Kante rolls again the years in a classic show
N’Golo Kante was man of the match as France beat Austria
France have loads of younger midfield expertise within the likes of Eduardo Kamavingo, Aureline Chuameni and Warren Zaire-Emery, however nonetheless opted for N’Golo Kante.
Many noticed the decision as a shock given the 33-year-old now performs for Saudi Arabia’s Al Ittihad, but it surely took simply 90 minutes of France’s opening 1-0 Euro 2024 win in opposition to Austria to see why Didier Deschamps received it proper, as soon as once more.
Kante rolled again the years with a classic show that appeared underwhelming from the surface. No participant within the French nationwide staff has gained extra tackles than a midfielder, and solely William Saliba has gained extra clearances and gained extra possession in protection and the center third.
An important intervention got here 5 minutes after Patrick Wimmer burst in to choose Saliba’s pocket. However Kante coated the bottom once more.
The French midfielder additionally scored 3 times for his companions in aim within the match in opposition to Austria. His biggest potential to be extremely versatile on each ends of the sector will not be going away.
“It was like a youthful model of myself,” Roy Keane mentioned of Kante’s show. This youthful model gained the World Cup with France six years in the past. He may very well be essential within the bid so as to add the European Championship to that assortment.
Sam Blitz
Rangnik’s urgent offers Austria hope
Belgium are the one highly-fancied staff to fail at this European Championship, but it surely was good to see so few groups construct a deep block and hope to hold on. Austria got here to impose their recreation on France.
It was simple to see why they’d misplaced simply one in all their earlier 16 opening matches in Group D to a staff that had recovered underneath former Manchester United caretaker supervisor Ralph Rangnick. They actually appeared good underneath the German.
Austria made 27 tackles within the Euro 2024 match in opposition to France
Within the first half in opposition to France, Austria made extra tackles than some other staff within the event in a complete match. That summed up their front-foot method. Solely a scarcity of particular person high quality prevented them from inflicting an upset.
The urgent challenged France all through and it made for a extra entertaining match consequently. Kylian Mbappe had house to work with, however Max Wobber’s personal aim was the one distinction between the perimeters. Christoph Baumgartner actually ought to have scored.
In reference to the arrival of Poland and the Netherlands, Austria mustn’t despair. To some extent, their plan is working. They’re absolutely able to making it out of Group D if they’ll keep this depth within the subsequent two video games. This event might be higher for that.
Adam Bate
Lunin’s lack of focus is expensive
Goalkeeper of Ukraine Andrey Lunin was responsible of two objectives
One of many large choices going through Carlo Ancelotti forward of the Champions League closing earlier this month was whether or not to stay with Andriy Lunin, the Ukraine goalkeeper, forward of Thibaut Courtois.
No less than that is what the media was speaking about. Not for Ancelotti, who stored his playing cards near his chest forward of Actual Madrid’s assembly with Borussia Dortmund at Wembley.
Because it turned out, Courtois was entrusted with the gloves and the Belgian confirmed why he’s the Italian’s first alternative in uniform. Sadly for Lunin, his shortcomings had been uncovered by a rampant Romania in his first look since shedding his place within the Madrid squad.
Ukraine elevated its file variety of video games on the European Championship with out enjoying a single clear sheet (12). In addition they failed to attain in 67% of their video games on the EUROS (8/12), the very best price of any nation that has taken half in additional
Confronted with intense urgent, the 25-year-old was sloppy with the ball at his toes as Nicolae Stancu decisively punished him with a sweeping strike into the highest nook.
His second error was even much less excusable as he allowed a speculative shot from Razvan Marin to flash underneath his physique.
Sergei Rebrov’s facet paid dearly for his or her failure to transform their early possession into any actual probabilities as Romania eased the strain after which counter-attacked after dispossessing Ukraine deep in their very own half.
Ukraine was a quarter-finalist on the final European Championship, regardless of shedding two out of three group video games. Hope will not be misplaced, as Rebrow later mentioned. However he already has to decide whether or not to stay with Lunin or squirm.
Ben Grounds
Dragusin leads Romania to a well-known victory
Radu Dragusin from “Tottenham” distinguished himself within the Romanian nationwide staff, which surprised Ukraine
In an admittedly quiet January, the switch of Radu Dragushin to Tottenham for 26.7 million kilos grew to become the largest within the switch window of the Premier League.
The centre-back has been restricted to simply 4 league begins since his arrival. However when Romania claimed their first main event victory in 24 years, Spurs followers understood why their membership had invested so closely within the Genoa defender.
Dragusin was glorious in Munich. Each time Ukraine entered harmful areas, they discovered a dominant 22-year-old of their path.
He made 10 strikeouts – twice as many as some other participant – persistently positioning himself to remove the specter of Mikhail Mudryk, Artem Dovbyk and Georgiy Sudakov.
It wasn’t simply Dragusin – the entire Romanian staff purchased into the sport plan, sacrificing possession and defending their zone with admirable dedication earlier than punishing Ukraine’s errors and scoring their very own objectives.
There are prone to be more durable assessments forward – Belgium are additionally lurking in Group E – however these opponents might not discover it simple to interrupt down Romania with star participant Dragusin in such kind.
Joe Shred
Will Belgium ever dwell as much as the hype?
Romelu Lukaku was twice denied by VAR as Belgium misplaced their Group E opener in dramatic trend
Perhaps Belgium is cursed. Maybe unfortunate. Or perhaps this ‘golden era’ simply is not pretty much as good because the hype or the third place within the FIFA rankings suggests. Regardless of the complexities or challenges, they do not appear to carry out on the massive stage as predicted.
Romelu Lukaku was wasteful, Kevin de Bruyne was off the mark, Leandro Trossard was ineffective. Mainly, throughout the pitch, Domenico Tedesco’s facet had been underrated, regardless of creating 4 ‘large probabilities’ and an xG of 1.91.
Recreation by recreation, the shine is peeling off what’s left of Belgium’s status as one in all Europe’s star groups. It is a staff of people, removed from being an entire block of event winners.
And but, there was one thing unfair about their loss within the first recreation. Regardless of all the apparent shortcomings, Lukaku put the ball into the web twice. The previous was dominated offside, and subsequently little argument will be made.
The second resolution, nevertheless, upset rather more. It’s the kind of refereeing that has raised suspicions and skeptics within the Premier League, and lots of see it as ‘re-refereeing’ – there may be an excuse for either side.
Lois Openda actually had the ball, however does that imply it is handball? The rule is, after all, subjective, however many imagine that VAR intervention is a stain on the sport. The jury is out.
Both method, Belgium should enhance to keep away from a repeat of Euro 2022 and relegation on the competitors’s group stage.
Laura Hunter
Slovakia’s veterans assist make the primary shock of the event
Slovakia’s Ivan Šranc celebrates along with his teammates after scoring in opposition to Belgium in Group E of Euro 2024
All that was lacking from an exciting begin to Euro 2024 was a outcome that may have moved the apple cart; a outcome that outsiders dream of. It occurred within the ninth recreation.
Actually, Belgium had been denied an equalizer not as soon as however twice by VAR assessment, however they lacked attacking verve all through the match and had solely themselves guilty to a point.
It was an vital outcome for Slovakia as their first win in 4 makes an attempt in opposition to Belgium offers them a great likelihood of qualifying for the knockout levels of the competitors.
But additionally as a result of they achieved it by changing into solely the second nation in European Championship historical past to call three gamers aged 35 or over within the beginning line-up.
France did it at Euro 2008 with Gregory Coupet, Claude Makelele and Lilian Thuram, and now Slovakia have matched it with Petar Pekarik (37), Juraj Kučka (37) and Martin Dubravka (35) all enjoying in Frankfurt.
Pekarik had a strong recreation at right-back, whereas Juraj Kutska supplied an honest sufficient menace within the heart of the park, however Newcastle stopper Dubravka was one of the best, with 5 saves to maintain the Pink Devils from scoring 1.03 objectives.
Regardless of their fortunes, Francesco Calzono’s Falcons confronted what was believed to be the hardest take a look at they’ve confronted within the group levels, with their previous guard reinforcing the case that age is something however. , as a quantity.
And Lengthy