wanted to do here. Exactly. And it wasn't really pretty, but like, Yeah, I don't know. and That's exactly like it never is. So here's the thing. England don't do this against just anybody. Like we saw they played Iran at the last World Cup and they won six too, because when there's a gap of class, that's so large, even England playing this style leads to goals, but Serbia are a competent enough national team that when England play this style, it leads to one thing. And that's a kind of junk goal to win a match one nil. And that's what England do. Jude Bellingham scored. Great. Congrats.
00:22:53
Speaker
Yeah, the XG was 0.5 to 0.2, which like, shows you. They didn't do a lot, but like... They swore early. They swore early, and like, yes, the second half felt like Serbia was attacking them, but at the end of the day Serbia did not create anything meaningful. And that's a credit to England's defense. I thought there was a lot of questions about second center back next to stones. Gaye at Crystal Palace was perfectly fine. Winning duels against a team that wanted to make him head the ball. like They were like, let's cross to Mitcherich.
00:23:26
Speaker
And Vlovich held his own. um Yeah, I think the interesting thing for England is finding the right attacking balance. They don't have it yet when they need to actually create. um they try Again, we talked about a big thing for them was trying Trent Alexander Arnold in the midfield. He just didn't do a lot in this game. He wasn't very useful. um I don't know if they needed more defense or a better way to work at all. No, they don't need more defense. Stop. England does not need more defense. They have plenty of defense. And that the other issue for them was Phil Foden, who is a player that succeeds in the structure, the very rigid structure that Pep Guardiola has at City.
00:24:03
Speaker
felt like he wasn't as good in a game where England were just trying to like let their guys freelance. Because like Jude Bellingham plays at Madrid. And he just kind of, you give him the ball and you say, like beat your guy and then make a play. right That's what he does. Sokka was very good in this game at right wing. Really good dribbling. And very clear, like hang out there. We'll give you the ball. but Cook your guy and cross. And like it it worked for them really well. um and then also like Kane drops in, picks up the ball, picks up his head, and sprays it. So like they're just a little fluidity with some of those players, but then not with with others. So like I'd be interested maybe in Cole Palmer i' trying him. If it's not going to be Trent and you don't want defense, well, then try something else. I think you can try a lot of things when you have Declan Rice.
00:24:58
Speaker
um We'll see. I feel like a really big theme of this tournament is the England-France collision course in a semifinal. yeah And like that will be the sweatiest and also very fun game that we get. And how does but both teams like build up to that? um You had to say right now, I think France looked better. I think France are better. But it was close in 2022 in the World Cup quarterfinals. It'll be close if it happens again. um England haven't proven anything different, but this recipe gets them to that game. So like, yeah. i hate Hey, we could talk about England and I feel like every time we're going to have the same conversation until we know what's been kind of one of our overarching themes of of these major tournaments is the Saudi players have not looked good. And the Serbian Saudi players did not look good here. They need some time of it. Got to get into form. Yeah. Yeah. it's It's been tough, except for in Golokante, who
00:25:57
Speaker
and france we'll talk about look fine Okay. Uh, Slovenia won Denmark one. This is a huge result for Slovenia. Christian Erickson fulfilled the narrative, right? Obviously the, the, the scary scenes that happened at the last Euro comes back three years later, scores a goal. All the banter accounts love it. Everybody loves it. I mean, look, it's a great story. You can't obviously negate that. But Slovenia were pretty solid here and grabbing a point is a good result and it sets them up with a massive match now upcoming against Serbia and a chance to play maybe an unmotivated England side on match day three. There's a path going forward here for Slovenia. Yeah, they've given themselves a chance. I think they were the team, one of the teams I was
00:26:38
Speaker
like legitimately most impressed by that like might be better than my expectation. Again, I know ah Slovakia and Romania won. I'm not sure they're inherently like better than I thought. right Slovenia like attacked Denmark well, created lots of good chances. Sesko, we said, you know this guy is a good striker. but he's not just like a stand there and like the ball needs to come for him to do things. He went and picked it up in dangerous areas.
00:27:09
Speaker
took some really good shots from distance, moved really well. They also attacked very coherently. They gave Denmark issues. This was a really solid game. I was very impressed. And Jan Oblok is also a very good goalkeeper for Slovenia. So not a type of guy you'd want to see in a penalty shootout. um So if yeah yeah we don't need to go back to the dark horse ratings. But I'd bump them if I was keeping them up. So yeah, I was impressed. Denmark. They are what they are. They're perfectly fine. They didn't do a lot here, but they weren't bad.
00:27:42
Speaker
um Yeah, I think Hoyland gives them a different dimension up top. We'll see how they do. I mean, they get England next, and both of us love to talk about what's that game going to be. Yeah, so that it's super interesting, because ah on paper it just screams wretched draw. But Denmark kind of need to get something here, because if they don't, if they just draw again, they're going to be on two points going into a last day match against Serbia. And that's not a situation they want to be in. so Is there enough in this match for Denmark to try to go get it do they have enough to actually trouble England or will it just kind of devolve into what we fear and it's just going to be a really yucky both teams take a point. Yeah, I think Denmark is going to play respectfully of England, um which.
00:28:27
Speaker
maybe as Serbia did the first 20 minutes, and maybe you shouldn't be too respectful of this team. But at the same time, like the attacking talent is so overwhelmingly good. I think you try to middle it somewhere where you you've got 15 to 30 good minutes, 15 in each half. And you know we've seen this formula work. um I think like we're not making this up. I think managers really pick like their spots, when to go for it, and you can feel it in the games. And you've got to um capitalize on that. and Yeah, I mean, I don't know if you're going to be hitting long balls at the England back line the way Serbia did. But like, Denmark has players that can cross, where Serbia didn't have accurate crosses. Like, the center backs from England dealt with them well. I still think you want to put the England outside backs and center backs under pressure as much as possible. Kyle Walker, Kieran Trippier, make them defend. Denmark can do things.
00:29:26
Speaker
Will it be enough? And will they risk what doing things means going the other way, right? yeah it's ah and It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that when you go forward in football, generally you leave yourself open on the other side. So whats what's the calculus for Denmark in this match? Is it we kind of really need to get three points here? So let's risk going forward because regardless, we still have a point in our back pocket that we can take and beat Serbia on the last day. Or do they say, we don't want to risk too much. Let's stay. like Look, we know what the calculus is for England. We know what they're going to do in this match.
00:30:02
Speaker
What are Denmark going to do? That's where it gets interesting. Yeah, and that's that's interesting. We're going to see, and it'll be really fun. yeah um The other hand, Serbia, Slovenia, I think it's two teams that are just going to have a go at each other. Look, any time you get two Eastern European sides together, it generally leads to good things on the football pitch, right? like We saw it with Georgia Turkey. When you get east of Italy and you can put them together, stuff happens. Ukraine, Romania, those are the good games at the Euro. And that's what's here. Because I think those teams generally realize we can't play suffer ball because we're not good enough to do it. We play suffer ball, we make mistakes, right? So what's the answer to that? Let's go make chances and try and score.
00:30:43
Speaker
So it's 100 percent. These teams are going to win the ball, attack fast, get the ball on the wings and put it in the box and take shots from distance. I mean, I don't know how many times I'm going to say this whenever we get together and talk or even texting. Shoot the ball. Yeah. Shoot the ball from 25 yards. Yeah. How many balls came from outside the box on match day one, like 12, right? Like 12 out of like 25. Yeah, insane. And like Listen, is the XG on those goals low, but like you can strike a ball. These are professionals. Players are good. Yeah, players are good. Like those are also the shots available to you. Teams defend and take away the box.
00:31:26
Speaker
yeah You get a look from 25 yards, take it, take it. These teams are going to take those shots and attack with numbers, which means there will be chances the other way. ye This has the potential to be a really, really great game. No one's out of it until you're up three. ah let's Let's have some fun. Yeah. All right, i mean let's move on to group D. Netherlands two, Poland one. Do we owe Poland a little bit of an apology? I think we do. i mean like Listen, like we've watched enough of Poland before to like expect what we expected from them, but they were better than we thought. And they didn't even have Robert Lewandowski, who's generally the only thing worth watching about them.
00:32:07
Speaker
ah Yeah, they still lost 2-1 to the Netherlands and you know why they lost is because about van course came off the bench and that van course is just like Alright, we tried the other way We tried to do it pretty and it's like I had 10 minutes to go get in there Just chuck it into him and they'll make something happen and that's what he did in this match and that was the difference 100%. I think the Netherlands were kind of what we expected. Great defense. Their midfield was not great, a little bit overwhelmed by Poland, which... Not great going forward. Not great going forward. Attacking-wise, they have good players like Gackpo and Simon. You think Mr. Pi is just rocking like 2004 NBA Live EA Sports cover guy? Yeah. Just rocking the look, man. Head game with the number on it? I love it.
00:32:53
Speaker
Yeah, he's stylish. ah um They've got like a bunch of good attackers that like all don't work together that well. like They're great in transition, I think, in space but and like one-on-one, but like this wasn't great from the Netherlands. It really wasn't. but When veg horse came on, it was actually quite good. I think they deserve the goal in the last 10. Yeah. He, you know what he does? He gives you the, the target to cross that, to aim at, to hold up. And then also.
00:33:24
Speaker
on the goal you saw he'll do when he when you get into the box in your bunker, he stands off the center backs and runs. I can't say enough. like Also, your strikers have to make runs behind yeah so that you can either play to them or you know get that little space inside. And that was the goal, right? Nathan Ake, a left back, Man City, like and a guy you're not expecting to play that pass, reads him and plays him in. It was really well worked. like Tell your nines to move. It's not hard. Because the center backs of this tournament are often on a lot of teams bad. And they're going to have trouble tracking them. Yeah, I think Netherlands are, as you said in their preview, exactly what they always are. The second tier contender. They were good. They weren't great. Vetcourse is super fun. I mean, they they they tried things. um They're going to like their chances against France.
00:34:19
Speaker
Yeah, so let's let's move on to France. They were 1-0 winners against Austria. A pretty good game for for a 1-0 result. Like Dachamp did his thing. Ralph Ragnik, the Austria manager, did his. Austria have a really good midfield. That matchup against the Netherlands when it comes is going to be really interesting, because if the Polish midfield is bossing ah what the Netherlands have, then then France and Austria is is going to be a whole other level. um Didn't quite have the quality in the final third. Killin' Mbappe breaks his nose, gets bloodied, not gonna play against the Netherlands. Alright, that's an interesting data point. Angola Kante, coming back from from the Saudi Arabian Purgatory, looks good. That's another interesting data point. What do we make of of everything that we saw from this game? Yeah, this was a really fun game for 1-0, as you said. I feel like I know what both teams kind of are what they are, but they're both good teams. yeah like They're good teams, and I think
00:35:13
Speaker
Austria did a lot not to be scared of France, and it's tough to come away with no goals. I think they're going to need finishing, or like they just are, because they're going to create chances, but they've got to finish them. And France, to me, this was like such a textbook example of why they're so good. like Didn't play that well, but like forced Austria to like give it 100% and like just kind of wore them out the way like a better you know a boxer does. like They took every punch from Austria, and they should have scored Mbappe missed 2-0, a wide open one-on-one, a shot that a player like him, everyone in the stadium knows that it's in the second he gets gets it. But um France have depth, too. They're going to be worse without Mbappe, but it'll be a good game. I think France have overall looked the best team here. but This was a really impressive win. I know Germany and Spain had more impressive score lines,
00:36:11
Speaker
but No one can do the France game, the suffer ball game as good as them. yeah There's a reason why they made two World Cup finals. um It's not to say they can't lose, but they were impressive. And for Kante to be able to control the midfield the way he did by himself gives them a lot more options to try to attack when they need to. So like that's scary um because like They didn't start Camavinga. I don't know what that is, if they're easing him in or whatever. But they started a pivot of Kante and Adrian Rabio, Rabio, who like isn't a great defensive midfielder. It was literally just Kante versus Austria and like
00:36:56
Speaker
both teams played well. yeah So Austria at the point here is like, you got your toughest game out of the way and you didn't get smashed. All right. That's good. Would you have loved to take a point? Sure. Would you have loved to win it? Of course. You lost one nil. You've got two games that you will feel are winnable. Austria poll in a minute sets up to be a really good game because two teams that put in decent shifts on match day one are sitting on zero points with the knowledge that, Hey, if we don't get anything from this match, it's going to be really hard to get out of this group. That's a really good game. And France Netherlands is a really good game. because you've got two teams that got the three points or the two Bezier teams with the group. You know what happens if you win your second game? You're through and you're clean. You don't have to worry about what happens on match day three, but then you don't have a bop. Both of these matches I think are really interesting in this group.
00:37:41
Speaker
Yeah, ah France, Netherlands should be really high level. I'm excited to see if Netherlands can make them sweat at all um and do better than Austria. um I will see. And then, as you said, Poland, Austria is low key a very desperate game between two teams that are actually solid. A lot of the desperate games are less good teams. Right. Um, I'm really excited. Someone's going to have to come up with some quality and goals, um, in that one. So they could be well you can appear be good. If you're Poland, you can either try and have them go at Austria. You can have a go at France on match day three. You know what you're picking, right? like Yeah. So like both teams should be and selling out to to score. So it should be good. Yep.
00:38:23
Speaker
Group E admit is where the chaos came at the Euro. This happened yesterday. um Romania three, you Ukraine nil. This scoreline probably flatters Romania a lot, but hey, three points at a major tournament is nothing to frown about, nothing to to to to make light of, right? Yeah. um I still believe in Ukraine, but that was disheartening. That was really disheartening. I don't know. I mean, again, Romania just made stuff happen. They dribbled and they took shots from distance and they were quality shots of distance and they defended well. I mean, Radu Dragosin was really good. The Tottenham guy won every duel, completely shut off all service to Ukraine striker Dobvik, who I had thought was a really like value, ah you know,
00:39:19
Speaker
ah under the radar, good striker in this tournament, under the radar in quotes. I don't know what to say. I feel pretty shell shocked. I'm sure Ukraine does. Losing 3-0 to Romania, like that just doesn't happen. They're not done here, but like that's ah the score line too puts them really in trouble. Because you have to get to four points now because your goal differential is in a really bad spot. And so unless you can turn that goal differential around by winning by the same amount going forward, you're looking at having to get four points from these last two games to have a chance to go through. I think Romania winning this game isn't super surprising. And I know they didn't exactly do it in a remarkably, you know, dominant fashion, but still three note, like that's just not a scoreline that anybody expected to happen here. Not at all.
00:40:06
Speaker
Yeah, it definitely spiraled, for sure, for Ukraine. But um that's not what you want. A lot of these teams have been really mentally resilient. I don't know what to say. I think that was the least. Yeah. All right. So Rakya won Belgium nil. We talked about it in the open, the quote unquote biggest upset in Euro history. ah The last time of it, we saw Belgium at a major international tournament. They were in desperate need of a goal. Romelu Lukaku was up top. And he just could not, for the life of him, find the back of the net. 18 months later, Belgium in desperate need of a goal, Rob Luhukaku up top, and he just cannot for the life of him find the back of the net with it counting. I'll add that. Yeah, it it's I almost feel bad for him. I mean, I do, but it's great entertainment for all of us to watch him and Belgium flop so spectacularly. In their last four matches, they have an XG of 6.7 in World Cup and this Euro.
00:41:02
Speaker
one goal. I mean, brutal either he's getting real due or he's real bad at scoring. So consider someone else there. um Look, Belgium played well. They created a lot of chances and they didn't score them and gave up kind of a weirdish goal that they thought was offsides, a weird angle. um Yeah, I don't know. I mean, what what what do you want to say about Belgium? like To me, it's very simple. like Finish your chances. um yeah so wait like I want to like say it's worse for them, but I don't think it is.
00:41:41
Speaker
Yeah, but like the question becomes, do you have anything other than Lukaku you can do, or you just have to keep throwing them out there and hope that it works, right? So that I think is what this comes down to. Like, all right, it's very clear that he's got something going on. I don't know if it's the yips. I don't know whatever it is. You got to find the back of the net. Like they're not going to have a successful tournament. If he does it, the chances are there. So do you throw him back out there and hope that he finds something? Is there anybody on the bench they can turn to? What are they going to do?
00:42:12
Speaker
Yeah, Lois Appendo was the name that a lot of people talked about. Stryker at RB Leipzig. Totally different profile from Lukaku. Tall, fast, notably fast. Lukaku, notably slow. um I saw a really mean tweet that says he looks like what you get out of the pool. And your shorts are all really wet. That's how he looks like when he's running. I was like, Oh man, that's so mean. Like he got it all the right spots. Um, I think like Openda is not like a traditionally great finisher, but he's just going to keep running more. Um, and even if he's average at finishing, I mean, anything is better than what Lukaku has done.
00:42:55
Speaker
Um, I could see them sticking with him. I could see them turning him into the, turning Lukaku into the super sub. Um, the rest of their players all did their jobs. Like De Bruyne was good. Trossard was good. Doku created chances. Like they know what they're doing. I just, you gotta, yeah, I mean, try a penda and if not, then like, If you can't score, you can't score. like What is there to say? Does De Bruyne just start shooting from distance? like Maybe. I mean, that's been the list of the tournament so far. Shoot your shot. This group is really interesting going forward a minute because sometimes when these types of results happen, then the two surprise teams face off and the two teams that got surprised face off. That's not the case here. We get a chance to see if if this was actually real. Slovakia play Ukraine. Belgium play Romania. There's a pretty there's a decent enough chance of it that this group goes into the last match, day three, three, three, three. Everybody has a win.
00:43:49
Speaker
Yeah, I would think so. But we'll see if Belgium and Ukraine are are going to respond. Actually, I don't know. I mean, given what I saw from Ukraine, I'd be worried about them versus Slovakia, even if they are a slightly better team. I think Belgium will right the ship um against Romania. But ah yeah I don't know i know. You see it. You can't be too convinced, right? Yeah. it's To me, for Belgium, it almost like is a little good to get that bad taste, bitter finishing, unlucky game out of the mouth, out of the way in game one versus that how they crash out of a tournament. like yeah I don't think they're going to win at all, but like that one was tough to lose. I don't think like i think it's just better to have that done.
00:44:34
Speaker
Yeah, sure. All right. And that last group, what we saw today to to close out match day one at the Euro game, the tournament so far, Turkey, three Georgia one, two teams that can attack two teams that can't defend. And that usually makes for a great recipe. And that was the case here. Fantastic atmosphere. That stadium in Dortmund is just great. It just creates great atmospheres in and of itself. And then you add in the Turkish fans and the Georgian fans who were both really good. This was just fun. This was just a good game of international football. This is why you love major tournaments. Like look turkey and Georgia are not going to win the euro They're not gonna play a super major part in what the final story of this euro is But for 90 minutes on a random Tuesday afternoon They were the story of the tournament and they lived up to it and that was fascinating. It was fun And that's what makes major tournament football great
00:45:23
Speaker
Couldn't agree more. And Turkey's two goals before their empty netter. Insanely good. Insanely good shots from distance. Really good technique. One of them was a full-on volley from 20 yards outside the boot side spin. And the other one was a left footer from 30 yards with like the perfect instep curl side spin. It's beautiful, beautiful goals. And Georgia did their part, attacked very well. ah Kavicha, Kavarashkelya finally got it in. ah Was good. I mean, I don't think he was amazing, but I think created enough. Georgia didn't, you know, have great striking, but they had chances. They had one chances for two, two, right? Like, yeah, they had like three different chances for two, two. They had like a chip that like went off the bar after their their guy rinsed the entire defense. um And then they had in like the 93rd minute, like
00:46:21
Speaker
ah Free kick that swung in so well that like everyone let it go and it bounced off the post Yeah, and the rebound from like eight yards out just met a header like cleared off the line Desperation, I mean a really good game that could have been tutu and then you know the other way Cathartic finish for turkey. This was awesome. This was yeah, it's everything you love about we love about international soccer Really fun game really fun game Are the Ghoulers a he's a guy he's a dude right? Oh, yeah, david i was like yeah, he's good
00:46:54
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, and listen, if Turkey are going to do anything, whatever that might be, he'll be behind it. I mean, he's very, very silky attacking player. The Kalinoglu free kick in this game, too. This game is is pretty fresh in my memory, obviously, because it just happened today, where Georgia gave him a window to shoot right at the goalkeeper, and he's like, all right, I'll do it. And he just ripped this like knuckling swerving thing that the goalkeeper had to like parry away of. Great little free kick. Good little moment. It's fun. This was a great match. This was really fun. portugal too <unk> republic why
00:47:25
Speaker
i mean If you're gonna go to a major tournament and you're gonna play bunker ball, there are some things that you have to do when playing bunker ball. And one of those things is, is you just cannot give up crappy, stupid goals where it flickers around and it pinballs in the box and it bounces. Like, you just gotta to get the ball clear. You just have to. I don't know how, bunker ball only succeeds when you get the ball clear. And that was the Czech Republic's problem in this game, is they bunker pretty well. They limited Portugal. Cristiano Ronaldo was just like it felt like he was building up to this cathartic celebration the whole game and he never got it because he couldn't finish.
00:48:01
Speaker
And poor then Czech Republic took the lead against the run of play, hit from distance, because of course that's how all the all the teams score at this tournament. And then they just fell apart. and And the first goal was the goalkeeper saving it off his own guy's leg. And in I'm really upset that Rinaldo didn't try to claim that. Like, come on, man, you were close enough. Give it a go. Raise your hand. He raised his hand the whole game. He spent the whole game asking for the ball with his outside hand. Like, just raise it one more time. Try to claim it. And then it almost looked like the Czech Republic was going to get a point. And Portugal brings on the subs and this ball, low ball fizzes in from the side. And it's just like five holes, the guy, like, i like you just have to get it clear. You cannot just let it stick right through you and and go in. and and And that was the downside here. And and they lost to one. Yeah, I'm with you completely. I don't think Czech Republic were particularly good. They got away with a lot of work. Like they were, they weren't good at all. they go on to A lot of really clear chances that he didn't take.
00:48:59
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, yeah, that's the truth of it. And look, they forced Portugal to like hit a bunch of crosses to Ronaldo. But I don't think that's a decent strategy as much as we make fun of Ronaldo. like Him at the back post, if you put the cross on his head, he's very, very good at that yeah still. So yeah, it's they literally just slipped in their box twice. really not good. yeah As you said, I would recommend not doing that ah to Portugal if you're going to try to steal something against them. Portugal were fine. I think they moved the ball around. They did yeah they moved it everywhere. Ronaldo was fine for them. I think in a game where they're going to be breaking down, playing on the offense, he's a good guy to score. This is the game for Ronaldo in that at no point where Portugal tested defensively, which is where Ronaldo really hurts you. If it's going to be 90 minutes of one-way traffic and you're going to have ample opportunity to just fizz crosses into the box towards the far post, like that's what he eats. like That's the game for him. He is one of the greatest players of all time. Not the, but his movement around the box, his understanding of where the ball shows up in the box, still elite. so
00:50:16
Speaker
you know He wasn't the problem. I think Portugal can keep tinkering with their lineup. Roberto Martinez um should keep tinkering with this lineup to try to get the best dribbling, crossing, passing mix on here. Listen, they didn't have to defend. They gave up a goal from distance. Yeah, that stunk, but like... It also didn't cost them. It didn't cost them. and Yeah, no, they, they, they, they played fine. They scored two kind of crappy goals, but like on another day they have the quality to score good goals and they attacked well enough to Huff and Puff for 90 minutes. And even to come back to after going down late, like
00:50:58
Speaker
yeah It's a good team that did thats a team that. did My point here for Portugal is I don't know how many times Portugal is going to have to play this game, this tournament. So I don't know that there's really a ton to take the Czech Republic offered absolutely nothing. They, the whole point from going in is, Hey, you start the game with a point. Let's see how long we can get that. They even got gifted a goal. That's great. But I don't know that Portugal are going to face this much negativity very often in this tournament. So I don't know that there's a whole lot that we can take here other than the fact that at the end of the day, they forced enough across to win this match and that was the goal. Yeah, I'm with you. I think Georgia is a little worse than the Czech Republic, but they will attack more. I don't think Georgia and Turkey will try and come at Portugal in this manner because they know that it's not going to work. Turkey absolutely won't. Turkey will get the ball and be like,
00:51:47
Speaker
Portugal plays three in the back. That's Pepe and Diego Delo.
00:51:53
Speaker
yeah like we' something We're running at you as much as possible. so like yeah It's going to be different. and And maybe Roberto Martinez played three in the back because it was the Czech Republic. So we'll see how it goes. I'm with you. I'm with you on this one. ah Georgia Czech Republic is also a game that this is one of those classic, it's on the line, but the these teams are very good games that we talked about a bit of bit earlier in the show. Well, it's going to be fun because both these teams know the pressure is on, but they're also not that great. But we'll probably see a different Czech Republic than we saw against Portugal and Georgia are interesting enough to make this good. And neither of the two defenses showed us enough to suggest that this is going to be bad. Like there's probably going to be goals here. yeah I think so. Yeah.
00:52:33
Speaker
All right, final takeaways here a minute as we wrap this up. This was a pretty good match day one. Other than the the usual suspects, I think we can be pleased with the the offensive output we saw here. I agree. I think teams are taking it upon themselves to play to their strengths, to play to the realities of international football, which is attack, make teams defend, take shots. um There's less tactics. I mean, we love to talk about tactics, or maybe less so. We love to talk about international football, and like there's less to analyze. It's more just like
00:53:11
Speaker
Yeah, get on the field and go play soccer. Yes. Like, and that's what's been beautiful. And most of the times the better team wins, I think here at the Euros, but not always. But um I think the outside of England and France, you know, the good teams have all tried to impose themselves. yeah um So that's been really fun. And I think we're gonna get a lot of games where teams are incentivized to score. I like that about this Euro. There is- Has it been- Yeah, that's a good result. Yeah. So the attacking soccer has been good. The entertainment has been good. um Not that much chaos, but just enough for us to be entertained and yeah I'm sure we'll get some.
00:53:51
Speaker
Yeah. And look, like I personally love chaos. I'd be perfectly happy if the Czech Republic playing Romania in the Euro final, but what makes the international tournament great is you have the good storylines and then you get to the back half and the big heavyweights are are are duking it out over 15 rounds. Like, and that hasn't been put in jeopardy yet. So that's, that's what we're looking for here. All right. I bet now we'll be back here on the world cup after dark podcast later this week. We'll preview Copa America, which kicks off on Thursday night. We'll be back with some more Euro action. If you missed it, we have a U S men's national scene preview with Henry personnel of Yahoo sports. And as always, if you'd like what we do, you can rate, review, subscribe. And if you would like to support us monetarily, you can become one of our patrons, patreon dot.com slash WC a B $3 a month, access to exclusive shows.
00:54:37
Speaker
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