Paris 2024 is here!

It feels like Euro 2024 with disappointment for England has only just gone - but another global sporting megaevent is here already - the Paris 2024 Summer Olympic games. With 329 events in 32 sports there will be plenty of action to keep us going! The men's and women's football competitions are no different. Although football has its own World Cups for men and women (as often covered by us here!) the Olympics still play an important role. 

The men's competition is really a sort of global 'age group' tournament, with teams allowed to field only three players aged over 23, while in women's football the competition is open to players of all ages, making it a secondary world cup! 

As usual we sat down before kick off to predict the tournaments ourselves, and also randomly, with a dice. 

 

Men 

Alex predicted that Spain will repeat their Euros triumph - ultimately with a 4-2 victory over North African hopefuls Morocco. He predicts Argentina will win the bronze medal triumphing 3-0 ove Japan in the third place match. Morocco won their controversial game against Argentina yesterday thanks to a VAR decision so their rise through the tournament looks like it is on! 

Kevin predicted that Argentina would see gold instead, with their younger generation looking to repeat the World Cup triumph of their elders. Spain would win silver after a tight but exciting final, losing 2-3. Egypt would enjoy a favorable tournament and win bronze, narrowly over Ukraine, winning 0-1 in extra time in the third place match. 

The dice as ever predicted the most interesting outcome - Japan will be champions, after a 6-6 thriller with Iraq, a team famously tipped by sporting economists Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski to eventually rise to world dominance. Argentina would have to content themselves with the Bronze, after beating Egypt 0-1. 

Women 

Great Britain failed to qualify for the Olympics after England, who were representing them, finished as runners up in their Nations League group in December 2023 - but there is still plenty of action to enjoy, as we give other nations a chance at Olympic glory! 

Alex predicted that the victors will be France - in spectacular fashion, triumphing 5-4 over a Brazil in a spectacular final match, ending on extra time. Expectations on the home side will certainly be high. 

World champions Spain would win Bronze after a 1-2 third place match, with former serial World Champions Germany missing out. 

Kevin predicted that the Brazilians, whose performance has gradually improved in recent years, would triumph - with a 3-2 win over Germany in the final. The French would have to content themselves with Bronze, in a 2-0 win over Australia - so often the fate of host nations who do well in a tournament only to be pipped at the post!

On the dice, Columbia were predicted to be champions, triumphing 2-0 over Australia in the final. Canada would get bronze, beating Nigeria 1-0. 

So now we know what we think will happen over to reality-  who's going to win the two gold medals on offer?

It Didn't Come Home (....but it has taken a holiday to Spain....)

And that was that, alas football hasn't come home (still) but it was a very close thing.

England had been many people's favourites to win Euro 2024, and did themselves proud, winnning their group, reaching the Final and being level on goals until the 86th minute.

Congratulations though to Spain, who just couldn't be contained, and were worthy winners.

At the outset of the tournament,:

Alex predicted England to reach the Quarter-Finals, where they would be beaten by Italy, 0-1 after extra time, and a Final ending Portugal 1 - 2 France.

Kevin predicted England to lose 1-3 to Spain after extra-time in the Quarter Finals, and Portugal to beat Croatia by 2-0 in the Final.

The dice suggest that England would go out by 3-1 to Switzerland in the Round of 16, with Croatia beating Ukraine 3-1 in the Final.

Once the tournament was underway and the outcome of the Group Stages was known, we adjusted our predictions after each round, based on who was still in the competition.  Our suggestions for the Final were as follows;

Alex and Kevin both predicted 2 - 2 after 90 minutes, with England to score a winning goal in extra time, final score 2-3 and England's young lions to lift the trophy.

The dice predicted 3-3 after normal time,  but finishing 4-6 to England, AET.

It was great optimism but sadly was not to be, the England men unable to replicate the success of the women, who won their respective Euros in 2022.

Just as sad was the news that Gareth Southgate resigned as England Manager in the aftermath. The most successful boss during our own lifetimes, he turned the national side around from being in the tabkoid press for all the wrong reasons, to being in there for most ly the righgt reasons, reaching the latter stages of the FIFA World Cup and two succesive UEFA European Championship Finals.

The BBC summarise it best:

"Tournament record: Fourth at 2018 World Cup, runners-up at Euro 2020, quarter-final at 2022 World Cup, runners-up at Euro 2024.

Overall record: Played 102, won 61, drawn 24, lost 17, scored 213, conceded 72, win ratio 59.8%.

Gareth Southgate took temporary charge of the England side in September 2016, and was unbeaten in four games, earning the role on a permanent basis.

For the first time since 1990, England's men's team reached the semi-finals of a World Cup in 2018, losing to Croatia after extra time. They went even further at the European Championship in 2021, but lost to Italy on penalties in the Wembley final.

A quarter-final loss to France in the 2022 World Cup followed. Southgate contemplated leaving the role after that tournament but stayed on, taking England to the final at Euro 2024, where they lost to Spain."

The last few weeks have also been eventful in British politics, a General Election being held on July 4th resulted in a change of government similar to that which happened shortly after the Euros in 1996, with a long-term Conservative Government thoroughly beaten by a relatively centrist Labour Party.

You might remember that in the lead up to the election we compared the most popular national parties manifestos on the basis of sport policy.  The question is, will the new government deliver on any of this? Only time will tell.

After the Semi-Final, the new Prime Minister, Kier Starmer quipped "England are unbeaten with a Labour Government" echoing Harold Wilson in 1966 who David Goldblatt cites as saying words to the effect of 'England only wins the World Cup with a Labour Government'.  

Alas, Starmer's words did not age well as within a few days he had equaled the Conservative Party record for losing 1 UEFA Euro Final. Perhaps the FIFA World Cup 2026 will provide Starmer's chance for a Harold Wilson moment? 

And will the Lionesses retain their trophy next year, in the UEFA Womens Euros 2025, which they won with a Conservative government in limbo following Boris Johnson's shock resignation 'with immediate effect' just three weeks earlier?

Thank you our readers for following the Soccer Mad Boffins UEFA Euros 2024 blogging and roll on our next sporting mega-event.....The Olympic Games, the football Group Stages beginning on Wednesday 24th July.

UEFA Euro 2024 semi finals are here

 

The semi-finals of the UEFA Euro 2024 tournament are upon us. Lasr night Spain beat France 2-1 to book their place in Sunday's Final.  Sixteen year old Lamine Lamal scored one of Spain's goals, thus becoming the tournament's youngest ever goalscorer at just sixteen years of age (younger than our university students!)

Tonight England face Netherlands to decide the other place.

Critics have bemoaned England's boring approach as unconvincing. But that misses the point; show-boat football , or the up n' at 'em hit it and hope favoured by our nation's previous semi-skilled teams, achieved absolutely nothing. 

Whereas Southgate's 'grey men of Europe' tactics have served England well, winning the group and inching into the semi-final. There are no WAGS, no 'dentist chair' nightclub debauchery, no petulance on the field of play. Just a risk averse 'gets the job done' workmanlike dedication to playing football.

Only time will tell how England perform on the night, but maybe just maybe, the can do this.

As usual, here are our predictions for the outcome of the semi-final games, compared to those of random dice-rolls:

	AG	KT	DICE
Spain v France	2 -2 (2-2 AET) (3 - 4 pens)	1 v 1 (3-1 AET)	0 v 1
Netherlands v England	2 v 2 (2v2 AET) (3 V 4 pens)	1 v 1 (2 - 2 AET,  5-4 pens)	1 v 1 (1 v 2AET)

 

Kevin was the only player to correctly predict a Spain win, but did not see that happening inside of 90 minutes.  Alex knew that Spain would net twice, but had more faith in the French.

Alex think that England might just win this one but that it will be close, England once again breaking their penalty shoot-out jinx. Kevin has less faith, predicting Netherlands to just do it on penalties.   The dice? They've decided England to clinch it with an extra-time winner.  

What do YOU think?

As usual these predictions are presented just for fun and we do not encourage gambling.

Euro 2024 Quarter Finals

Lo and behold!  The Quarter Finals of the UEFA European Championships 2024 kick off on Friday 5th July.

Here our our predictions:

	AG	KT	Dice
Spain v Germany	0-0 0-2 AET	2v2 5v4 pens	4 v 3
Portugal v France	2-3	2v1	5 v 2
England v Switzerland	2v1	1v1 2v2 AET, 4v3 pens	0 v 0,  1 v 1 AET, 5 v 3 Pens
Netherlands v Turkey	2v3	2v0	0 v 0, 0 v 3 AET

Alex tips Germany, France, England and Turkey to progress

Kevin chooses Spain, Portugal, England (just!) and Netherlands

The dice favour Spain, Portugal, England and Turkey.

As usual, we present this info only for fun and do not encourage anyone to use these predictions to inform gambling decisions.

Festival of Ideas Appearance now on Youtube

 

We recently hosted Dr Tosh Warwick at York Festival of Ideas, on the topic 'Lost Football Grounds and Terraces'.

The talk, from June 2024, is now available to watch on Youtube. Simply click on the embedded video above.

Euro 2024 Latest

The Group Stage ended with England through to the Round of Sixteen but Scotland knocked out, unable to go through in a 'best third place' capacity.  All of our predictions were for Scotland to lead a 'Highland Charge' through to the knockout rounds for the first time but it was just not to be.

Scotland's first game was also their heaviest ever defeat in the Championship, suffering a 1-5 defeat to hosts Germany. Once more their 'top scorer' all time record is 1 goal, this time around Scot McTominay joins that list for scoring Scotland's solitary goal of the three games, against Switzerland. Well, not exactly the solitary goal, as they notched another in that opening game against Germany, although that was an own-goal by Antonio Rudiger.  Although not recorded by the UEFA website, technically Rudiger became Scotland's joint top goalscorer at a European  Championships!

England have looked uninspiring in each game, and weak at the back.  Their 'safefty first' approach of passing out from the back has caused some high stress levels amongst those of us watching; These players are not Barcelona and the wayward passes across midfield and defence, and a goalkeeper that sometimes plays as sweeper, often look clumsy and too inviting to the opposition who tend to press hard and find a goal.  However some last gasp heroics from Bellingam (bicycle kick!) and Kane (confident header from Ivan Toney's flick to the back post) spared the three lions from an embarrassing flight home.  

Like it or not it is a tactic that has just about worked, and other teams have done well in tournaments in the same way.  Momentum is everything and in knockout football the key is to get out of the group with as few injuries or cards as possible then gain momentum, peaking in the big games.  England somehow won their group, scraped past Slovakia, and now it is time to turn on the style.  Maybe, just maybe, this time we can say #itscominghome ?

Here are out predictions for the Round of 16, what are yours?

	AG	KT	Dice
Switzerland v Italy	0 - 1	0 - 1	0 - 2
Germany v Denmark	2 - 1	3 - 1	3 - 1
England v Slovakia	2 - 0	0v0 (5v4 on pens)	0 - 4
Spain v Georgia	3 - 1	4 - 0	2 - 2 (3 v 1 AET)
France v Belgium	1 – 1 (3 – 2 AET)	2v2 (5 - 5 AET  5v4 pen)	0 v 0  (0 v 0 AET,  0 v 1 pens)
Portugal v Slovenia	3 - 1	2 - 0	6 - 3
Romania v Netherlands	1 - 1 (2 - 3 AET)	1 - 0	0 v 0 (2 v 0 AET)
Austria v Turkey	4 -1	1 - 1 (3 - 2 AET)	0 - 5

As usual, we present these predictions for fun only and do not encourage gambling, nor do we suggest that you use any of this information to inform it!

UK General Election - party manifestos on sport compared

Anyone living in the UK won't have failed to notice that a General Election is taking place, as well as the Euros!  Politicians are increasingly likely to use football as a source of popularity and the governance of football has become a political issue, with the current government attempting to bring in financial regulation of the game.

In the name of public service we have gone through the manifestos of the five parties currently leading in the UK wide opinion polls to bring you a summary of their policies towards sport and football in England (for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland sport is a devolved issue).

We offer no support or endorsement of a specific party here but simply seek to summarize the facts out of public service.  So here are their policies presented in alphabetical order with a brief comment:

Conservative

Introduce Independent Football Regulator

Stop clubs joining breakaway leagues

Implement Carney Review of Women’s Football and support participation of women and girls

Continue Multi-Sport Grassroots Facilities Programme

The Conservatives essentially envisage continuing as they are - the Independent Regulator legislation ran out of time.

Green

Invest £5bn in local sports, arts and culture

Keep local sports facilities open

End VAT on 'cultural activities'

The Greens have few policies on sport and focus on the grass roots side rather than the populist potential of the elite game.

Labour

Introduce Independent Football Regulator

Stop clubs joining breakaway leagues

Support grassroots clubs to expand access to sport

Introduce consumer protection to stop ticket touts

'deliver international events with pride and seek opportunities where we can'

Labour are adopting the Conservative approach but interestingly with an interest in stopping ticket touts and a minimal promise to host mega-events where it might be relevant - but deliberately avoiding naming any specific event.

Liberal Democrat

Introduce Independent Regulator but with powers to impose 'a fairer financial flow to well run clubs', include human rights questions in propriety tests for owners and directors, and require clubs to have EDI action plans

Boost participation in sports and physical activity by investing in leisure centres, swimming pools and other grassroots facilities and supporting community sports clubs.'

Protect sports and arts funding via National Lottery

Introduce consumer protection to stop ticket touts

Place levy on gambling companies

Expand free-to-air coverage to include more football as well as rugby, cricket, golf and tennis

Generally support and encourage EDI in sport

The Liberal Democrats are the most interventionist of any major party - they also progress the Independent Regulator but with a much bigger footprint by adding human rights and EDI factors as well as looking at participation.  They want to regulate gambling, a big sports-related product more, and more sport on telly, too.

Reform

'protect country sports'

Reform have kept their sporting policy simple - defend hunting which they say helps the environment. Tally-ho!

So we can say that where parties consider elite sport they generally offer more regulation of it - but to different extents - for the Greens and Reform, presumably the status quo would continue, and professional football would be left to regulate itself.  All except Reform consider grassroots sports with its broader community and health impacts important in some way - but again there are subtle differences in policy.

We hope that this has helped those with an interest in sport and football policy in England to decide who to vote for come July 4th!