European Football Championships on channels 14.6.–14.7. Go to the competition website from this link.
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The champion’s favorite balloon was released on Tuesday evening. France went home after losing their semi-final to Spain.
France did not falter even in its last moments. Spain’s joy fell over yet another victim. The team has won 12 consecutive competitive matches and deserves its place in the finals in the eyes of the experts.
– Between the football represented by Spain and this tournament in France, it is not difficult to choose which one you like more, Urheilu’s expert Markus Halsti line on Wednesday morning’s 11 friends podcast.
France’s road stood up with a 1–2 result. It scored the opening goal on eight minutes, but lost the lead on 16 minutes and never recovered.
Halsti hopes that the result of the semi-final will mark the future of international football.
– The French press remained anemic even after more than 80 minutes, when the game was 2-1 to the opponent. Is it that there was no backup plan? Poured down and trusted that Kylian Mbappé scores, Halsti asks.
– I would hope that this would determine the future trends of football. Of course, many Spanish players already know the head coach, and that of course helps. However, Switzerland and Austria were also similar active teams in this tournament.
A colorless toddler among four
The EC tournament’s playoff schedule had taken a surprising shape precisely because of France, when a draw with Poland in the last round of the group stage dropped it to second place in Group D.
Before that, France beat Austria 1–0 with an own goal and played a 0–0 draw with the Netherlands. In the playoffs, Belgium fell 1–0 with an own goal in the last minutes, and Portugal after a 0–0 result in a penalty shootout.
France didn’t score many goals, but left a lackluster picture anyway. Criticism has been rained down for the same reasons as for England, but significantly less.
– Everyone would probably like France if it did things a little better and more enthusiastically – if they were interested in attacking a little more. At its best, France defends really well, but all the factors that activate the game were exhausted. Then it’s pretty hard to like France, Urheilu’s expert Antti Pohja saddens.
Time for new ideas?
Didier Deschamps has been France’s head coach since 2012. Tuesday’s semi-final was his 158th match in charge, the most of any French coach in all time.
During the Deschmaps era, France had played in four previous semi-finals and won them all. In 2016, it advanced to the final of the European Championship, but lost to Portugal. In the 2018 World Cup, it marched all the way to the championship, in 2022, it lost to Argentina in the World Cup final in a penalty shootout. In 2021, France won the Nations League championship.
The streak had started long before Deschamps’ coaching season, as France’s previous semi-final defeat was in the 1996 European Championship.
Before the semi-final, Deschamps laughed off a question about France’s boredom at a press conference, saying that if the game doesn’t interest you, you don’t have to watch it.
– He thought that we will be successful because we have been successful before. The same credit players were involved. Now the EC semi-final was played and they asked if he is capable of changes and reacting, and actually his changes only weakened France, says Pohja.
– Pressing should also be found in the national team’s toolbox in the future. Even the French team could do it if they wanted to. However, there was no change in the losing position. The lower midfielders just withdrew into the arms of the central defenders and let Spain come. I don’t think it’s a long way when you think about the evolution of national team football.
The second finalist of the EC tournament will be decided on Wednesday evening in the second semi-final. England will face the Netherlands in a match starting at 10 p.m.
Then we will see if England will continue to the final regardless of style points or if they too will suffer the fate of France.
– England surprises from match to match, for better or for worse. Let’s keep going, but there are very few secondary things to grab onto in the actual gameplay. I still don’t know how England will try to attack. Compared to Spain, things are not done together terribly, says Pohja.
– The strength of the individuals has been good enough so far. England has survived. However, I don’t know if it will be enough against Holland.
At 21:15 EM studio TV2 and Areena
At 10 p.m. Holland-England
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