Haven't posted here in a while but I guess a major tournament is as good as any occasion. So far Euro 2024 has been pretty disappointing in terms of quality. No great matches. Spain, Netherlands, Italy, Germany, and Denmark has only really played one good half. Probably the best match so far is Denmark vs Slovenia. Standout players for me so far: Musiala, Gundogan, Akanji, Fabian Ruiz, Cucurella, Ake, Ziewliski, Eriksen, Bijol, Bellingham.
Weird how Scotland since the 1990s is so poor compared to Wales, which has fewer people (I know Scotland has a history of 'failing' at tournaments). Maybe because it is less rich and is not part of the EPL pyramid. Denmark has a similar population as Scotland (5.5 million for Scotland vs 5.9 million people for Denmark). Flanders since 1990s, even before the so called Golden Generation, same story. Recently 'we' also played against them and didn't need a great effort to achieve a high scoreline. Link below. Many would like to have one or two of their left-backs however, including some of the really big countries. https://football-italia.net/netherlands-coach-full-of-praise-for-reijnders/
Well, there is an exciting match. Slovakia 1-0 Belgium. Lots of quality, skill, drama, two goals chalked off by SloVARkia. Unlike some of the smaller football nations this tournament who gets by with organization, running and spirit, Slovakia's skill level and passing are really crisp. Lobotka had an amazing game. Kucka’s backheel trap at 40’ is excellent. Harassing and Bozenik provided some steel and silk up front. Belgium is so frustrating and fun to watch. No midfield organization, center backs all over the place, forward line cannot finish to save their lives. Yet they manage to create so many good opportunities through sheer talent.
I miss Courtois. They showed a poll here 'if Oranje does not win, who would you like to win?'. Most picked the neighbours, to an even stronger degree as in 2018. Will not happen (I am for a small part Belgian).
Think that the issue is more in front of the net rather than between the sticks. Tedesco does not seem to have the starting 11 correct and there is a serious disconnect between the front 3-4 and the midfield and defense.
The ratings of yesterday's three games. Man and Stanciu are the best of the day with a 7.5 for both. Kante's performance surprised me a lot, he showed that he is still a top player.
In Italy the Guerin Sportivo and the Gazzetta dello Sport are the most important but as far as Guerin is concerned, the ratings will have to wait until August I'm afraid. However, I consulted the Kicker magazine which published the ratings of the first six matches (they should publish the others tomorrow) and also for the German magazine the best, for now, appear to be Fabian Ruiz and Musiala. Of course some ratings change but I didn't notice any big difference.
Fabian Ruiz also the highest rated here: https://www.sofascore.com/nl/toerno...opean-championship/1#id:56953,tab:top_players In case of for example Unai Simon I would trust them more than Gazzetta or kicker (only a 3/6 by the latter).
@Krokko adds ratings here periodically too (I think they are derived from a combination of Italian sources, probably including the GdS ones @Kroos46 has been showing Krokko are they mainly?): Football Ratings (football-ratings.blogspot.com) I probably saw a little less of yesterday's games than the previous days' if anything, but still a majority of the action: personally I tend to think my entertainment scores for those might have all been 6.5 overall (the same as all but the 3 I scored higher in my previous post), though I agree Slovakia were pretty good at passing through the lines, and I think Austria gave France a decent game, while the Romania-Ukraine game may have been one of those where the team who scores first wins (from that point it seemed like Romania grew in confidence and got better, and Ukraine vice versa) and I don't really expect Romania to score as many in another game...but we'll see and I could be wrong!
You can see on there (but already with the GdS ratings posted too) that for example Lobotka shows up better (relative to the general averages awarded anyway; it's minimal in terms of his rating itself) with media ratings for his performance than he does with Sofascore (perhaps they under-value passing success somehow, or he played several passes which weren't qualifying as long passes or key passes but were line-breaking ones anyway?), while De Bruyne shows up better with Sofascore. I tend to think maybe the more positive evaluation is closer to the most reasonable one for both of them? Since I did it for all the other opening games I'll give an entertainment score for the Group F games too. I don't think I have any qualms in the end about giving an 8 for Turkey vs Georgia (some others have already called it the best game so far so probably it'll be a widespread opinion I guess too). Maybe any more would be going overboard on the spur of the moment, but it was obviously a pretty exciting game which was in the balance until the end, and the teams in general played better than I expected (and the two predicted stars belonging to Napoli and Real Madrid in the end not necessarily less than I might have anticipated I guess, albeit before the great goal by Arda Guler I might have had the other 19 year old Turkish attacker down as having the better game overall personally I think, and 'Kvaradona''s impact was a bit sporadic...but he played a part in setting up some chances still for sure). Georgia, when they got forwards, could string together some really good moves. There were some good near misses and last-ditch defensive interventions too, and generally it was consistently entertaining I think, not to forget the quality of the goals (the strike for Turkey's first would probably be 'Goal of the Match' clearly in most matches, but not so here I suppose). I might go with 6.5 again for Portugal vs Czech Republic, and probably there wasn't a whole lot to make me put it above a straight 6 (but I could say similar for a few other games). The Czechs have regressed a bit since their previous free-flowing teams or numerous years ago, but still arguably they were unlucky to lose in the end because IMO they surely should have had a free-kick before the move for Portugal's winning goal (I suppose VAR only intervenes if something is deemed crucial in the actions leading to a goal, like the handball when Belgium scored, but maybe things could be taken back a bit further if the referee has made a clear mistake when he should have spotted a foul?); good play by Neto to set up the winning goal though, and it'll be interesting to see if he gets a fuller role in the next games overall.
Not meaning to be harsh (having already picked out possible 'too high' GdS ratings IMO for Freuler and Lang previously too; I could just as easily have said Szalai as the Hungarian defender too I guess), but the Sofascore rating for the Czech goalie does seem curiously high (and they don't seem to have 'credited' him if we call it that with an error leading to a goal which might be questionable I'd think given he kind of pushed the ball into his own defender). I remember though, soon after one fumble where the female English commentator said something like "oops, butter fingers" I seem to remember, that he did make a pretty impressive save and more than redeem himself at that point. Portugal had a lot of the ball, without seeming to make many great chances to score (Sofascore does have them on 4 big chances though) I thought, but they still had quite a few shots and I suppose his volume of saves overall bumps up his rating (with 4 saves in the box as well, albeit I guess 0.19 'goals prevented' indicates that none of them were wonder saves according to the stats too does it?).... But yeah, I wouldn't have been against the Czechs getting something (I always find Soucek a likeable guy so maybe that influences that a bit too), but on the balance of play Portugal probably merited it and would have got the win in most similar games (even though I think the final winner shouldn't have been possible if the ref awarded the free-kick I think he should have like I said).
First matchday of Euro 2024 finished. It is interesting that the smaller nations with a lot of players in the top leagues and teams played worse than the teams who don’t have as many or as big names. Examples of former include Scotland, Hungary, Serbia, Ukraine while Romania, Georgia, Slovenia and Slovakia did quite well. My personal best XI for the first round: 3-3-1-3 GK: Szczesny (Poland) CB: Bijol (Slovenia), Burca (Romania), Ake (Netherlands) CM: Fabian Ruiz (Spain), Lobotka (Slovakia), Razan Marin (Romania) RW: Guler (Turkey) AM: Eriksen (Denmark) LW: Musiala (Germany) CF: Mbappé (France) Honourable mentions: There are a lot of great central midfield and left backs who did well this round. GK: Verbruggen (Netherlands), Dubravka (Slovakia) CB: Ruben Dias (Portugal), Upamecano (France), Guehi (England) Danso (Austria) LB: Cucurella (Spain) DM: Kante (France), Ayhan (Turkey) CM: Kroos (Germany), Kochorashvili (Georgia), Xhaka (Switzerland), Dennis Man (Romania) Wingers: Yamal (Spain), Doku (Belgium) CF: Mikautadze (Georgia),
Tentatively I might settle on this XI I guess: Verbruggen (Netherlands); Mutdur (Turkey), Drogosin (Romania), Saliba (France), Ake (Netherlands); Kante (France), Fabian Ruiz (Spain); Musiala (Germany), Gundogan (Germany), Yildiz (Turkey); Wind (Denmark) Most doubt probably re: central defence, and side backs too where I might've gone Spanish on the right and Swiss on the left in theory (but the latter playing more a wing-back role anyway and with his end product being what puts him in contention I think), and also Yildiz's place (Gakpo would be close for example, Sallai even, and given Arda Guler's goal it might be I'm going more on what side of the pitch the Turkish 19 year olds played from in the end, as Musiala was in theory playing more from the right given Wirtz was playing more from the left, even if it was pretty fluid). Wind might seem more suitable as a second striker if anything, but I thought he had a good game, and 4-2-3-1, or 4-3-2-1 if putting Gundogan deeper, seems to be what I'm settling on.
TNT Sports has ratings too I see: Turkey 3-1 Georgia: Arda Guler nets long-range stunner to lead Turkey to entertaining Euro 2024 win - TNT Sports Turkey: Gunok 7; Muldur 8, Akaydin 8, Bardakci 7, Kadioglu 8; Ayhan 8, Calhanoglu 7; Guler 9, Kokcu 7, Yildiz 7; Yılmaz 7 Subs: Demiral 6, Celik 7, Yazici 6, Akturkoglu 7, Ozcan N/A Georgia: Mamardashvili 7; Kverkvelia 6, Kashia 6, Dvali 6; Kakabadze 7, Mekvabishvili 7, Kochorashvili 8, Chakvetadze 6, Tsitaishvili 6; Kvaratskhelia 7, Mikautadze 8 Subs: Lochoshvili 6, Davitashvili 6, Zirzivadze N/A, Altunashvili N/A Portugal 2-1 Czech Republic: Francisco Conceicao nets stoppage-time winner on historic night for Cristiano Ronaldo - TNT Sports PORTUGAL: Costa 5, Dias 7, Pepe 6, Mendes 6, Dalot 6, Fernandes 7, Vitinha 6, Cancelo 7, Silva 8, Ronaldo, Leao 7. Subs: Jota 7, Inacio 6, Semedo 6, Neto 7, Conceicao 7 CZECHIA: Stanek 5, Hranac 5, Krejci 6, Holes 7, Soucek 7, Coufal 5, Doudera 6, Provod 8, Sulc 6, Schick 5, Kuchta 6. Subs: Chytil 7, Lingr 7, Barak 6, Sevcik 6, Chory 6. (I haven't deleted the Ronaldo rating - it genuinely is missing lol, but Bernardo Silva is down as their MOTM anyway) Austria 0-1 France: Bloodied Kylian Mbappe comes off with busted nose as Les Bleus sneak win at Euro 2024 - TNT Sports Austria: Pentz 7; Posch 6, Danso 7, Wober 6, Mwene 7; Laimer 7, Seiwald 6, Sabitzer 6, Grillitsch 5, Baumgartner 7; Gregoritsch 6. Subs: Wimmer 7, Arnautovic 6, Trauner 6, Prass n/a, Schmid n/a France: Maignan 6; Kounde 7, Saliba 7, Upamecano 7, Theo Hernandez 8; Dembele 6, Kante 8, Griezmann 6, Rabiot 6, Thuram 6; Mbappe 7. Subs: Kolo Muani 6, Camavinga 6, Giroud n/a, Fofana n/a (Theo Hernandez given MOTM - for sure he's among the left backs who had a good or very good opening game I think too; Baumgartner gets a better rating there than on Sofascore, whether mainly because of that one 'Bergkamp-esque' ish moment that impressed Lee Dixon in the first half I'm not sure....) Belgium 0-1 Slovakia: Romelu Lukaku denied twice by VAR as Group E favourites stunned at Euro 2024 - TNT Sports Belgium: Casteels 6, Castagne 5, Faes 6, Debast 6, Carrasco 5, Mangala 5, Onana 5, Trossard 5, De Bruyne 6, Doku 5, Lukaku 5. Subs: Bakayoko 6, Tielemans 6, Openda 7, Lukebakio 6. Slovakia: Dubravka 7, Pekalik 7, Vavro 8, Skriniar 8, Hancko 8, Kucka 7, Lobotka 7, Duda 7, Schranz 7, Bozenik 8, Harslin 8. Subs: Strelec 6, Suslov 6, Duris 6, Obert 6. Romania 3-0 Ukraine: Nicolae Stanciu screamer kickstarts dream win for Euro 2024 underdogs in Group E - TNT Sports Romania: Nita 6, Ratiu 6, Burca 7, Dragusin 7, Bancu 6, R. Marin 6, M. Marin 6, Stanciu 7, Man 7, Dragus 7, Coman 6. Subs: Hagi 5, Mihaila 5, Puscas 5, Rus 5, Racovitan n/a. Ukraine: Lunin 3, Konoplia 5, Zabarnyi 5, Matviyenko 5, Zinchenko 5, Stepanenko 6, Shaparenko 6, Tsygankov 5, Sudakov 5, Mudryk 6, Dovbyk 5. Subs: Brazhko 5, Yaremchuk 5, Yarmolenko 5, Malinovskiy n/a. Serbia 0-1 England: Jude Bellingham heads winner for Gareth Southgate's side in Euro 2024 opener - TNT Sports Serbia: Rajkovic 7; Veljkovic 6, Milenkovic 6, Pavlovic 7; Zivkovic 6, Milinkovic-Savic 6, Gudelj 5, Lukic 6, Kostic 6; Vlahovic 6, Mitrovic 5 SUBS: Mladenovic 7, Ilic 6, Jokic 6, Tadic 6, Birmancevic 6 England: Pickford 7; Walker 7 , Stones 6, Guehi 7, Trippier 6; Alexander-Arnold 6, Rice 7, Bellingham 8; Saka 7, Kane 6, Foden 5 SUBS: Gallagher 6, Bowen 7, Mainoo 6 (I don't know whether Gudelj is getting some low marks a bit by default because of going off before Serbia improved - he had that one moment of really good skill didn't he, but maybe overall he didn't have a particularly great first half) Slovenia 1-1 Denmark: Christian Eriksen strike in vain as Danes pegged back in Euro 2024 opener in Stuttgart - TNT Sports DENMARK: Schmeichel 7, Vestergaard 7, Andersen 7, Christensen 7, Hjulmand 7, Hojbjerg 7, Kristiansen 7, Bah 7, Eriksen 8*, Hojlund 7, Wind 8. Subs: Maehle 6, Poulsen n/a, Dolberg n/a, Norgaard n/a, Delaney n/a. SLOVENIA: Oblak 8, Karnicnik 7, Janza 8, Bijol 8, Drkusic 7, Cerin 7, Elsnik 7, Mlakar 7, Stojanovic 7, Sporar 7, Sesko 7. Subs: Verbic 7, Stankovic 6, Celar 6, Brekalo n/a, Kurtic n/a. Italy 2-1 Albania: Luciano Spalletti's holders edge to victory despite conceding fastest goal in Euros history - TNT Sports ITALY: Donnarumma 7, Di Lorenzo 8, Calafiori 7, Bastoni 8, Dimarco 7, Barella 9, Jorginho 7, Frattesi 8, Pellegrini 8, Chiesa 8, Scamacca 7. Subs: Cambiaso 6, Cristante 6, Retegui n/a, Darmian n/a, Folorunsho n/a. ALBANIA: Strakosha 8, Hysaj 7, Ajeti 7, Djimsiti 7, Mitaj 7, Asllani 7, Ramadani 7, Bajrami 8, Asani 7, Broja 7, Seferi 7. Subs: Laci 6, Hoxha 6, Manaj 6, Muci n/a. Hungary 1-3 Switzerland: Breel Embolo scores on emotional return to national team as Switzerland beat Hungary - TNT Sports Hungary: Gulacsi 5; Lang 4, Orban 5, Szalai 5; Fiola 4, Nagy 5, Schafer 4, Kerkez 4; Sallai 6, Szoboszlai 7; Varga 7. Switzerland: Sommer 7; Schar 7, Akanji 6, Rodriguez 6; Widmer 7, Xhaka 8, Freuler 7, Ndoye 7; Aebischer 9, Vargas 7; Duah 8. Germany 5-1 Scotland: Kai Havertz and Jamal Musiala among goals as Scots thrashed on opening night of Euro 2024 - TNT Sports Germany: Neuer 6, Kimmich 7, Rudiger 7, Tah 6, Mittelslaedt 6, Andrich 5, Kroos 8, Musiala 9, Gundogan 8, Wirtz 7, Havertz 7. Subs: Gross 6, Sane 7, Fullkrug 7, Muller 6, Can 6. Scotland: Gunn 5, Porteous 2, Hendry 3, Tierney 4, Ralston 4, McTominay 5, Mcgregor 4, Robertson 5, McGinn 4, Christie 3, Adams 4. Subs: Hanley 4, Gilmour 4, Mclean 5, Mckenna 6, Shankland 5. Spain 3-0 Croatia: Alvaro Morata and Dani Carvajal in the goals as La Roja start Euro 2024 strongly - TNT Sports CROATIA: Livakovic 6, Stanisic 6, Sutalo 5, Pongracic 5, Gvardiol 6; Modric 6, Brozovic 5, Kovacic 6; Majer 6, Budamir 6, Kramaric 5. Subs: Perisic 5, Pasalic 5, Sucic 5, Petkovic n/a. SPAIN: Simon 8, Carvajal 7, Le Normand 7, Nacho 7, Cucurella 7, Pedri 6, Rodri 6, Fabian 7, Yamal 8, Morata 7, Williams 6. Subs: Olmo 4, Oyarazabal 5, Merino 5, Zubimendi n/a, Torres n/a. Poland 1-2 Netherlands: Wout Weghorst nets late winner to deny dogged Poles at Euro 2024 in Hamburg - TNT Sports Poland: Szczesny 6, Bednarek 5, Salamon 6, Kiwior 6, Frankowski 5, Zielinski 7, Romanczuk 6, Zalewski 6, Urbanski 6, Buksa 7, Szymanski 5. Subs: Moder 7, swiderski 6, Slisz 6, Piotrowski 6, Bereszynski 6,. Netherlands: Verbruggen 7, Dumfries 6, De Vrij 6, Van Dijk 5, Ake 7, Schouten 6, Reijnders 7, Veerman 6, Simons 5, Depay 5, Gakpo 7. Subs: Malen 7, Wijnaldum 5, Frimpong 7, Weghorst 8.
Here are the Gazzetta dello Sport's ratings on the last two matches of this first day of the group stage. Arda Guler ranks with Fabian Ruiz and Musiala in first position, so for the Gazzetta dello Sport these three players appear to be the best of this first day.
For now the Gazzetta dello Sport ranking is this: Musiala (GER) 8 Fabian Ruiz (SPA) 8 Guler (TUR) 8 Gundogan (GER) 7,5 Kroos (GER) 7,5 Wirtz (GER) 7,5 Barella (GER) 7,5 Rodri (SPA) 7,5 Carvajal (SPA) 7,5 Yamal (SPA) 7,5 Stanciu (ROM) 7,5 Man (ROM) 7,5 Dragusin (ROM) 7 R. Marin (ROM) 7 M. Marin (ROM) 7 Dragus (ROM) 7 Morata (SPA) 7 Oblak (SLOVENIA) 7 Wind (DAN) 7 Eriksen (DAN) 7 Bellingham (ING) 7 Cucurella (SPA) 7 Le Normand (SPA) 7 Aebischer (SVI) 7 Havertz (GER) 7 Kimmich (GER) 7 Bastoni (ITA) 7 Donnarumma (ITA) 7 Strakosha (ALB) 7 Bajrami (ALB) 7 Kante (FRA) 7 Szczesny (POL) 7 Gakpo (OLA) 7 Akè (OLA) 7 Lobotka (SLOVACCHIA) 7 Schranz (SLOVACCHIA) 7 Hancko (SLOVACCHIA) 7 Cristiano Ronaldo (POR) 7 Muldur (TUR) 7 Calhanoglu (TUR) 7 Kochorashvili (GEO) 7
The Guardian, The Independent and 90min.com also put up ratings, but unfortunately only for some matches. Or maybe it's just that I haven't been able to locate all the ratings?
I see 90min.com have a top 10 players from Matchday 1 (Musiala, Yamal, Bellingham, Chiesa, Fabian Ruiz, Kante, Kroos, Carvajal, Man, Simon) but I guess that doesn't necessarily mean full ratings from all games were made or are available: The best players at Euro 2024: Matchday 1 - ranked (90min.com) You might be right that The Guardian and Independent only have ratings for some matches, but I'm not totally sure right now.
I thought Kante was amazing against an energetic and fast Austria. The grade of 7 another 'surprise'. Cristiano Ronaldo the best rated of Portugal... not sure... he had an important role certainly.
It's possible all the 90min.com player ratings can be found via a Google search of "90min.com player ratings Euro 2024 Team A (eg Spain) Team B (eg Croatia)", like I found this one: Spain 3-0 Croatia: Player ratings as La Roja record statement win at Euro 2024 (90min.com)
I'm not sure though: I tried Denmark vs Slovenia and couldn't find them that way, so potentially Titanlux was right that not all games have ratings (I can find some player ratings pages for Denmark games in previous tournaments such as vs Czech Republic in the last Euros or France in the World Cup).
What did you think of Cristiano? Impressive for his age but would have him more in the middle of the pack for Portugal or top 25% for all players on the field (not saying I can all the time, for every second, see what all the 22 players do all the time). Maybe a bit higher than here but not by much. https://www.sofascore.com/nl/czech-republic-portugal/eUbsoUb#id:11873989,tab:lineups
Hmm, my not so favourite topic maybe lol (I'm not criticising for asking me though): to be honest if any player plays that backheel 'key pass' I appreciate it I guess, and the header onto the post could have led to a goal (not that that was intended as such but was a near miss). In general not especially great, albeit quite sharp, might be the most reasonable summary?
SkySport has published its XI for this first day of the European. In my opinion the lineup is good, the only unjustifiable absence is Fabian Ruiz who I would have put in Eriksen's place.