Category Archives: European Championship

What’s in the England team’s names? English Heritage explains all

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St George’s flags featuring surnames of almost every person in England will fly from heritage sites to cheer on team

Harry Kane can trace his surname back to a word for “warrior”. Declan Rice to “impetuous”. Kieran Trippier to “dance”. Kyle Walker will have to make do with “trampler of cloth in a bath of lye” which, to be fair, was once a very important job.

English Heritage is getting in the football spirit by revealing the origins of the names of the England players. It will also fly a St George’s flag featuring the surname of almost every person living in England at its properties to help cheer on the team before Sunday’s Euro 2020 final against Italy.

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Football’s coming to Rome? Italy fans look to Wembley showdown

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Italians are excited for the Euro 2020 final against England: ‘If we play with the heart, we will win’

Tens of thousands of English football fans at Wembley tried to send a message to Italy on Wednesday night: Sunday’s Euro 2020 final will be hell for the Azzurri. Italians heard the deafening cheers of the home support loud and clear, but that chant, “It’s coming home”, screamed at the top of English lungs does not seem to have affected them greatly. They are far from intimidated.

“It’s coming home? Maybe the English fans meant ‘it’s coming to Rome’,” said Giovanni Mapelli, 14, from Monticello Brianza, near Milan, who plays for a local football team. Since England won a place in the final, he and his brother have been mocking his England-born-and-raised mother.

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England face Uefa censure after laser pointer shone at Kasper Schmeichel

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  • Disciplinary proceedings opened after Euro 2020 semi-final
  • England also charged over booing of Danish anthem

Uefa has charged England after a laser pointer was shone in the face of the Denmark goalkeeper, Kasper Schmeichel, as he was about to face Harry Kane’s penalty in Wednesday’s Euro 2020 semi-final at Wembley.

Schmeichel saved the penalty but Kane scored from the rebound to set up England’s 2-1 victory and book a place in Sunday’s final against Italy.

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‘Southgate You’re the One’: social media reacts to England’s win

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Fans share jokes and clips including a stadium rendition of Whole Again and mocking Boris Johnson’s shirt

As sure as night follows day, social media memes follow a big sporting event, and so England fans on Wednesday night enjoyed sharing jokes and clips of events around the Euro 2020 semi-final win almost as much as the victory itself.

Mason Mount was showered with praise after this video clip of him giving his shirt to a young girl in the Wembley crowd took off on social media. Her emotional reaction summed up how many England fans must have felt after such a long wait to reach a major tournament final again.

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England beat Denmark in extra time to set up Euro 2020 final with Italy

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Sometimes, your luck is just in, you catch a break when you most need it and, after so much major tournament semi-final heartache, England finally got something to go their way and, in the process, one of these suffocatingly high-tension encounters to follow suit.

The 90 minutes had been nerve-shredding, England forced to find a response to Mikkel Damsgaard’s stunning 25 yard free-kick on the half-hour, which they did when Bukayo Saka’s cross, intended for Raheem Sterling, was bundled over Denmark’s goal-line by their captain, Simon Kjær.

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Italy v Spain: Euro 2020 semi-final – live!

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8 min: Spain aren’t dealing particularly well with Italy’s high press at the moment. Busquets, Garcia and Azpilicueta take turns to hesitate over clearances, nearly allowing the livewire Verratti in on a couple of occasions. Verratti is snapping away at their heels like billy-o. It’s very impressive, though you already get the sense he’s one mistimed lunge away from trouble.

6 min: Spain get a foot on the ball for the first time in the match, and stroke it around the back awhile. Italy’s fans give them the bird. All good pantomime stuff.

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‘More than a game’: Euros delirium in Denmark despite UK travel setback

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Nation with Hans Christian Andersen-inspired football song is hoping for fairytale win against England

People dancing on buses is not something you see every day in Denmark. Rule-abiding Danes tend to keep their celebrations low-key – but not this summer.

Football fans brought traffic to a standstill in Aarhus after Denmark beat the Czech Republic in the Euro 2020 quarter-finals and even scaled public transport to broadcast their euphoria and belt out another round of Re-sepp-ten – first a hit for Denmark’s national team at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. The anthem’s crowd-sourced lyrics are laden with Hans Christian Andersen imagery and feel particularly apt this year.

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All roads lead to Rome for England’s ardent army of expat fans

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Foreign-based fans slept in cars and even planned marriage proposals to be at the scene of Euro 2020 quarter final

They came from Berne, Berlin, Luxembourg and Dubai, some forgoing a night’s sleep as they drove across the Alps or took red-eye flights. Some of the more ardent football fans bought tickets two years ago; others bagged them in the last-minute rush that followed England’s historic win over Germany on Tuesday.

They were rewarded with an extraordinary, emphatic, exhilarating 4-0 victory over Ukraine, and those inside the stadium sang till their voices gave out.

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England rout Ukraine 4-0 to surge into Euro 2020 semi-final with Denmark

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Harry Kane back to his lethal best, productivity from set pieces, yet another clean sheet – the fifth out of five at Euro 2020 – and, for the coup de grace, a first England goal for Jordan Henderson on the occasion of his 62nd cap. This was the night when pretty much everything was picture perfect for Gareth Southgate and his players as they set up a Wembley semi-final against Denmark on Wednesday night.

As England came home from Rome it was easy to wonder whether football was headed in the same direction and, certainly, the fans of the team who had made it from across mainland Europe into the Stadio Olimpico thought that way.

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Belgium v Italy: Euro 2020 quarter-final – live!

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A couple of beauties from Nicolo Barella and Lorenzo Insigne saw off Belgium’s golden generation

Jonathan Wilson was in Munich to witness this fine match in person. His report has just landed ... and here it is. Get clicking, people. Congratulations to Italy, commiserations to Belgium, and thanks to you all for reading this MBM. Hope to see you again tomorrow. Nighty night!

Related: Barella and Insigne break Belgium to send Italy through to semi-final

The one downer for Italy - and it’s a big one - is the loss to injury of the hamstrung Leonardo Spinazzola. The marauding left-back has been one of the sensations of the tournament, so entertaining to watch in full flight, and one of those nice late-blooming career stories to boot. His presence will be missed, though you’d still back these exciting Italians to see off unconvincing Spain at Wembley next week. But it’s tournament football, so, well, y’know.

Related: Leonardo Spinazzola: Italy’s frequent flyer down the left flank

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‘I want to believe’: proud Ukraine aims for Euro 2020 upset against England

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After disappointment in past tournaments, there has never been as good a time to be a Ukraine fan

Kyiv doesn’t look like a city gripped by Euro 2020 fever. Take a walk through Ukraine’s capital on a non-game day and there are few banners or flags to suggest the national team is on a historic run to its first quarter-finals of a European football championship.

But scratch the surface and you’ll find a city of diehards. “I’m set for a Ukraine victory,” said Andriy, 29, the head of a marketing agency, outside the popular Espressoholic cafe in the Podil district. “I know, of course, that England are stronger, but I want to believe.”

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‘A downward spiral that began in 2016’: German media react to England’s win

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Press criticises outgoing coach Joachim Löw for selection and tactics, tempered with praise for opponents’ ‘efficiency’

For England, Tuesday’s 2-0 win ended a 55-year jinx against a side they had repeatedly failed to edge past in the knockout rounds of major tournaments. But for Germany, too, the defeat at Wembley marked the end of an era.

“The Euros were meant to be a dignified send-off for national coach Joachim Löw,” said Boris Büchler in a comment for broadcaster ZDF. In his first 10 years in charge of Germany’s national team, Löw had taken his sides at least to the semi-final of every tournament they participated in. In 2014, he came home from Rio de Janeiro with the World Cup.

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England v Germany: Euro 2020, last 16 – live!

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45+1 min: A dreadful pass by Thomas Muller is intercepted by Sterling, who advances through the centre. He charges forwards and is tackled on the edge of the Germany penalty area. The ball squirts towards Kane, who looks like he can’t miss ... but Mats Hummels sticks out a leg and relieves him of possession as he tries to take the ball around Neuer. That was close!

45 min: Kalvin Phillips gets booked for a meaty challenge on Toni Kroos. Both England’s holding midfielders are on yellow cards.

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Switzerland’s Sommer saves Mbappé’s penalty to send France crashing out

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Kylian Mbappé was France’s sure thing. That is why he was fifth in their list of penalty takers and is why, when he stepped up to keep them in Euro 2020, the thought he might miss felt like too heady a twist in the narrative. Things like that have simply not happened to Mbappé during a young career of rare accomplishment, but here came the kind of horror that exposes even the preternaturally gifted as flesh-and-blood mortals: Yann Sommer, Switzerland’s exceptional goalkeeper, smelled weakness and read his intentions correctly, diving right and clawing the spot-kick away. France were out; their delirious opponents had made their own slice of history and a tournament of unstinting drama took its least plausible turn yet.

Related: ‘He is very affected by it’: Deschamps defends Mbappé as France crash out

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Netherlands v Czech Republic: Euro 2020 last 16 – live!

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The Dutch started vibrantly but the organised and athletic Czechs gradually grew into the game and it’s now very even between two contrasting side. I mentioned the Czechs famous win over the Netherlands at Euro 2004; well, that Czech team ultimately lost to Greece; and this Czech team has certain similarities with those Greeks. This is tricky for the Dutch.

Related: Revealed: shocking scale of Twitter abuse targeting England at Euro 2020

Related: Can Belgium’s world-beaters win a major trophy? It may be now or never | Jonathan Liew

Related: France hoping for a grand statement from Kylian Mbappé

45+2 min: Lovely move by the Netherlands, with virtually every player getting a touch. When it reaches Depay in the box, he rolls past Kalas at the right-hand side of the box and flips a pass through to van Aanholt ... who drags his shot wide from nine yards! Oh, he was offside anyway.

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Goretzka sets up Germany v England last-16 tie after Hungary threaten shock

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What a white knuckle ride this was and how fortunate, in the end, Germany can consider themselves to have reached the last 16. They will play England at Wembley on Tuesday and it may either gratify or worry Gareth Southgate that another display like this would render their chances extremely slim. Surely they can only improve on a night’s work

When Andras Schafer headed them back ahead a minute after Kai Havertz cancelled out Adam Szalai’s opener, they looked bound to send the home side packing. But Leon Goretzka’s equaliser transformed the picture and staved off the ignominy of repeating Germany’s group stage exit of Russia 2018.

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England beat Czech Republic to top group as Raheem Sterling strikes again

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More than anything, it was a night when Gareth Southgate needed his attacking talents to express themselves. Safe passage to the last 16 at Euro 2020 had been guaranteed but could England show something to generate a bit of excitement, to fire the feeling that they might be able to cut through teams – a quality that had been wholly absent last Friday in the 0-0 draw with Scotland? Thanks in large part to Jack Grealish and Bukayo Saka, who both came into the starting lineup for the first time at these finals, they did so during an enjoyable first half when England asked questions of the Czech Republic with their movement and interplay.

Related: Bukayo Saka’s versatility has Czechs flailing and England flying | Jonathan Liew

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Euro 2020: Uefa blocks rainbow light display at Germany v Hungary – live!

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“It was like a winter bath for the people’s souls.” Marcus Christensen looks at the Danish media reaction to last night’s excitement in Copenhagen.

Related: ’Now we take Wales’ – Danish media celebrates ‘magical’ night against Russia

If you’re struggling with live football cold-turkey this afternoon, I feel compelled to inform you that some intense, high-quality, low-scoring cricket is taking place in Southampton, where India are fighting back against New Zealand. And you can follow it here.

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Denmark roar past Russia to set up Euro 2020 last-16 clash with Wales

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Few teams have ever deserved to make progress as much as Denmark did on a thrilling night in Copenhagen. Players who, just nine days ago, were traumatised to see Christian Eriksen suffer cardiac arrest in the middle of their first match produced a momentous performance on the same pitch, emerging as glorious victors over Russia to set up a last 16 showdown with Wales.

Mikkel Damsgaard and Yusuf Poulsen ignited celebrations before Artem Dzyuba put them on pause by converting a penalty and news filtered through that the group’s other match, between Belgium and Finland, was not going the way the Danes needed. But that changed as Group B reached a dramatic climax and Denmark confirmed second spot thanks to magnificent goals by Andreas Christensen and Joakim Mæhle.

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Italy’s PM says Euro 2020 final should be moved to Rome due to UK Covid rates

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After Mario Draghi’s remarks, head of Italian football federation says they are not seeking to move match

Italy’s prime minister Mario Draghi has said he wants the final of the European football championships to be held in Rome rather than in London, because of Britain’s rising number of coronavirus infections.

Asked during a news conference in Berlin if he was in favour of the move, Draghi said: “Yes … I will try to stop the final being held in a country where infections are rising quickly.”

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