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.
