Double header at the death
In England’s past two games they have scored equalisers in the fifth minute of stoppage time against Slovakia and in the 80th minute against Switzerland: this is only the second time in their 1,060-game history that they have trailed in consecutive fixtures at some point after the 79th minute yet avoided defeat in both. The previous case was also at a tournament, when they forced extra time by drawing level with Cameroon in the 83rd minute and with West Germany in the 81st minute at the 1990 World Cup.
In 1990 however, having beaten Cameroon in extra time, England succumbed in a penalty shoot-out against the Germans, which means that their exploits against Slovakia and Switzerland constitute the only case since 1872 of them emerging triumphant in successive matches despite having been behind after the 79th minute.
High fives all round
There were five games of Euro 2024 remaining when England kicked off their fifth game of the tournament at 5pm UK time on Saturday: they equalised five minutes after falling behind (the goals were scored in the 75th and 80th minutes) then avoided a fifth European Championship exit in a penalty shoot-out by converting five spot kicks out of five — the only failure was recorded by Switzerland’s No 5, Manuel Akanji.
Nervous viewing
Warning to England fans: the semi-final against Holland will be televised live only on ITV in the UK. In England games at the World Cup or European Championship that have been shown exclusively live by the BBC from 1996 onwards, their record is 21 wins, 2 draws and 6 defeats, whereas in matches only screened live by ITV it is 9 wins, 12 draws and 10 defeats (games that went to penalties are counted as wins or defeats, rather than draws).
Tables turned
England have progressed further than Germany at the past four major tournaments, having done so only once in the previous 24 World Cups or European Championships. An England XI whose shirt numbers added up to 101 against Switzerland achieved a victory that ensured Gareth Southgate’s reign would extend to a 101st game. England have never reappointed a previous manager but when Ronald Koeman — who faces them in the semi-finals — took charge of Holland last year it was the 15th time his country had looked to the past in that way: those with multiple spells have been Rinus Michels (four stints), Louis van Gaal, Dick Advocaat, Karel Kaufman (all three), Leo Beenhakker, Guus Hiddink, Koeman, Jan Zwartkruis, Friedrich Donenfeld and Bob Glendenning (all two).
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Fair point
For the seventh European Championship in a row England are among the three “fairest” teams, based on points per 90 minutes (a yellow card accruing one point and a red card two). After the semi-finals England will have played on all seven days of the week since the start of June (over eight matches).
Seventh heaven
The advance of England and Spain has kept alive the possibility of Southgate’s Seven Steps to Summer Success: Serbia, Scandinavians (Denmark), Slovenia, Slovakia, Switzerland (shoot-out), semi-final, Spain? Furthermore, the progress of Southgate’s team and Holland means that England’s first six opponents at Euro 2024 have a combined population smaller than England’s.
English blanks
Half of the 0-0 draws at Euro 2024 have been refereed by Englishmen (Anthony Taylor and Michael Oliver: three out of six); and the England team have been involved in almost a quarter of the other games in which neither side scored more than once (four out of 17).
Pitch imperfect
Switzerland boasts the headquarters of Fifa and Uefa and has staged a World Cup and (jointly) a European Championship as well as seven European club finals, yet none of its clubs has reached a European final while its men’s national team — still — has not progressed beyond the quarter-finals of a major tournament.
Misfiring French
Here are the goals totals scored by France (excluding penalties and own goals) in their first five games at three European Championships: 13 when they won in 1984, ten when they triumphed in 2000 — and none in 2024. France’s Michel Platini, in 1984, outscored the entire present team in that regard by eight to nil. Of the 182 teams to have played at least five matches in a specific World Cup or European Championship, this France side are the first who have failed to score in their opening five games aside from penalties or own goals.
Exiting en bloc
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In the group stage there were only two cases of a team from the former Yugoslavia or Eastern Bloc finishing above one of the other nations: Hungary ahead of Scotland and Romania above Belgium; otherwise there were 19 instances of these teams finishing below one of the others (Hungary coming below Germany and Switzerland being two cases, Poland finishing below Austria, France and Holland being three more). The trend was completed in the round of 16: in all four ties featuring a former Yugoslav/Eastern Bloc side, they lost: Romania to Holland, Slovakia to England, Georgia to Spain and Slovenia to Portugal.
Hours of frustration
Cristiano Ronaldo played for eight hours and six minutes in Germany and did not score, the longest period for any forward without finding the net at Euro 2024. Portugal became the first team at any European Championship or World Cup to fail to score in their final six hours of the tournament: the last half hour of the group match against Turkey, a 2-0 defeat in the final group game against Georgia and then 0-0 draws against Slovenia and France, both of which featured extra time.
Hosts hurt again
From 1980 onwards there have been 22 World Cups and European Championships held outside France (ignoring the pan-Europe Euro 2020) and none has produced a home winner, Germany being the latest casualties; yet France have won two of the three tournaments staged in their country in that time.
Unhappy ending
All eight countries ending in “ia” failed to reach the quarter-finals (or nine if you count Czech Republic as “Czechia”): Albania, Austria, Croatia, Georgia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia.
None of the past 67 shots hit direct from free kicks at the European Championship or World Cup have found the net.
