Euro 2024: England set course to Berlin final amid calls for potential bank holiday – live | Euro 2024

“Does a bank holiday, if England win, apply to England only, or will the whole of the United Kingdom benefit?”, asks Will Laidlaw.

I’m not an expert on this but surely this would just be for England. I’m not sure Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland would be particularly excited to revel in England’s succcess, should that transpire.

Hello world. Let’s start by looking at the Golden Boot standings. Remarkable that despite him having a tournament to forget, Harry Kane is potentially just one goal away from being named the top scorer at Euro 2024. Spain’s Dani Olmo (three goals, two assists) is in the box seat though.

Also a reminder that there is no third/fourth play-off at the Euros, so that won’t play a part in the above.

I don’t have any way of following that, so I’m going to say goodbye then go and sauna; here’s Michael Butler to chill with you for the next bit.

I mean…

“My opinion re penalties and inside-the-box fouls,” says David J. Lobina, “partly published by your colleague earlier on, is to go back to how things looked 20 years or so ago: involuntary handballs and dangerous play (including after-the-shot contacts as in the case of Kane) would not get a direct free-kick inside the box instead of a penalty, but an indirect free-kick instead, and on the spot where the foul happened. This used to happen all the time and seems much fairer – England would have got one of those instead of a penalty, and Cucurella would not have escaped scot-free against Germany, which was also a bit unfair (the shot looked dangerous and could have ended as a goal, after all). The odds of scoring those are much lower than those of a penalty (but don’t forget Maradona’s goal against Juventus!).”

F1 has a phrase, “racing incident”, that they use when people bousting cars very fast results in collisions that aren’t necessarily anyone’s fault. Though I probably agree – with regret – that the penalty was correctly awarded, collisions like that always bring to mind that description because, in a game of football, bodies will inevitably mince, and it needn’t be someone’s fault every time.

“If the Dutch defender hadn’t gone in with a studs high challenge,” writes Richard Claydon, “to what degree would have that altered the chance of Kane scoring? If no challenge because the only way to challenge was dangerous, what likelihood he scores because he is unimpeded? No idea of the answer myself, but I think the question is important.”

I don’t think the challenge was a dangerous one and more generally, defenders not making them for fear of conceding a penalty, is absurd and against the spirit of the game – in mine. We’re dealing in fractions of seconds, and though I don’t necessarily mind the award of a penalty where tackles are reckless, when they’re not we shouldn’t punish them so severely.

“That one second of his life will always be special for him as long as he lives and will remain in the collective football conscience forever,” returns Krishnamoorthy V on the topic of Oliver George Arthur Watkins. “It is the ‘We will always have Paris’ moment. I am not sure Mr Watkins has understood the full gravity of what he has achieved last night. I mean I know that he knows – but it will get better in the days to come.”

Absolutely. I did the MBM for a different outlet – not that other outlets exist, of course – and in my call of the goal I said that his life had changed. Really, though, he needs England to win on Sunday and to do the same again – but in the meantime, he’ll be feeling feelings he’s never felt before and will never feel again, his sense of self forever changed.

“While I have sympathy with your argument about some penalties being too severe for the offence that was committed,” says Martin O’Donovan-Wright, “if the law was altered to take into account mitigating or prosecuting factors such as denial of goal-scoring opportunity, wouldn’t this then introduce a subjective opinion by the referee that would predictably lead to all sorts of problems? I know judging what is a foul is also subjective, but now you would have two layers of subjectivity, in the most delicate of circumstances.”

The officials are making this decision every time because they’re deciding whether or not to show a card and if so, which one.

Sky are reporting that Man United are in negotiations to sign Joshua Zirkzee – who got his big chance at the Euros last evening, sent on after Watkins scored. I’m not quite sure what it says about him that Ronald Koeman prefers the goalmachine that is Wout Weghorst; maybe it says more about Koeman.

“Defenders don’t risk a penalty if they ‘make a fair and honest attempt to play the ball,’ reckons Stephen Brown. “The point is that they are penalised no matter how honest or dishonest their intent is if their attempt is unfair. And that is true anywhere on the pitch; a player who makes an honest attempt to play the ball but ends up clattering through the back of the opponent in the centre circle will also give away a foul. A player who makes an honest attempt to play the ball but ends up late and with studs up, will give a way a foul and get a yellow card. Etc.

I take your point about ‘earning’ a goal, but in tennis there is the concept of unforced errors. The corollary of that is that playing well enough to force your opponent into a mistake is good play. And getting to the ball first so and knowing that the opponent is going to trip/kick you anyway is a brave way of forcing their error, and gaining an advantage. In the 18yard box that means a penalty and defenders know that.”

Yes, but my point is that an 85% chance of a goal is too severe a punishment for the most offences that yield one. I don’t think the penalty England got last night, for example, came about because of a defensive error, and I don’t think it’s good for a game whose allure is underpinned in part by how hard it is to score goals, to give them away so cheaply.

“My orange heart” sounds like a summer-lit blockbuster.

“Never before have sporting gods smiled this benevolently on us, the fans, advises Krishnamoorthy V. “Wimbledon Final, followed by Euro final, followed by Copa América final. The three events seamlessly running from Sunday afternoon to early-morning Monday. There will be a strange summer flu affecting millions this Monday who won’t be reporting to work.”

There’s also Le Tour and Le Test – if it’s not already over – and of course, all of the above will covered live by your super, soaraway Grauniad.

Talking of Portugal, while I understand that Roberto Martínez’s remarkable success with Belgium was irresistible, can they please just get a manger able to assimilate their ridiculous attacking talent into a coherent team? They’ve massively underachieved the last few tournaments, and they’re only getting one more with Bernardo Silva and Bruno Fernandes at their peaks.

Sky have just been showing VT of João Palhinha chatting about his move to Bayern. I must say, I’m a little surprised they’ve paid £42.3m for someone ahed 29, and also that the kind of player they want is the kind of player he is. He’s good, of course, but I’d have thought they’d want a better, quicker passer in his position.

“Claims about foreigners harming the national team has always been [redacted],” says Peter Neal. “Firstly, the high quality foreigners have replaced lower quality english players. The best English players are still there and probably getting better by playing together with top foreign players, as well as coached by top foreign coaches. Any really good English players that do feel displaced can always do what the foreigners have done; move to another league. At long last, some top English players are now doing that. What has always set English national teams back is English insularity,an unwillingness to move abroad or learn other things from abroad. As Ian Rush is supposed to have said: ‘it’s like living in another country’.

I agree with most of this, though I do think there’s less reason for English players to move abroad now because the Premier League is so strong. I’ve actually been wondering if Jude Bellingham will see out his best years at Real Madrid, or if at some point he’ll want to, er … test himself in England.

“If England win on Sunday,” writes Simon McMahon, “I’ll happily take an extra day off, though it’s more likely to be a day of mourning rather than celebration. Sent from Scotland with love.”

As Andy Murray can attest, that’s exactly the way it should be.

“I’ve always liked field hockey’s system for fouls in the D,” says Andrew Hales-Hill, “where you get a penalty corner for any old foul which happens to be near the goal, and a penalty shot for anything egregious. How about a minor foul in the box gets you a direct free-kick from a position of your choosing? Equally, hacking a player down who is clean through should be penalty no matter where on the pitch they do it.”

I agree, proportionality in hockey is better than in football. Ideally, I’d not let the attacking side choose the free-kick location, but I do wonder if taking it from where the offence took place is a workable solution given how close to goal it might get. We probably need to think carefully about that aspect.

Just Delsi-May — or Ruby Washington as she’s known on stage – who also happens to be Ollie Watkins’ mum.

Earlier, I posted Gareth Southgate’s thoughts on the final, and he mentioned Kieran Trippier’s injury. And I imagine left-back is the only position in which there’s a selection dilemma: England are better with Luke Shaw on the pitch, but is he fit enough to start and is the manager able to leave out a player who’s served him well over a number of years?

England opted not to take a stroll around their hotel gardens before the Spain game in case someone slipped and got injured; Sky’s reporter has just said he can’t imagine that could possibly happen. I dare him to raise that with Jonny Bairstow.

“Has anyone brought up that just last summer we – or those of us who followed it – were celebrating an exciting, young, defensively solid England team beating Spain in the final of the Euros?” wonders Ben Edmunds. “A game that featured our Cole Palmer and Anthony Gordon no less. A 1-0 that got us over the line, with dramatic last-minute penalty heroics from young keeper James Trafford. Can we expect more of the same on Sunday?

Should England win, I’d be fairly surprised if the score was 1-0, though I’d not be surprised if Palmer or Gordon contributed off the bench. Spain are good, but dealing with fresh attackers, different in style to those they’ve replaced, when legs are heavy, is not at all easy.

Momentum and brilliant attacking variety are a helluva combo.

“Where would you rank Ollie Watkins goal in the all-time great England goals list?” wonders Alex Williams. “For me, taking into consideration the significance of the match, when it happened, and the level of skill required, it’s arguably number one for me. Hurst’s third for England, which clinched the 1966 World Cup would be the other contender. What else would be on the shortlist? Beckham’s free kick vs Greece, but that was only to qualify for the World Cup. Platt’s volley against Belgium, but that was round of 16. Others?”

The most obvious comparator is Platt’s goal against Belgium, I guess … the most obvious comparator for which was previously Bellingham’s goal against Czech Republic. But I don’t think Platt’s can be beaten because it changed the world: after it, football was never the same again and nor was the UK.

“Had VAR existed in 1993,” writes Dom O’Reilly, “it would have prevented a Dutch goal being wrongly disallowed for offside in the first half at 0-0. Funny how the England football community never mention that.”

I dunno, I think it’s fairly obvious why it’s not mentioned: it was a marginal call, the getting right of which asked the human eye to do something of which it is incapable, not as an egregious an unfathomable an error as can be imagined, compounded by the player who escaped then scoring.

“While agreed that the penalty for innocuous handballs is far too severe,” says Alex Ecob, “I think broadly the penalty punishment is a good one because of its severity. In a low-scoring sport, it’s designed to put the defender at a bit of a handicap, which (should) result in more goals being scored from open play. Happy to revise this opinion based on upcoming events in the final.”

I know what you mean, but we want goals to be earned, I think, and for defenders to able to defend without fear of a ball being kicked against their hand or risking a likely goal if they make a fair and honest attempt to play the ball.

As if we weren’t already bringing you enough working-day sport.

Southgate, Starmer … here’s today’s Football Daily!

Starmer: UK should mark occasion if England win

Gareth Southgate has been chatting about how Spain might be beaten:

“Well, we have to get the ball off them first!” he said. “It’s not as simple as us having the ball and making them run. I mean, they press very, very well, so we’re going to have to be exceptional with the ball, and we’re going to have to be exceptional without it. But it’s a final, you expect it to be that way. They’ve been the best team. We’re starting to show a better version of ourselves.

On fatigue, he said: “The extra day is a concern. You know, in the last few tournaments that’s been a problem for finalists, so we’ve got to do the very best we can to recover the players as well as we can. But we’re not going to be on the training ground. That’s simple. We’ll be walking through things or delivering things in meetings, which was the same for this game. But we’re in there and with what we’ve shown to this point we have as good a chance as they do.

“The lads are singing in the dressing room, but they’re straight in the ice. There won’t be any wild parties. We’ve had a couple of those already, so we pick our moments for those.”

On the preparedness, he said: “In terms of the experience, of course every game you manage, every tournament you manage, you learn so much. When I took this job I’d had three years as a Premier League manager. I’ve now had 100 internationals, some of the biggest games in world football. You learn all the time from that.

“We’re more calm going into the knockout games because the first time we did it in Russia [at the 2018 World Cup] we hadn’t won a knockout game for 10 years. We hadn’t been through the experience – quarter-finals, semi-finals, you know, we’ve managed a lot of those games now, so you’re definitely much better prepared because every experience you go through you learn from.

“You’re improving all the time, your knowledge, your understanding, so I would say if you’re a coach and you’re not doing that there’d be a problem, really. But the last final was the first final, first European Championship final, I’d ever managed, so if I didn’t get everything right apologies for that but we’ll try and do better this week.”

And on injuries he said Harry Kane “took quite a big knock when he won the penalty”, while Kieran Trippier “had a little bit of a problem” but “could be OK” for Sunday.

“We didn’t want to take any chances and we had it in our minds that bringing Luke into the game with that balance at some point. We’re still deciding how long he could play for, but we felt to be able to bring him into the game and finish with that balance was better than to start it and then have to take him off. We’ll have to see how our Tripps is but, I mean, he’s been an absolute soldier for us. To fill in the way he has and produce the level of performance on the wrong side of the pitch with the injuries he came into the tournament with as well has been absolutely phenomenal.”

Luis de la Fuente says that England play a different style to Spain: they’re good physically and have players who like to run a lot. He’s right, of course, but he’d do well nor to think that’s all they are. Football is changing and has changed: nowadays, the big lads who don’t mind charging about also have feet and brains.

“I’m old enough to remember when certain pundits were firmly of the opinion that too many foreigners playing in the Premier League explained England’s disappointing tournament performances,” says Tony Clare, “and that England would never produce a squad good enough to challenge for a trophy without a cap on overseas players being introduced. Not many pundits seem to be repeating that twaddle these days. Any idea why?”

I guess in some ways, this reflects a more open society – fewer potentially elite footballers are going undiscovered – and the money in football makes the game a seriously attractive career option for those sufficiently talented. But yes, I agree: players who raise the level inspire and improve those around them. Josh McEachran would not be bossing midfield for England had Chelseas pursued a different transfer policy.

“Cannot disagree more with the premise that winning knockout matches in adverse circumstances is the sign of a poor or undeserving team,” says John Oswald. “It happily bucks the earlier Southgate trend – in fact, completely inverts the trend – of an England prone to scoring early and conceding late (remember those Croatia and Italy matches). I know which version of England I prefer! They’re building extraordinary resilience as a group and now we should expect them to win if they concede an early goal. I hope…”

I agree with you about resilience, though I think it’s more a factor of loads of great attacking options on the bench. Against Spain, though, it’s a little different, partly because they’re in a different league to any side England have faced so far and partly because the way they play means going behind is a bigger problem in terms of getting enough of the ball to build pressure. But belief in destiny is a powerful thing.

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