Euro 2024: countdown to Spain v France and Netherlands v England semi-finals – as it happened

And with the first semi-final just 28 hours away, we’ll call time on today’s blog. Thanks for reading and join us again tomorrow for more build-up.

A bit more on Wednesday night’s England v Netherlands ref, Felix Zwayer, having history with England’s Jude Bellingham.

A couple of emails on the subject of diving, discussed earlier.

Joe Pearson: “While I certainly agree that Mendes dived and deserved to be booked, can we please not add more things to the list that VAR can get involved in. Please!”

Robert Speed: “Refs don’t book dives because it’s a rule they’ve decided they would prefer not to enforce. Like the 6 second rule. The refs have unilaterally rewritten the laws to dispense with that rule, because they don’t want the trouble of managing indirect free kicks inside the penalty area. It’s pretty daft. Incidentally, in ice hockey’s NHL a player can be penalised for an offence while at the same time the person fouled is penalised for ‘embellishment’ as they call it. It actually works well and it does make sense - a football player can, and often does, dive even if they are fouled.”

And for England’s semi…

Netherlands v England – Wednesday, 8pm, Dortmund

• The Netherlands are the only remaining team to have lost a match in this year’s tournament, 3-2 to Austria in their Group D decider. That dropped them to third place in the pool and they are only the second team since the expansion to the current format to advance to a semi-final having finished in that spot – keen watchers of omens will note that the other was 2016 champions Portugal.

• Cody Gakpo leads the Golden Boot race with three goals, the only player remaining in the tournament on that total. Team-mate Donyell Malen and England’s Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham are one behind, along with Spain’s Dani Olmo and Fabian Ruiz.

• England have attempted only 58 shots and scored five goals, needing extra time in both knockout ties and penalties against Switzerland. Ever-presents Declan Rice, Kyle Walker, John Stones and goalkeeper Jordan Pickford have played the most minutes of anyone in the tournament, 539 including stoppage time.

• Gareth Southgate’s side have attempted and completed the most passes of any semi-finalist, even when adjusted on a per 90 minutes basis – an average of 546.5 completed out of 625.1, in both cases almost 100 more than the Dutch (452.4 of 533.2, lowest of the last four).

• England are the only team remaining not to have previously won the Euros, with the Netherlands doing so in 1988 and Spain and France having three and two wins respectively.

(PA Media)

Some facts and stats ahead of the two semi-finals. Read these and make the appropriate noises.

Spain v France – Tuesday, 8pm, Munich

• Spain are the only team with a 100 per cent record at the tournament, winning all five of their games with 11 goals scored and just two conceded.

• France have yet to score from open play, reaching this stage on the back of two opposition own goals and a Kylian Mbappe penalty. That is despite taking 86 shots, exceeded only by Spain (100) and eliminated quarter-finalists Germany (93) and Portugal (87).

• Spain have two defenders suspended, with Dani Carvajal sent off late in their quarter-final win over Germany while Robin Le Normand collected a second booking of the tournament.

• They can at least call on back-ups with experience in this tournament, having changed their full line-up for the Group B dead rubber against Albania and used all of their 26-man squad bar third-choice goalkeeper Alex Remiro.

• France have contrastingly used only 18 players to date, fewest of any semi-finalist and joint lowest in the tournament with Belgium and Scotland – the latter of whom went home after the group stage. Midfielder Adrien Rabiot returns from a ban.

• The two teams’ historic head-to-head record shows six wins each and two draws. They have met four times at European Championships, with wins for France in the 1984 final and 2000 quarter-final and Spain in the 2012 quarter-final – in each case, the winner of the game emerged as champions. They drew 1-1 in the 1996 group stage.

(PA Media)

Meanwhile, back in London… Arsenal skipper Martin Ødegaard says he’s enjoying some rest following the Gunners’ close brush with title glory but would much rather be playing at the Euros with Norway. Scotland put paid to that idea.

News from the Dutch camp and Tottenham defender Micky van de Ven is expecting a ‘Premier League-style game’ against England on Wednesday night. Full piece here from Paul MacInnes.

… asked who would win in a sprint between himself and Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka, Spurs defender van de Ven said: “It’s hard to say but if you look at the data I think you know the answer.”

Back to the WhoScored article and this is the team of the quarter-finals. Two England players in there. Saka is second only to Olmo.

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A brief update on the story about German referee Felix Zwayer taking charge of England’s semi-final against the Netherlands. As mentioned, Zwayer was given a six-month ban in 2006 and that was strirred up in 2021 when Jude Bellingham was fined by the German federation after referencing Zwayer’s involvement in that scandal after his old club Borussia Dortmund lost to Bayern Munich.

The, so far, underwhelming update is that the Football Association has declined to comment on the matter. PA Media add that tournament organisers UEFA have been approached for comment.

Some analysis here from Ben McAleer at WhoScored on why super-sub Dani Almo has to start for Spain in their semi-final against France.

The RB Leipzig player has been a real asset when called upon in Germany: he has been directly involved in four of Spain’s 11 goals, scoring twice and providing two assists (a goal contribution every 66 minutes). He did not start the quarter-final against Germany, but he finished it with a goal, an assist and the player of the match award.

Tim Edwards is questioning England’s list of semi-finals at major tournaments.

“Hi David. You have missed the 1-0 semi final defeat to Yugoslavia in the 1968 semi final of the European championship in Italy. Although only four teams qualified in those days.”

This actually comes up in the Football Weekly podcast! Barney Ronay does not count 1968 as you qualified directly for the semi-finals by winning the Home Championships. England got there by winning four and drawing one of their six games in a group against Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. They lost 3-2 to the Scots at Wembley but a Martin Peters goal in a 1-1 draw at Hampden was enough to see England squeeze through, one point ahead of Scotland.

Pub quiz time. This bodes well for Jude Bellingham. And some French and Spaniards of course. The question: has anyone won the UEFA Champions League and Euro final in the same summer? The answer: Yes, there are 10, starting with a different Luis Suárez.

1964: Luis Suárez (Inter & Spain)
1988: Hans van Breukelen, Ronald Koeman, Berry van Aerle, Gerald Vanenburg (PSV Eindhoven & Netherlands)
2012: Fernando Torres, Juan Mata (Chelsea & Spain)
2016: Cristiano Ronaldo, Pepe (Real Madrid & Portugal)
2020: Jorginho (Chelsea & Italy)

Everyone remembers that 4-1 win over the Dutch in 1996 but what has happened in head-to-heads since then?

2001: England 0-2 Netherlands – Friendly
2002: Netherlands 1-1 England – Friendly
2005: England 0-0 Netherlands – Friendly
2006: Netherlands 1-1 England – Friendly
2009: Netherlands 2-2 England– Friendly
2012: England 2-3 Netherlands – Friendly
2016: England 1-2 Netherlands – Friendly
2018: Netherlands 0-1 England - Friendly
2019: England 1-3 Netherlands – UEFA Nations League

So that’s just one win for England, four for the Dutch and four draws. Can we read much into that? Eight of the nine were friendlies.

Back to the Nuno Mendes dive mentioned earlier at 11:33 and 11:38 and we have an email from Tom Paternoster-Howe, who has clearly thought this through.

“Regarding the Mendes dive, I was thinking that a really good use for VAR could be in matters such as that. If the ref thinks it’s not a foul, but suspects a dive, he can wave play-on & signal to the video ref (using the internationally accepted signal for dive followed by a shrug to indicate uncertainty) that he wants that incident reviewed.

“If there was clearly no contact (or no contact to the head when the diver rolls around holding his face or something similar), then the VAR can announce a booking for diving and show the angle that proves it’s a dive at the next break in play.

“If the suspected diver is already on a yellow, then either stop play for the review or have them stand in the technical area while awaiting the outcome of the review, to prevent them from scoring when they should be off the pitch.”

The Football Daily podcast is here. And the big hitters are out, with Barney Ronay, Jonathan Liew and Jonathan Wilson joining Max Rushden.

England in semi-finals. Are they any good? Well, the record is mixed although it’s a losing one overall. And, erm, the only wins were at Wembley.

1966 World Cup: England 2 Portugal 1
1990 World Cup: West Germany 1 England 1 (WG won 4-3 on pens)
1990 Euros: Germany 1 England 1 (Germany won 6-5 on pens)
2018 World Cup: Croatia 2-1 England (after extra time)
2020 Euros: England 2 Denmark 1 (after extra time)

Famous people called Felix. There’s the cat and also Brazil’s rather ropey goalkeeper from their legendary 1970 team. Oh, and Magath although Fulham fans won’t want reminding. But there’s another one in town and this Felix has history with Jude Bellingham (looks to camera as dramatic music plays). This from PA Media.

A German referee who was banned over his part in a match-fixing scandal and who has a history with Jude Bellingham will take charge of England’s Euro 2024 semi-final against the Netherlands on Wednesday.

Felix Zwayer, 43, was given a six-month ban by his country’s football federation in 2006, having worked as an assistant referee alongside Robert Hoyzer.

Zwayer was one of the officials who brought Hoyzer’s match-fixing plot to light, with the relatively short duration of Zwayer’s ban a recognition of that contribution. Hoyzer was banned for life.

England midfielder Bellingham was fined by the German federation after he referenced Zwayer’s involvement in that scandal after a defeat for his old club Borussia Dortmund against Bayern Munich in 2021.

Zwayer will lead an all-German officiating team at Wednesday’s match in Dortmund which also includes his assistants Stefan Lupp and Marco Achmuller, plus VAR Bastian Dankert.

It will be the second time Zwayer has overseen a match involving the Dutch, having also refereed their last-16 victory over Romania.

Before that Zwayer took charge of Italy’s opening match against Albania and Portugal’s win over Turkey in the second round of group matches.

I was trying some Ivan Toney penalties before. I mean, it is possible to keep striking the ball solidly but I’m not sure I’d do it well enough to stick it in the corner past a world-class goalkeeper. I’m quite good at pinging it against a wall five yards away though.

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Thanks Xaymaca. More soon on England v Netherlands: the battle to see who loses to Spain in the final.

That’s all from me on this live blog. I’m handing over to David Tindall.

Rodri will also play a key role in his nation’s semi-final. Find out more about the Spanish midfielder here.

PA news agency reported on how Mainoo’s childhood football coach, Steve Vare, had to challenge the midfielder because he was better than the other players at his local club, Cheadle and Gatley. “We had to find ways to challenge him. We put some rules in games where he could only score with his left foot, he had to pass to a team-mate, all sorts of different things just to challenge and develop him. The drills were far too easy for him, we were fizzing passes to him and chipping them in. I would have to load all the best players onto the opposing team just to make it a challenge for him. At the end of the session we used to hand out trophies and I told him he’d win one every week but we have to share them out. Some boys or girls might have reacted differently but Kobbie always understood. He knew how good he was.”

The midfield battle between England and the Netherlands will be intriguing. Kobbie Mainoo has been a standout performer in an often disjointed midfield.

The Netherlands beat Turkey in a thrilling quarter-final. Turkey gave a good account of themselves and might feel hard done by the 2-1 defeat. The Turkey manager, Vincenzo Montella, said: “I think we are among the top five in the European Championship. We are proud that we have gained an identity by feeling our whole country behind us and adopting our strategy. Our players should be kissed on the forehead. We should be really proud: we have come this far, but could have achieved even more.”

The Netherlands manager Ronald Koeman also spoke to the press about their semi-final with England. “For the whole nation it is something special,” Koeman said, reflecting on the fact that the Netherlands had not reached a Euros semi-final since 2004. “We are a small nation and to be part of the semi-finals with England, France and Spain we are really proud to get the opportunity.”

Cody Gakpo, who plays for Liverpool, said given the quality of players in the England setup he hoped for a really good game on Wednesday.
Gakpo, 25, moved to the Premier League two seasons ago with mixed results, having been forced to play in a variety of attacking roles, but at Euro 2024 has clearly shown he is best on the left wing. His three goals make him the tournament’s joint top scorer.
“I was a left wing before (moving to Liverpool) and that’s always been my preference but over the last one and a half years, the coach needed me to play somewhere else and I tried to do my best at it.” The move to England had made him a better player, he added. “I think a lot of changed in my life, moving country to Liverpool, a big big club, amazing club, amazing fans and very, very good players surrounding me as well.
“I learnt a lot from the manager (Jurgen Klopp). That progressed me a lot as a person and as a player. I’m very happy with the move I made.”

Courtesy of Reuters.

Micky van de Ven spoke to the press before the Netherlands game against England.

“If you see the quality of the players from both teams, I think you can expect that the level and the rhythm of the game will be really high,” Van de Ven told a press conference.
“Hopefully, it’s us that will have more of the ball than England so that it is England who do the running, but I expect a high intensity game,” said the Tottenham Hotspur defender, who has been used only as a substitute in Germany.
“We understand they have taken a lot of flak from the English media but they are in the semi-finals * that says all it needs to about the English team. I think they play defensively but we will go and analysis them properly tonight, but what I can say is they have a lot of quality.”

Courtesy of Reuters.

8 Jul 202406.54 EDT

Marcus Christenson

It would be easier to list the things that are working for Les Bleus at this tournament rather than the ones that aren’t, but Didier Deschamps will not care. His team are through to the semi-finals after defeating Portugal on penalties after another rather disjointed display. The midfield is not working, Antoine Griezmann is out of form and Kylian Mbappé is struggling with his broken nose and other fitness issues. Deschamps said: “For different reasons, Antoine and Kylian are not at the top of what they can do but we are through. We are a group, the collective strength is still there.” Ousmane Dembélé made a positive impact from the bench and may well start against Spain.

France were disappointing in their quarter-final victory against Portugal. Didier Deschamps’ team needed penalties to save us from another snoozefest to add to their EURO 2024 collection. France seem to be competing with England to see who can play the most boring football. They are in fourth place in our EURO 2024 power rankings.

Yes, I was surprised Michael Oliver didn’t book Nuno Mendes for diving. I’m not sure if the Portugal left-back is aware that the Olympics will start in a couple of weeks. There will be ample time for diving then.

Message from Oliver here:

I was watching the Portugal/France match the other day and Nuno Mendes took a dive so obvious that the referee just ignored his claims for a penalty and pointed for a goal kick.

Why wasn’t he punished appropriately with a yellow card? It was glaringly obvious on replay that there was no contact involved, and the law of the game states that an attempt to deceive an official should result in a booking.

If there’s a real want and need to stop diving happening, shouldn’t players be punished for it?

Sid Lowe questions “whether Cucurella may swap wings to deal with Kylian Mbappé; that it is even asked says something about the faith they have in him now, the sense that if anyone can do a job, he can.” Mbappé hasn’t had much of an impact thus far so Cucurella may fancy his chances.

8 Jul 202406.25 EDT

Sid Lowe

And now this flying, all action full-back, seemingly everywhere. There has been no combination at the competition like his with Nico Williams, a relationship based on a chemistry he believes is found off the pitch more than on it. “You don’t even have to look for it,” Cucurella says. “We have similar personalities and we like messing about, joking; it’s all happy, enjoyable. I know he will do the best he can for me and he knows that if he makes a mistake, I’ll be there. His job’s to attack and mine is to defend. We fit well together. If he feels I’m covering him, then Nico can do great things for our team. When [players like him] are confident they’re decisive. My role is to get the ball and let him play. I’m here for whatever he needs.”

Spain’s left-back, Marc Cucurella, has been something of revelation for the national side. His inclusion in the starting XI might have raised eyebrows before the tournament, especially in a nation that has Alejandro Grimaldo and José Gayà as options, but he’s excelled so far.

Away from England, Spain face France in Tuesday’s semi-final.

8 Jul 202406.17 EDT

Paul MacInnes

Such is Kane’s poaching ability that Southgate would be right to select him for that alone, never mind the leadership, or the game intelligence, or the tournament experience. But if he is not secretly injured, and if England’s ability to enact the approach designed to get the best out of all their flair players continues to improve, as it did against Switzerland, it may not be wise to back against Kane making his mark once again, this time against the Netherlands.

Paul MacInnes presents a different opinion in his article. Check it out here.

Harry Kane wasn’t on the field during the shootout after he was subbed off for ice cold Ivan Toney in extra time. He hasn’t had a great tournament so far and I wonder if he should be dropped for the Brentford striker. Kane has been picking up the ball too deep and he’s getting in the way of Bellingham and Phil Foden, rather than getting into the box to score more tap-ins. Of course he’s an excellent finisher but his overall game needs to improve for Wednesday.

8 Jul 202406.04 EDT

Paul MacInnes

Phil Campbell and his friends had travelled from Nottingham for the game and recalled the “bedlam” and “carnage” that followed Bukayo Saka’s thrilling strike that drew England back into the match with 10 minutes remaining. “At one point my resting heart rate was 150,” Campbell said. “Watching the game, seeing England win on penalties, it was a bucket-list thing. There’s lots of people at home jealous of us being out here. I think tickets were going for £400 before the match but we wouldn’t have sold them for anything.”

Yet we can all agree that we’re happy to see England reach this stage of the tournament despite some poor performances.

The line up of penalty takers was significant after the EURO 2020 final. Each of the penalty takers has Black heritage. A fact that caused a stir on Twitter.

Jude Bellingham spoke to the press about the work that took place behind the scenes.

“I was really confident in my preparation, confident in the things I talked through with Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink – he’s stepped up for us massively,” Bellingham told BBC Radio 5 Live’s Football Daily. “It’s the work that he does behind closed doors, with the lads being willing to take on that information, that put us in those situations in order to be able to win.

“So this is a massive team effort. Another thing is Dean Henderson, Aaron Ramsdale, Tom Heaton, who have been with us this camp, they’ve been huge in helping us practise the penalties. Again, they won’t get the credit they deserve but essentially, if they don’t put in the right effort, you don’t have the right practice to go out and execute.”

The penalty shootout was the only part of England’s game that appeared to be planned.

8 Jul 202405.18 EDT

Jonathan Wilson

England are left doing it on the hoof. Trent Alexander-Arnold! No, Conor Gallagher! Errr, let’s try Kobbie Mainoo. A back four? Let’s give a back three a go, but not really a back three. Oh God, we’re 1-0 down with 15 minutes left. All of you creative lads, on! 3-1-5-1, whatever! Somebody, just do a moment of brilliance! Thanks, Bukayo.

Is it luck or has Gareth Southgate has created the perfect environment for England’s success? Hmm, I think we have an article about that.

I found myself questioning whether Gareth Southgate is a genius or the luckiest manager in England’s history. I was calling for him to make a change throughout the second half and within minutes of his triple substitution, England equalised.

8 Jul 202405.07 EDT

Barney Ronay

This England team is often accused of being lucky, even when there are stats and numbers to support its processes. Here are some more. England goalkeepers saved two penalties in shootouts between 1990 and 2012. Pickford has saved four out of 14 faced since 2018. This is cause and effect in action. It’s skill, planning and a lesson in how to win; which certainly makes a change from baffled and tear-stained defeat.

Pickford’s water bottle played a deciding role in the shootout.

Jordan Pickford also had a big hand (literally) in England’s victory. His penalty save from Manuel Akanji was the difference between England and Switzerland.

Three years on from the racist abuse Saka received after his penalty against Italy and about three weeks on from seeing his face plastered over back pages after England’s loss to Iceland, most people are just happy to see Saka smiling.

Read more about Saka’s defiant performance here.

8 Jul 202404.46 EDT

Barney Ronay

Saka is a player you just love to see have these moments, to smile, to remind you – in between running and working and covering because he is the most assiduous of modern footballers – that this is still at bottom a matter of play, joy, fun and invention. And he deserves this too, because football has been hard on Saka.

Almost everything England did well on against Switzerland came through Bukayo Saka. He rose to the occasion to get England back into the game with an equaliser on 80 minutes. He also stepped up to score a penalty just three years after the infamous EURO 2020 final against Italy.

You can read more about the EURO 2024 media coverage here.

Watching England v Switzerland, I couldn’t help but think that the pendulum has swung the other way with regard to criticism of the team. England were better organised on Saturday than previous games but they still looked unbalanced with most of their joy coming down the right hand side. Yet at half time I got the sense that the BBC told the pundits to get behind the team. Save the real criticism for The Rest Is Football podcast.

Gareth Southgate spoke about the criticism he’s received throughout the tournament.

“I can’t deny that some of the personal nature, you know … ,” he said. “This is a job where you get ridiculed, and your professional capability is questioned beyond belief, and I don’t think it’s normal to have beer thrown at you either.

“But I’m fortunate that my life’s taken me through a lot of resilience-building and it’s made me more determined and I’m just using it as fuel. I know where I want to take the team to. The team need to see me strong in those moments as well, otherwise that messaging that you’re giving them on what they need to be, it doesn’t ring true.”

8 Jul 202404.03 EDT

Jacob Steinberg

England had gone 20 years without reaching a semi-final before Southgate took over in 2016. Since reaching the last four of the 2018 World Cup, they have lost to Italy on penalties in the Euro 2020 final and fallen to France in the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup.

EURO 2024 could be Gareth Southgate’s last hurrah. While his tactics during the tournament have been questionable, his overall record for England is not.

Hello and welcome to this EURO 2024 live blog.

Are you getting your hopes up yet? I know England have played dreadfully but their Euros campaign has the makings of a warm and uplifting TV film. Let’s consider all the elements so far:

We’ve got the man who writes his own scripts, Jude Bellingham, as the protagonist; we’ve got the loveable underdog, Bukayo Saka, fresh from an incredible comeback; and we’ve got the antagonists, the media, whose criticism is fuelling England’s success. Not to mention, the sun is shining and we have a new government. So, maybe we should be (cautiously) hopeful.

Keep refreshing this page for the latest updates from the England camp as well as all the build up to Spain v France and Netherlands v England in the semi-finals.