Athletistic/ Football. The semi-final of the European Football Championship between the national teams of the Netherlands and England will take place on July 10 at the Signal-Iduna-Park stadium in Dortmund. Starts at 22:00 Moscow time.
Both men were predictable after the last 16. Bookmakers are now slightly favouring Southgate’s team.
England
The England team is definitely at the top of the list of critics of its game. Gareth Southgate’s team was under a lot of pressure to play defensively. The team suffered especially in the match against Slovakia, where they managed to escape only in the last attack. England won this match in extra time, and then beat Switzerland on penalties. In the meeting with the “syrniki” there was a certain optimism in the attack. At the same time, the team has not yet surpassed a very modest opponent. Switzerland had practically no European stars in its squad. Among the British, the statistics of some artists are astonishing. For example, Phil Foden was the best player in the Premier League last season, but has still not produced a single effective performance. England has maintained its classic trend of lower totals. The national team refuses to play high-level matches at this Euro. The series in two continental tournaments has reached seven games.
The Netherlands
The Netherlands, on the other hand, have played more games with more totals. There was only one exception: the confrontation with France. Ronald Koeman’s team can already be proud of the semi-final, but it is still worth acknowledging their luck in terms of the tournament. The Dutch team reached this stage by beating Poland, Romania and Turkey – opponents who are not the right ones to talk about global progress. The main personal story of the Euro for the Netherlands is the transformation of Cody Gakpo. The Liverpool striker unexpectedly became a leader, even if the club’s season was a failure. Here, Cody is the favorite in the goal race, scoring three goals. It could have been four, but the winning goal against Turkey was still considered an own goal.
Southgate’s team has a stronger squad and the Netherlands will not close their doors. This will open up areas for Saka and give space to Kane. So far, everything has been closed against England in this tournament. The passing game is not even close to that of Switzerland. It is possible that the Netherlands were grossly overestimated. There are also doubts about the cautious nature of the game.
The Orange have the worst defence of the four semi-finalists. England will certainly create chances regularly. Let us recall that the winner of this confrontation will face the Spanish national team in the final.
Indicative composition for the match Netherlands – England
Netherlands national team (4-3-3): Bart Verbruggen – Nathan Ake, Virgil van Dijk, Stefan de Vrij, Denzel Dumfries – Javi Simons, Yerdi Schouten, Tijani Reynders – Cody Gakpo, Memphis Depay, Steven Bergwijn.
England team (3-3-2-2): Jordan Pickford – Ezri Konsa, John Stones, Kyle Walker – Kieran Trippier, Declan Rice, Kobby Mainu – Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden – Bukayo Saka, Harry Kane.
Forecast: Passage from England
Source: Sport
I’m Scott Moore, a professional writer and journalist based in the US. I’ve been writing for various publications for over 8 years now, and have been working as an author at athletistic for the past five years. My work has been featured by some of the leading sports websites and magazines across Europe.
