Euros Semi-Finals
Wales 0-2 Portugal
It looks as if football has had quite enough fairytales for one season, as Wales' attempts to overthrow the odds and reach the Euro 2016 final went up in smoke against a highly accomplished Portugal side. The key for Portugal was their resistance to the idea that they were the bigger side and had to dominate, and as such played their own tactical game, sitting back and putting the pressure on Wales to attack. Wales struggled to break them down, and tried to play their own tactical game, and as a result, the first half ended up being a drab stalemate.
If Portugal refused to play into Wales' hands in the first half, then they completely disrupted them in the second. They started with extra intensity, extra power and extra desire, controlling the midfield and just bamboozling Wales. The first goal was poor defending from Wales, although you could argue that nobody could stop Cristiano Ronaldo when he's going up for a header like he did to break the deadline. Me? I think more should have been done either way. In a way the two goals sum up Portugal in this tournament. The first was a sensational header but the second was unbelievably lucky, as Ronaldo decided to shoot from twenty-five yards on the angle, as Ronaldo does, and his miscue ended up dropping to Nani six yards out. 2-0. Game over.
That said, Portugal absolutely deserved to win the match, as they produced the moments of quality in the match. They could easily have won by more, as Wales threw men forwards, and Portugal looked more likely to score on the break than Wales did to break them down, as Portugal showed how they got to the semi-final in the first place: solid defensive and midfield performances. For a team that was all about Ronaldo in the group stages, since they've played as a team, they've seen off three excellent teams in the knockout stages.
That said, Wales were awful. Without Aaron Ramsey they looked short on ideas. Andy King was useless, Joe Allen was poor, and Bale, whilst Wales' best player in the first half, went full Ronaldo in the second, desperate to do everything himself, shooting any time he got within 40 yards and wasting free kick after free kick. This was the least composed Wales have been in the crucial areas of the pitch and they paid the price for it.
Overall, Portugal deserved to win this match, but Wales have had a terrific tournament. Their achievements have been second to none in this tournament and nobody deserves more credit than Chris Coleman. They've been terrific.
Germany 0-2 France
Well I confess that I didn't see this coming. As much as football loves to kill fairytales, sometimes it just likes to be a little bit annoying. France went in essentially playing 4-4-2, leaving N'Golo Kante on the bench, a decision that looked slightly bizarre before kick off, whilst the Germans went 4-3-3, starting Schweinsteiger alongside Can and Kroos in a three man midfield. This also struck me as odd, given that Bastian played 105 minutes at the weekend, and hasn't even played a full 90 minutes since January, let alone two games in a row.
And well, how do you analyse a game like this? Tactically, France got it all wrong, especially in the first half. It sounds trite, but the 4-4-2 was a bad idea and didn't work. Germany were all over them like a bad rash, and could easily have had two or three free kicks in good positions. But for all their good play, Germany couldn't get that crucial goal. To say that France looked dangerous on the break would be doing a disservice to Antoine Griezmann because he was so far and a way the best player in this France team (and the Germany team to be fair). Ozil and Kroos were playing some lovely football, but Thomas Muller's Euros curse continued to haunt Germany.
But, France managed to wrangle a controversial penalty from a corner right on half time, as that man Schweinsteiger made a crucial error, although one I think probably was harshly given. He looked off the pace all game and when Griezmann tucked away the penalty, Germany were in trouble.
France switched to a 4-3-3 earlyish in the second half and brought on Kante, which was a smart move, because they looked so much more assured with him on the pitch. As Germany started to run out of ideas, and grow increasingly desperate, things went from bad to worse. Jerome Boateng picked up an injury, forcing Germany's already makeshift back four into even more shuffling. But that doesn't excuse the catalog of errors that led to France and Griezmann's second goal. Howedes started it with a shocking pass across his own box, which Kimmich failed to control, handing the ball to Pogba. Pogba's ball in was then horribly flapped by Manuel Neuer, and the ball-watching Schweinsteiger was nowhere near Griezmann, who had the time and space of the Stade Velodrome to slot home.
There are some things in football that you can't take into account. A 22 year old central defender with no international experience managing to solidify a shaky back four, a serious injury to another key player, already missing three key individuals, a poor refereeing display and a key mistake from the most reliable keeper in the world.
But to make excuses for the Germans isn't what I want to do here. They should have won this game, and that was on them. Schweinsteiger playing was Low's error, Muller not scoring was his error, being one attacking player short is Germany's fault, the key defensive errors for the French goals were their fault.
And more importantly, this was a game that France won, with their key players turning up. Griezmann was easily the man of the match, Umtiti turned in a terrific display, they were largely defensively solid, Moussa Sissoko (who should never have been on the pitch but that's a moot point) played almost like an auxilliary right back and did it well and Lloris when called upon performed well.
On another day, this might have ended differently, but there's plenty here to suggest that France will finally be the favourites that they've been touted as all tournament when Sunday rolls around, and just as much to suggest that with a few tweaks, and better luck, the Germans will be serious contenders to retain the World Cup in two years,
The Hard and Fast Section
- Murray and Federer in action today. Tasty.
- I'm off to the T20 tonight. Should be fun.
- Raikkonen still at Ferrari through 2017
- AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, KLOPP SIGNS UNTIL 2022!
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