Striker’s reinstatement was debated for its effect on the dressing room – but the biggest problems are on the pitchIt needs more, we know, than the names on the teamsheet. Yet as France toiled against a stubborn, ultra-motivated Hungary who were as obstructive as their ebullient public demanded, it was difficult not to think that la mayonnaise ne prend pas – that it just wasn’t coming together. Certainly in the front part of the field, that was the case.Some will want to pin that, inevitably, on the return of Karim Benzema to the squad amid much fanfare. Yet while there were mutterings about the sex tape scandal that had precipitated his five-and-a half-year absence from the France squad (he denies...
Germany had their chances but struggled to contain Paul Pogba, who made France’s goal with a brilliant, improvised passAt one point in the first half in Munich, as Paul Pogba glided around the pitch pinging and flicking and drifting the ball into strange, unexpected spaces, freezing the action around him with a touch, Antonio Rüdiger threw his arms around his chest, leant closer and seemed to take a nibble of Pogba’s shoulder.Maybe it was just a sniff or a lick. And really, you sympathised with Rüdiger. In moments like these Pogba does seem to be some more-ish, liquid footballing substance. It was quite delicious. Related: France win heavyweight clash with Germany thanks to Hummels own goal Related: ‘A hell of...
France are favourites, but I like the look of Portugal. And the question for England is can they handle the pressure?In an ideal world you would start a tournament perfectly and go through it winning everything. That’s what every team at the Euros wants to do. It is the pressure and expectation around that desire for perfection that derails so many teams and campaigns, because a loss early on becomes a big deal. But you can lose and progress. I was part of the Denmark team that showed that at the Euros in 2017: we lost to the Netherlands (who finished as champions) in our group but still got out of the group and reached the final.How you cope with...
A handful of the best emerging talents to seek out as they look to make waves around Europe this summerThe latest talent to emerge from the famed “Bromma Boys” production line in Stockholm after Bojan Djordic and John Guidetti. Kulusevski has made steady progress in his first full season at Juventus and was the hero of their Coppa Italia victory over his former club Atalanta. Having moved to Italy three months after his 16th birthday, the forward spent two spells at Parma and joined Juve for more than £30m last year. Kulusevki, whose father is from North Macedonia, was born in Sweden but represented Macedonia at under 16 and 17 level before making the switch and is often compared to...
There are a handful of goals that are universal, that resonate with almost everybody who follows the game There are a handful of goals that are universal, that resonate with almost everybody who follows the game. Diego Maradona scored two of them in the space of five minutes against England in the World Cup quarter-final in 1986 – goals much better remembered, in Argentina, in England, everywhere, than either of his brilliant goals in the semi-final or than any of the five goals in the final. What makes a goal indelible is far more to do with context and narrative than the quality of the strike or even the stage at which it is scored.There are very few truly universal...