Questions remain about how well he uses his ability but £100m Manchester City signing played his part in comfortable victoryMessiahs in football tend to exist more in the mind than on the pitch. The clamour for Jack Grealish to start for England may have been answered but the pattern of the game was very familiar; he did not elevate them inexplicably to something transcendent. This was classic England under Gareth Southgate, holding an opponent at arm’s length before finally opening them up. Thrilling it was not, but it was effective.Grealish was instrumental in the opening goal, surging down the left after Declan Rice had won possession, before releasing the overlapping Mason Mount to cross for Raheem Sterling to cuff into...
Some draw strength from excluding others, but that is wrong, and we have seen fine examples of togetherness at the EurosA European Championship always reflects the way we in Europe shape our lives together. Four things in particular have stood out to me so far in this tournament. On 12 June the continent felt close to a Danish football player. Christian Eriksen had to be resuscitated on the pitch. His teammates, who immediately formed a circle around him, intuitively knew how to stand by him in this stressful situation. It was palpable how much his privacy was worth to them and they protected his dignity in a difficult hour. It was an enormously moving event. Related: Rainbow stadiums: German football...
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...
Two late goals in Portugal’s win leaves their star on 106, three short of the record, and he will fight to keep the trophy, tooHe celebrated like it was his first goal for Portugal rather than his 105th. That undampened desire is what keeps Cristiano Ronaldo going and makes him continually relevant. His emphatically finished penalty polished off doubt where there had been plenty. His smoothly finished second, leaving him just three short of Ali Daei’s international goal record, re‑emphasised his ruthlessness. Hungary didn’t deserve this, but Ronaldo happens.It marked another to his litany of records, playing and scoring in a fifth European Championship, and it will mean something to him – but it’s not the record he is really...
The Magical Magyars embarked on one of football’s most remarkable streaks, only to fall short in the Miracle of BernThe Wankdorf Stadium in Bern was getting a soaking, but the sun was shining on Hungary’s brightest generation. Gusztáv Sebes’s side had not lost since May 1950 – an undefeated international streak that would not be surpassed until 1993 – and here they were, with 63,800 increasingly sodden souls watching on from the open terraces, cruising to victory in the 1954 World Cup final. Their four matches en route had brought a faintly ludicrous 25 goals: South Korea hammered 9-0 and West Germany taken apart 8-3 in the group stage, Brazil swept aside 4-2 in a brutal quarter-final and Uruguay, the...