European Football Championships on channels 14.6.–14.7. Go to the competition website from this link.
The EC football tournament culminates on Sunday evening with the final match between Spain and England. A four-week football drama is behind us, during which the 24-team title race has narrowed down to a two-to-one battle.
Sports experts Toni Koskela and Markus Halsti under the final, they return to the past month’s issue and list the biggest successes and disappointments of the tournament.
Winners: Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal, Spain
Spain progressed to the final with a happy attack, the brightest stars of which were the wing forwards. Athletic Bilbao Nico Williams and Barcelona Lamine Yamal impressed with their speed, skill and courage.
– They brought their own thing to these games, i.e. a functional one-on-one challenge on the sidelines. There are others somewhat similar, but are there any players of that style that are so clear, specifically for the wings? Few are even in club teams. So, at least for Spain’s playing, they have brought back to the surface an element that has been missing, says Koskela.
Halsti wants to highlight Williams in particular. Yamal, who became the youngest goal scorer during the European Championship, was already one of the most followed players of the tournament as a 16-year-old super-promiser. Williams is older, but still only 22 years old.
– No one expected him to be so dominant, even though he flashed at Athletic. He didn’t come completely off the radar, but there was no guarantee of a starting spot despite a good season. Now he has been one of the biggest “wow” players who are talked about in the streets. Incredibly good at challenging, clever solutions, Halsti reasons.
Disappointment: Florian Wirtz, Germany
Germany got off to an explosive start to their tournament with a goal celebration against Scotland, when Wirtz also struck once. The host country looked like a real champion candidate, but Spain was stronger in the quarterfinals. Wirtz came on as a substitute in the match and scored a goal, but was not quite the same factor as he was in Bayer Leverkusen.
– Jamal Musiala played a good tournament and he could even be put on the success list, but there were questions about Wirtz. Is he such a slave to the system in his club team that he needs its machinery? There has been time to practice and he plays an important role in the whole style of play. Musiala is a pure one-on-one challenger and can do magic. Wirtz needs more combinations, and didn’t get what I expected out of him, says Halsti.
Winner: Fabián Ruiz, Spain
The 28-year-old midfielder represents the French team Paris Saint-Germain, for whom he scored the winning goal in the final of the French Cup in May. Before that he played in Napoli.
From the five matches of the European Championships, he has two goals and two assists leading to goals.
– It was hardly familiar to many, even as a name. However, he had really strong races. Pretty typical game-smart Spanish midfielder. He gets well into the penalty area and has scored goals, says Koskela.
Disappointment: Italy
Expectations were not high for the reigning champion. Italy changed their coach last fall before being forced out, and the rejuvenated player material did not match the level of the top teams. Tie stood up in the quarter-finals in handling Switzerland.
– In the Switzerland match, the opponent’s active play and courage caused the Italian deck to spread. It was known that Italy does not have many brilliant individuals. Defender Riccardo Calafiori was the team’s breakthrough player and played well, but does that also say something about Italy, Halsti asks.
– Italy has had weak moments in the 2000s, but somehow the collective has always been a support and security in big tournaments. Now it crumbled completely. In the big picture, Italy did what was expected, but the last game was the biggest disappointment. I’m not surprised that it caused quite a stir in Italy.
Winner: Mike Maignan, France
AC Milan’s goalkeeper has inherited the role of the world champion as the number one goalkeeper From Hugo Lloris. He did not play his first men’s international match until 2020. The World Cup was missed due to injury.
Maignan shared the third place in the save statistics with his 16 saves and played four clean sheets in six matches.
– Showed himself to be a top hitter. In the match against Portugal, he even made a couple of decisive “gamesaver” saves. He didn’t have to be as tough as a couple of more busy goalkeepers, like Italy Giangluigi Donnarumma or Georgian Giorgi Mamardashvilibut when he was needed, he took top saves in Portugal’s situations, Koskela justifies.
Winner: Cody Gakpo, Netherlands
The striker, who moved to Liverpool after the World Cup, scored in his team’s opening match against Poland and in the final round of the second group stage against Austria. In the quarterfinals, he hit against Romania.
Gakpo’s goal in the semifinals was recorded as an own goal. If he had scored that too, he would have led the tournament’s goalscorers all by himself – now the top spot is shared with five other players.
– Simple thing: he has scored a lot of goals. They usually go a long way. Gakpo has been a man of big games, Koskela states.
Disappointment: Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal
A huge number of shots, but not a single goal. A huge amount of attention, but out in the quarterfinals. Personal bests without team success. Ronaldo said he had played his last European Championship, and if that’s the case, the farewell left a tepid picture.
– He is evaluated differently than everyone else, but I still have to consider him a small disappointment. He himself has drawn himself into a position where he is evaluated more critically than 99 percent of other players, says Koskela.
– It’s hard to say how much he influenced his team’s success one way or the other, but it was definitely thought that the goalscoring opportunities would go through his strengths. Then he was no longer the same figure in the penalty area as he was a couple of years ago.
Winner: William Saliba, France
Saliba was not a starting line-up player in many papers, but despite his high level, the defender was expected to be a substitute player in France’s high-quality back lines. It turned out the other way around, and Arsenal’s topper got to show on the EC fields as well.
Vire was already strong in the club team, but contrary to preliminary speculation, Saliba played full minutes in the games.
– Even the head coach Didier Deschamps spoke in a rather doubtful tone about Saliba’s suitability. Now, however, the statistics of the French top scorer were quite chilling. Together Dayot Upamecano and with goalkeeper Maignan they even formed the best defense of the tournament. Saliba was very strong and physical, and also good with the ball, Halsti describes.
Winner: Granit Xhaka, Switzerland
Switzerland was more broadly the highlight of the tournament. It continued its streak of appearances in the playoffs of the prestigious tournament and only lost to England in the quarterfinals in a penalty shootout. The Bayer Leverkusen midfielder brought his club team fitness to the national team and led his team’s play.
– Xhaka’s role and ability to rhythm the game in the middle was extremely important. England and France received a lot of attention during the tournament, although neither played particularly actively. The counterweight to that was Xhaka and Switzerland, who were also really active against England and were constantly striving to move forward, says Halsti.
– Xhaka gave a lot of line-breaking passes and was, in a way, the embodiment of his team’s play. Smart and dynamic gameplay. He has caught the eye all season.
Disappointment: Harry Kane, England
England’s captain has been the world’s best scorer and most dangerous center forward in club teams. Now the team is in the final and Kane shares the top spot in the goalscoring market with three goals, but still the number one in England’s all-time goalscoring statistics has fallen short of his best level.
– Somewhat the same question as with Ronaldo. England’s attacking has not quite worked, and especially not with the same kind of lightness as in Kane’s club games at Bayern Munich. However, in terms of play, he has been a disappointment. Expectations were undeniably high, from the biggest end. The same words apply to France as well To Kylian Mbappéwho, of course, seemed to miss the injury, Koskela justifies.
The races are followed moment by moment in the app and on ‘s website in this article.