Day seven of the European Championship saw all four teams in Group C in action, along with the much-anticipated game between Spain and reigning champions Italy. It also witnessed the unveiling of a tricolore mask to protect Kylian Mbappe’s fractured nose, although we won’t be seeing it in Friday’s game between France and the Netherlands, even if Mbappe does feature in the game.
England’s underwhelming tournament continued, with Gareth Southgate’s side only able to draw 1-1 with Denmark in Frankfurt. As they did against Serbia, England took the lead — via Harry Kane’s 13th career goal at a tournament — but ceded control of the match almost immediately. Denmark’s subsequent equaliser from a Morten Hjulmand long shot was as good as it was inevitable. That match was preceded by another Group C 1-1 draw, Serbia equalising in the 95th minute against Slovenia to leave all four teams with a chance to progress in the final games on Tuesday.
And if Denmark provided us with the day’s long-range goal, the customary own goal came in the Spain vs Italy game, with Riccardo Calafiori becoming the fifth player to put through his own net at Euro 2024. Victory sees Spain progress to the knockout stage as group winners, while for Italy it’s all to play for against Croatia on Monday.
Our writers run you through the highlights of the day…
Despite the opening goal, this was not a classic Harry Kane performance.
He started the game in the best possible way, slotting in Kyle Walker’s cross to put England 1-0 up in the 18th minute. It felt like an important goal for a man who has made a habit of starting the last two tournaments slowly before finding his best form during the knockout phase. That made this the first goal he had scored in a group stage since his hat-trick against Panama in Nizhny Novgorod almost six years ago.
But just as Kane was criticised for not doing enough in the build-up against Serbia, today he was criticised for not doing enough as a conventional No 9. He didn’t press, didn’t run in behind and never looked at 100 per cent fitness.
The Bayern Munich striker missed the final two games of the Bundesliga season due to a back issue. He then came on as a substitute during England’s first pre-tournament friendly against Bosnia &Herzegovina, before starting and playing 65 minutes in the 1-0 loss against Iceland a few days later.
But Southgate appeared to play down any injury fears for England’s captain after the Denmark game.
“We needed energy,” Southgate said when asked about Kane’s withdrawal. “We’ve had two games in a short turnaround — we needed fresh legs, we needed energy to press and at that stage of the game. I think Harry only had the one 90 minutes in over a month; that was the decision that we took.”
And while it’s true that Kane often doesn’t play 90 minutes in games for England in the early stages of tournaments, it raises questions going into the Slovenia game, just as there have been in group stages in the past.
Jack Pitt-Brooke
What we do know: Kylian Mbappe will wear a mask when he returns to play at Euro 2024.
What we still don’t know: what it will look like.
The France captain, 25, fractured his nose in their first game of the tournament. He avoided surgery but, following medical assessment, it has been determined he must wear protective equipment to safely return to the field.
Mbappe was pictured in a mask with the French national colours of red, white and blue — the tricolore — and the French Football Federation (FFF) logo on it during training on Thursday.
But Mbappe will not be allowed to wear it in a game: UEFA has very specific rules on clothing and other equipment worn while playing.
It reads: “Medical equipment (e.g. head protection, face-masks, casts, kneepads or knee braces, elbow pads): Medical equipment worn on the field of play must be a single colour and free of team and manufacturer identification.
“Items worn on legs and arms should be the same colour as the corresponding playing attire item (e.g. elbow pads or tape used on the arm the same colour as shirt sleeves and kneepads the same colour as shorts).”
Any equipment has to be approved by UEFA, so it is not possible for Mbappe to take the field wearing a mask that does not adhere to those regulations. The FFF will need to ask UEFA and clear whatever mask he chooses to wear.
Mbappe has several masks prepared, all of a single colour, which will work inside UEFA’s regulations, the FFF has confirmed to The Athletic.
The FFF knew of the guidance that must be followed before getting the masks made. He has also had different sizes prepared.
On Wednesday, Mbappe teased the prospect of him taking part in France’s second game of the group stage with a cryptic message on social media. “Without risks, there are no victories,” he wrote on Instagram, sparking speculation he would be available.
“Everything’s going in the right direction,” Didier Deschamps then said at his news conference on Thursday. “After this major shock that he’s had, with the consequences of course. Yesterday, as you saw, he was able to go out and do a bit of activity. And that’ll be the case tonight too.
“So things are moving in the right direction so that he can be available tomorrow. We’ll make sure he’s available, I repeat.”
Charlotte Harpur
This was definitely the best that Spain have played since Luis de la Fuente became national coach in December 2022, and arguably their best display since the Euro 2020 semi-final against Italy, or maybe even the Euro 2012 final, against Italy too.
De la Fuente’s side went on the attack from the first whistle, mixing direct running wingers Nico Williams and Lamine Yamal, with incisive passing from midfield trio Pedri, Rodri and Fabian Ruiz. Williams’ dribbling especially was causing havoc every time he got on the ball, and everything seemed to be clicking perfectly for his team.
Spain had nine shots — four on target — before Italy managed their first effort at goal, a wild effort from Federico Chiesa just before the break.
The one-way traffic continued after half-time, and Spain got to 11 efforts at goal without finding the net. Persistence paid off, though. Williams once again drove at right-back Giovanni Di Lorenzo and they deserved the good fortune which saw slight touches from both Alvaro Morata and Gianluigi Donnarumma before Calafiori could not help but knock the ball into his own goal.
The Spanish fans in Gelsenkirchen were loving it, with ‘ole’ cheers breaking out around the stands. The only slight concern was having so many shots and only scoring once. But with qualification for the next round secured already, De la Fuente and his team were very satisfied with their night’s work.
Dermot Corrigan
The main themes from the first seven days of Euro 2024 have largely been positive. We’ve seen high-tempo, high-scoring games, excellent atmospheres and the underdogs being competitive. But perhaps the most notable aspect has been the number of long-range goals.
At a time when many believe that shooting from distance is being discouraged in top-level club football, this European Championship has provided something of a contrast. But is this all true? And if so, what is the reason for the number of successful long-range strikes?
First, let’s acknowledge that this is a relatively small sample size. Only 18 games have been played over the tournament’s opening seven days.
Second, let’s be realistic about the nature of the goals from outside the box.
Yes, there have been some crackers. But both Cody Gakpo’s equaliser for the Netherlands against Poland and Erik Janza’s equaliser for Slovenia against Denmark took heavy deflections on their way in. Kerem Akturkoglu’s clinching goal in Turkey’s thrilling 3-1 win against Georgia in the 97th minute was into an empty net after the goalkeeper went up to try to score an equaliser, so can hardly be considered a proper long-range strike. And two of Germany’s goals in the 5-1 win over Scotland were struck from outside the box, certainly, but also were from within the ‘D’, from 19 and 22 yards respectively, so barely qualify as long-range shots.
But there have been some excellent long-range goals, including two for Romania in their 3-0 win against Ukraine, and the other two goals Turkey scored. And the interesting thing is the trajectory of the ball.
The long-range strikes have not, by and large, been absolutely thumped in, flying along in a straight line. They have instead curled or bent towards the goal astutely. And this kind of trajectory depends on the ball moving properly in the air, which is something we’ve probably come to take for granted.
The Euro 2024 ball is not a major outlier from other balls of the current era, although it appears fast through the air. But the key is that it moves in the correct manner. And, thus far, we’ve had great examples of the four different ways players can — deliberately — get a ball to move.
You can curl it conventionally with your instep, getting around the ball and moving it on a smooth trajectory. Or you can bend the ball by cutting across it, connecting with either the top or outside of your foot, bringing more dramatic movement.
And then, in terms of direction, you can apply movement to take it away from the goalkeeper and towards the corner, or you can start the ball outside the post and bring it back inside.
Nicolae Stanciu’s goal for Romania came from a ball laid back to him. He used the spin on the ball in his favour, getting under and around it and sending it curling away from the goalkeeper into the far corner.
Arda Guler’s stunner against Georgia came from a broadly similar technique — albeit left-footed — but he was getting around the ball to start it outside the post and bring the shot into the goal.
But we’ve also seen players getting reverse movement by cutting across the ball. Mert Muldur’s opener that day for Turkey saw him slicing across — and slightly underneath — the ball to make it fade away from the goalkeeper into the top corner.
Meanwhile, Nicolo Barella’s technique for Italy against Albania was broadly similar — note the standing foot, almost facing towards the near side rather than towards goal — but that was bringing the ball back in towards goal.
What we don’t see these days is the ball moving unpredictably, moving up and down unexpectedly, or moving left and right in quick succession. That period probably explains the 2006-08 rise in long-range goals. Equally, we haven’t seen anything like World Cup 2010, where the lack of drag on the ball meant players struggled to get dip or movement, and it essentially carried on flying after it was struck (usually over the crossbar).
It remains to be seen whether this trend of long-range strikes will continue throughout Euro 2024. But it seems clear that great technique is being rewarded with great goals.
Michael Cox
Friday is the penultimate day at Euro 2024 to contain a game in the early timeslot — so make the most of it…