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24 JUNE 2021
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SPORTS WEEKLY SPECIAL
EURO 2020
England face Germany in Euros BY DAVID SAFFER All roads lead to Wembley Stadium as England take on Germany in the last-16 of Euro 2020 on Tuesday (5pm). Raheem Sterling sent England into the tie of the round with the only goal against Czech Republic to win Group D. Germany crushed Hungarian hearts with a late equaliser in Group F last night. Jack Grealish set up the 12th minute winner for Sterling against the Czech’s and enjoyed a fine first half at Wembley. England’s talisman Harry Kane went close to scoring but for a third successive game failed to hit the target. The return of central defender Harry Maguire was a plus for Gareth Southgate’s side slated after a drab 0-0 draw against Scotland in the second group game. England have yet to produce “champagne football” but that did not bother Southgate after his side topped the group and have yet to concede a goal, a first since the 1982 World Cup second group phase and Boys of ’66 endeavours. Southgate is more concerned his side is tough to beat. Performances, he insists, will come. He told BBC Radio 5 Live, “We are a little bit short in a few areas of match fitness and sharpness, and I thought as the game wore on that started to take its toll a bit. We have hit the woodwork in all three matches and the other thing we have to get better on is our attacking set-play which is normally such a good source of goals for us and our deliveries have been really poor.” Southgate added, “We are difficult to score against at the moment and although we’re not perhaps flowing as much as we’d like, that solidity is critical for any team doing well.” Germany scraped into the next stage when substitute Leon Goretzka struck an 84th minute equaliser. Rank underdogs Hungary twice led the former Euro champions in Group F with goals from Adam Szalai and Andras Schafer only for Kai Havertz and Goretzka to level the scores. Portugal drew 2-2 with France in the other group game to both qualify for the last 16. Cristiano Ronaldo equalled the all-time international goalscoring record with two penalties to equal Ali Daei’s all-time record for Iran. Karim Benzema also bagged a brace in an entertaining clash.
Harry Maguire is back to help England’s EURO 2020 campaign
France play Switzerland whilst Portugal take on Belgium in another huge clash for the competition. Croatia’s Luka Modric broke Scottish hearts at Hampden Park in Group D. Nikola Vlasic silenced a fervent crowd before Callum McGregor fired home just before half-time but Modric struck a sensational goal on the hour prior to Ivan Perisic sealing a 3-1 win with a header. “Tonight we were against a team that are tournament hardened and they knew how to play the third game in a group and probably we didn’t,” Head coach Steve Clarke told BBC Scotland. “We didn’t get anything out the first game which meant we had to go to Wembley and expend a lot of energy physically and mentally to give ourselves a chance and maybe we suffered for it in the third game. That’s something we can learn for the next tournament, I promise you it won’t be 23 years until the next one.” In Group A, 10-man Wales dug deep to finish second behind Italy in a 1-0 defeat in Rome. Matteo Pessina scored the only goal of the game in the first half for the hosts, who claimed three group wins, before Ethan Ampadu was sent off for a challenge on
PHOTO: DAVID SAFFER
Federico Bernardeschi after an hour of an absorbing contest. Wales captain Gareth Bale told ITV Sport, “We knew it would be very difficult from the start. A lot of running and defending, I am proud of the boys. We have made it through.” He added, “I didn’t see too much of the red card. It was unfortunate. We had to dig deep and we did that. We have to recover now and take the break and get ready to get going again.” Switzerland qualified in third place by defeating Turkey 3-1 in Baku. Haris Seferovic and Xherdan Shaqiri gave the Swiss a 2-0 interval lead. Kahveci pulled a goal back just past the hour before Shaqiri bagged his second of the game. Belgium completed a third Group B victory with a comfortable win over Finland courtesy of an unfortunate own goal by keeper Lukas Hradecky, who deflected a Thomas Vermaelen header off the woodwork into his goal, and a Romelu Lukaku strike late on in St Petersburg. Denmark, after global headlines when Christian Eriksen collapsed with a cardiac arrest in the opening game, secured a thrilling 4-1 win against Russia to qualify as one of the four best third-placed
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teams on an emotional night at a packed Copenhagen. The Danes had to win and hope Belgium beat Finland, and the hosts made the perfect start when Mikkel Damsgaard fired home from long-range before half time. Yussuf Poulsen doubled the lead only for Artem Dzyuba to pull a goal back for Russia with a penalty. But Denmark, playing on a wave of emotion, re-established a two-goal lead with an Andreas Christensen howitzer before Joakim Maehle sealed an emphatic win with a solo effort on 82 minutes. Russia began the night in second place, but ended it bottom of the table. The Danes welcome Wales to Copenhagen in what could be a really entertaining clash. Netherlands made it three Group C wins with a routine victory against North Macedonia courtesy of Memphis Depay and Georginio Wijnaldum at the Johan Cruyff Arena in Amsterdam. Austria made the knockout stages in an all or nothing win against Ukraine thanks to a Christoph Baumgartner’s close-range finish to set up a meeting with Italy whilst the Netherlands play the Czech Republic next. A terrific clash awaits. Sweden won a five-goal thriller against Poland to top Group E in St Petersburg. Emil Forsberg struck twice only for Robert Lewandowski to curl home a superb strike then level the scores with a sharp finish six minutes from time. But the Swedes broke Polish hearts with a goal from substitute Victor Claesson in stoppage time. Spain after two disappointing draws finally joined the Euro party by thumping Slovakia 5-0 in Seville. After Alvaro Morata had a VAR-awarded penalty saved well by Martin Dubravka, the Slovak keeper inexplicably punched the ball into his net after Pablo Sarabia’s shot cannoned off the crossbar, Aymeric Laporte nodded the second, Sarabia made it three, Ferran Torres flicked home a fourth from a corner with his first touch of the ball before another Slovakian own goal, this time by Juraj Kucka, completed the scoring. Spain face Croatia and Sweden take on Ukraine in the other last-16 games. Whisper it quietly, but should England prevail against the Germans they will meet the winner of Sweden and Ukraine for a place in the semi-finals!
