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“Nightmare” and explosive reunion for England: Who will show the semi-finals of the European Championship?
09.07.2024, 09:30 a.m.
The European Football Championship is heading towards the grand finale. The DFB team is no longer in the semi-finals, but at least there is a German in a leading position. He will have an explosive encounter against England. In the other semi-final, the French elite ensemble will soon have to score a “real” goal. The games will be shown on free TV!
Spain – France in Munich (Tuesday, 9 p.m./ ZDF, MagentaTV* and in the live ticker on ntv.de)
Football Germany is still reeling from a missed handball penalty, but Spain is still in the semi-finals of the European Championship. There, La Furia Roja will face France, including superstar Kylian Mbappé (Tuesday, 9 p.m./ ZDF, MagentaTV and in the live ticker on ntv.de)While the Spanish, “a winning team”, as coach Luis de la Fuente calls his team, became the big favorites over the course of the tournament, France dragged itself through the tournament – successfully at least.
Curiously, the elite ensemble with the assembled offensive artists around superstar Kylian Mbappé has only managed one “real” goal in five tournament games – a penalty by Mbappé against Poland. The other two goals for the “Équipe Tricolore” were scored by opposing defenders.
The Spaniards, who would become the sole record European champions with another triumph, do not want to be lulled by this statistic: “At this European Championship they may be a little more defensive and physical,” defender Nacho told the newspaper “Marca”, adding: “But they are a team that can bring you to your knees, that can corner you for many minutes of the game, and that is exactly what we do not want.”
Despite the setback, national coach Didier Deschamps is “proud of my players, even if we don’t do everything perfectly.” The success proves him right. A win in Munich – and the French would be in the final for the fourth time in a row at the fifth major tournament.
Netherlands – England in Dortmund (Wednesday, 9 p.m./ ARD, MagentaTV* and in the live ticker on ntv.de)
At least one German will be on the pitch in the European Championship semi-finals: UEFA nominated referee Felix Zwayer for the Netherlands vs. England match. This constellation is likely to raise eyebrows, at least in the English camp: “You give the biggest game in Germany to a referee who has already postponed games. What do you expect,” England’s most important player Jude Bellingham raged against Zwayer in December 2021, then still wearing the Borussia Dortmund jersey, after a duel with FC Bayern. Bellingham was punished by the DFB, and Zwayer has not refereed a BVB game since then. Now they are meeting again for the first time – and on the big stage.
And another unpleasant encounter could await the English, who have gone from being the big favorites to being a big disappointment – at least in terms of playing skills: the one with Wout Weghorst, the Netherlands’ joker. “It’s a nightmare to play against him. He’s physically strong, a pain in the ass in the penalty area,” defender Nathan Aké praised the striker, who was recently loaned to TSG Hoffenheim. “He’s strong, he’s a nuisance in the penalty area and he fights for everything, he runs after everything.”
Although the 1.97-meter giant has only scored once himself, in the Netherlands’ 2-1 win against Turkey in the quarter-finals, Weghorst set the opponent’s penalty area on fire after being substituted on, allowing his teammates to turn the 1-0 deficit around – and silence 40,000 ecstatic Turkish fans.
The euphoria over the semi-finals of the Dutch, who only qualified for the knockout rounds through the emergency exit “Best third-placed team” is so great that even the rather stoic national coach Ronald Koeman was moved to announce a favorite opponent for the final: “If we play the final, then I would like to play against Spain, because we already had France in the group.”
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