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The numerous moments of delight and triumph, and frustration and failure, highlight the good and the bad from the tournament
Published : 13 Jul 2024, 09:56 PM
The Euro 2024 final between Spain and England in Berlin will bring the curtain down on a month-long festival of football on Sunday.
The numerous moments of delight and triumph, and frustration and failure, have highlighted the good and the bad from the tournament.
THE GOOD
Stadium atmosphere and fans: Staging games in regular clubs' football stadiums that provide a fantastic atmosphere makes a difference. From the Tartan Army of Scotland to the Orange Wall from the Netherlands, and the joyous Romanian and Albanian fans, the crowds brought incredible colour and passion.
Lamine Yamal: It might not have been foremost in his mind, but the young Spaniard, who turned 17 on Saturday, had been waiting for his school exam results earlier in the tournament. From his performances, and superb goal against France, he looks mature beyond his years and broke the record for youngest player and scorer at a Euros.
Spain: More wins (6), goals (13), attempts on goal (108) and attempts on target (37) than any team in the tournament. Virtually every other big team struggled for a recognisable shape or pattern of play, but Spain arrived looking like a well-oiled machine.
Refereeing: The standard of officiating has generally been superb with mostly unfussy referees in tune with the players and spirit of the game. A viewers' highlight has been the disdainful "get up off the floor" hand gesture from officials. The players soon got the message that going to ground too easily received no reward.
Giorgi Mamardashvili: The Georgia goalkeeper made 29 saves in four games, by a distance the most in the competition so far and ahead of Dutch keeper Bart Verbruggen with 18 in six matches. Mamardashvili’s reputation has been greatly enhanced.
Georgia: Reaching the last-16 with their seat-of-the-pants style, debutants Georgia were handsomely rewarded as billionaire former Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili pledged $10.7 million to the team after they beat Portugal 2-0 to make the knockout rounds.
Minnows no more: The so-called smaller football nations stood up to the big guns and caused several surprises. Georgia, Albania, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine and Turkey all produced eye-catching results.
Arda Guler: The "Turkish Messi" was masterful in orchestrating his side's midfield while several key players came and went because of suspension. His poise was remarkable for a 19-year-old.
Injury-time: It was good for some … 12 goals scored in injury-time is a record for a Euros finals, and many were decisive, providing vital wins or draws, none more so than Jude Bellingham’s over-head kick for England against Slovakia.
England’s penalty-takers: England transformed themselves from a team traumatised by penalties to one playing for spot-kicks and dispatched them with confidence in the quarter-final against Switzerland.
THE BAD
Kylian Mbappe: By his own admission, Mbappe had a tournament to forget, largely hindered by a broken nose and a face mask that he never looked comfortable wearing. He had only a penalty to show for his 24 attempts at goal, the most by any player, and one more than similar struggler...
Cristiano Ronaldo: Did we witness the end of an era? Portugal persisted with the 39-year-old but he looked a shadow of the player once considered by many the best in the world, and was unable to find the back of the net in open play.
Kai Havertz: After Germany's 1-1 draw with Switzerland in the pool stage, newspaper Bild ran a poll of 160,000 readers asking whether Havertz or Niclas Fuellkrug should start. Fully 90% sided with the latter. Havertz scored two penalties, but missed some sitters as Germany bowed out in the quarter-finals.
Belgium: This was supposed to be a new dawn for Belgium under coach Domenico Tedesco, but the same problems at major finals persisted as they could not turn dominance into goals and went out meekly in the last-16.
Italy: The defending champions also bowed out with a whimper having scraped into the last-16 with a 98th minute equaliser against Croatia, only to be outclassed by Switzerland. The bizarre press conferences of coach Luciano Spalletti added to the drama.
Merih Demiral, Jude Bellingham and Mirlind Daku: When you know the eyes of the world are on you, it is best to cut out the controversy. Inflammatory goal celebrations, crotch-grabbing and leading fans in xenophobic chants respectively drew UEFA sanctions for this trio.
Stewards behaving badly: Generally authorities handled fans in and around the stadiums well, but a steward was caught on camera beating a Portugal supporter while two colleagues held him down. A poor image for the tournament and Germany.
Cup commotion: It seemed to be a regular thing during the tournament as fans of many teams threw plastic cups at players taking corners or goalkeepers about to launch goal kicks.
Travel woes: Cancelled trains and public transport unable to cope, there were scenes of chaos before and after some matches. Even the teams were disrupted as the Netherlands had their train to Dortmund for their semi-final cancelled. Deutsche Bahn came in for criticism from transport minister Volker Wissing for its poor performance during the tournament.
Biking blooper: It ended in smiles but could have been much worse as a battered, bruised and embarrassed England forward Anthony Gordon came off his electric bike while trying to take a picture with his phone. Two British journalists jokingly later presented Gordon with a bike helmet and training wheels.
