Why Did the Knockouts Become BORING?
We’re deep into the Euros and the favourites have all made it to this point. Maybe we expected Germany over Spain in the semi final, at least before the tournament. But, largely, it’s an unexpectedly expected line up going into the final three matches.
The road there, however, has been anything but gracious. Especially for two of the teams. But let's start at the beginning. Most of the group stage matches were riveting. All the way up until England played their first game, practically all of them were thrillers. Beautiful goals, end to end action kind of games. The next game, Romania - Ukraine, may have been the most enjoyable of the tournament. So far.
There were the unexpected upsets and the disappointing favourite performances.
So here we are, at the semi finals. In terms of performance. Spain has been the standout team so far. Suddenly, they’re a joy to watch. The team that was famous for passing the ball sideways, with practically no end product is the most dangerous team in Europe. The young wingers dashing down the line, dribbling and taking shots.
But mostly, the knockout phase has been a snooze fest. Why?
France
France have actually made it to the semis without scoring a single goal, and it is for a lack of trying. Yes, they had 18 shots against Belgium, but only two of those were on goal. It all added up to a whopping 1.06 expected goals.
It looks like there’s no plan with the attack. Kanté is pretty much the only player in the star studded team that’s actually performing. Kanté, the Saudi League player. Sure, Mbappe had his nose broken but that game wasn’t a thrilling display from him before that either.
England
Speaking of low expected goals. England was no better. Their game against Switzerland was a doozy. It wasn’t until the 75th minute when Breel Embolo gave the Swiss the lead that it looked like they actually tried to score. Their efforts resulted in 0.7 xG. In fact, England's total xG in the tournament is lower than Croatias, despite playing 240 more minutes of football. It really is a wonder they made it all the way here.
With England, it looks like Southgate has seen how Guardiola plays but he doesn’t quite understand it. The endless passing between the centre backs, the failed experiments with Alexander-Arnold at centre mid as well as pretty much playing Foden, Bellingham and Kane at the 10 spot. It got crowded there in those first couple of games.
Top Scorer
Own goal is really running away with it. Nine players have scored own goals so far. Maybe, this has some relation to the sometimes dull football being played. When teams like England, Germany and France with their star studded squads come up against a smaller nation, they tend to fall way back. As the bigger teams get more and more balls into the box, once in a while they’ll be deflected.
And a lot of teams have sat low against these teams, and effectively. Killing the offensive momentum by just. In Spain versus Italy for example, practically the entire Italian team were in their own box for parts of the game. And what happened? An own goal.
Surprising Teams
In every tournament, there’s usually a breakout player, someone the big teams start circling like shark when it ends. But there really has been no stand out player like that. Well, maybe Mamardashvili or Mikautadze, the Georgian goalkeeper and striker, will be getting offers from bigger clubs.
We did get Georgia out of the group and Switzerland made it to the quarterfinals, but there’s been a distinct lack of surprises, compared to other international tournaments.
Everyone’s been following Spain's 16 year old Yamal too, but no surprise there. He’d already proved himself at the highest levels of club football for Barcelona in La Liga and the Champions League.
The point is that the knockout rounds have been a disappointment. There’s barely any effort to score or to win, teams just don’t want to lose. It’s been a bit boring. Usually when a knockout game ends in a draw you’re excited to see another 30 minutes of football. But in these games, extra time has felt like a chore.
What’s next?
So, the semi finals are up next! Maybe, the big teams have now found their stride. England, for example, has settled on Mainoo and the three players in the number 10 spot have started to find their own spaces.
At this point, they’re all teams that want possession, that try to play the ball, rather than sitting back and try to find a counter. We might see a bit more back and forth, a bit more entertainment. The risk is that they’ll all still play not to lose, rather than to win. Let’s hope for the former!
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