Euro 2020 Semi Final Round Up

 


The nerves are definitely starting to kick in now as we are very quickly approaching the final of Euro 2020, the past month seems to have flown by and the competition is very close to being wrapped up for another 4 years. It seems like no round this competition has let us fans down and each one has provided us with some great games. The semi finals certainly weren't any different and we saw two great games over two nights and we saw some very hopeful performances. So here is a quick round up of the semi final games where we actually predicted the right winners but just not the correct scores...

Italy 1-1 Spain - Italy win on penalties

This game was definitely a whole lot closer than I expected and to be honest I thought Spain were going to end up coming out the other side as finalists and not Italy. To say Spain were the underdogs going into the game they pushed Italy and made them look weak in some areas which no other team has really been able to do. It was nice to see Italy been challenged though as it showed there was a potential to break through and beat them which we hadn't really seen before Tuesday night. You can tell Italy wasn't used to the pushing too as they looked scared and I don't believe they played half as good as they have done during other games in the tournament, cracks started to show and weaknesses could finally be seen. One thing that drove me mad was how easily Italy seemed to go down, the slightest touch that was it and they go actively looking for anyway they can gain a free kick etc and to be honest we haven't just seen it in the semis but we have seen it from them in all their games so England need to watch out for that in the final. 

As I say I was really shocked with the result as I thought Spain were the better side and they did really well blocking Immobile and Insigne out of the game and really limiting the chances Italy had. It is just a shame that Spain took such poor penalties as they just didn't seem confident in themselves at all when taking them but then again if they took all their chances during normal time extra time and penalties might not even have been needed. 

England 2-1 Denmark (After extra time)

It is safe to say that like many others I was very nervous for the build up to this game and those nervous only build up as the game got underway and progressed as England just didn't seem to be doing themselves any favours. There seemed to be a few players for England who had a shaky start and didn't fill me with confidence but Denmark also started the game really well which obviously didn't help, England did settle into the game eventually though and once they were settled they certainly were the biggest threat and Denmark started slipping away due to the constant pressure and roles were reversed with Denmark playing a lot of the game looking nervous and on the back foot. It was Denmark who initially took the lead though with what was an absolutely fantastic goal however, when it went in I did have to ask Liam if he thought the Danish players seemed a bit too close to the English which obviously they aren't allowed to do, plus it seemed like a very soft free kick to be given to start off with granted it was a very very good goal though.

Sterling once again had another great game and he did well to put pressure on to force the own goal that got England back to the game. He then ended up getting us the penalty that won us the game in extra time, now there has been a lot of controversy from a lot of fans of other nations saying we cheated and we shouldn't have had a penalty but the fact VAR was used and after various looks at various angles it was still given there was clearly some contact to warrant the penalty to be given, plus Denmark were lucky a lot more weren't given over the course of the game as England definitely had plenty of claims that could easily have been called. I am glad Kane managed to put away the rebound as my nerves were through the roof for extra time let alone if we had gone to penalties like the other semi final. One thing that really drove me mad during the game though was definitely England heading to the corner, I hate when teams do this as not only is it boring but it is also pretty risky all it takes is the opposition stealing the ball and breaking and you are on the back foot. Poor Foden was breaking into the box and could have possibly got us another 3 or 4 goals if we had pushed for more instead of going to the corner so I definitely feel for him as you could tell he just wanted to be on that score sheet. When that final blew though I don't think I have ever felt so relived... the curse has been broken and the mens team are finally back in a major final and hopefully they can bring it home. 

So that is our quick round up of the semi finals of the competition, I really can't wait for the final but at the same time nerves are definitely starting to kick in. Want to see our predictions for the final? Well check back tomorrow before the big game kicks off at 8pm... I think we are going to be in for a treat. What did you think to the semi final games?

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