I have to admit I was unable to watch many of the matches but my feeling is the Xl has to be between these players: Mamardashvili, Donnarumma, Maignan Akanji, Rudiger, Van Dijk, Saliba, Cucurella, Theo Hernandez, Kounde, Kimmich (honourable mention to Dumfries perhaps) Ruiz, Rodri, Xavi Simmons, Xhaka, Aebischer Musiala, Olmo, Williams, Yamal, Guler Gakpo, Morata My Xl Donnarumma; Kimmich, Rudiger, Saliba, Cucurella; Ruiz, Rodri; Williams, Olmo, Musiala; Gakpo Perhaps only because I followed Italy closest, but I really thought Donnarumma was inspired, even if I've been critical of him in the past. I simply didn't see anyone performing better than him.
To further enrich the thread, I publish the report cards from Kicker magazine. For the Guerin Sportivo ratings of all the matches we will have to wait until August.
Il Corriere della Sera Spain: Unai Simon 7; Carvajal 7, Le Normand 6,5, Laporte 7, Cucurella 7,5; Rodri 7, Ruiz 7; Yamal 7, Olmo 7,5, Nico Williams 8, Morata 7. Sub: Oyarzabal 8, Zubimendi 7. Coach: De La Fuente 8. England: Pickford 6,5; Walker 5, Stones 6, Guehi 5, Shaw 5; Mainoo 6, Rice 5; Saka 5, Foden 5, Bellingham 5; Kane 4. Sub: Palmer 7. Coach: Southgate 5,5.
The final ratings with 18 different sources: Spain: Unai Simón 6,30 - Dani Carvajal 6,70, Robin Le Normand 6,40 (83' Nacho), Aymeric Laporte 6,60, Cucurella 6,90, Fabián Ruiz 6,50, Dani Olmo 6,90, Rodri 6,60 (46' Martín Zubimendi 6,20), Lamine Yamal 7,10 (89' Mikel Merino), Nico Williams 7,50, Álvaro Morata 6,20 (68' Mikel Oyarzabal 7,30). - coach: Luis de la Fuente 7,40. = average: 6,71 [first-class] England: Jordan Pickford 6,70 - Kyle Walker 5,50, John Stones 5,90, Marc Guéhi 5,50, Luke Shaw 5,60, Declan Rice 5,90, Kobbie Mainoo 5,50 (70' Cole Palmer 6,80), Bukayo Saka 5,80, Phil Foden 5,40 (89' Ivan Toney), Jude Bellingham 6,40, Harry Kane 4,90 (61' Ollie Watkins 5,60). - coach: Gareth Southgate 5,80. = average: 5,81 [mediocre]
And the average ratings of players/coaches with at least six rated appearances: 6,99 Luis de la Fuente 6,93 Dani Olmo (6) 6,87 Nico Williams (6) 6,83 Fabián Ruiz (6) 6,80 Lamine Yamal (7) 6,60 Rodri (6) 6,55 Mike Maignan (6) 6,48 Cucurella, Cody Gakpo (6) 6,45 Average Spain 6,33 N'Golo Kanté (6) 6,30 Unai Simón (6), Jordan Pickford (7) 6,27 Álvaro Morata (7), Bart Verbruggen (6) 6,25 William Saliba (6) 6,22 Theo Hernández, Xavi Simons (6) 6,20 Ronald Koeman, Mikel Oyarzabal (6), Declan Rice (7) 6,15 Stefan de Vrij (6) 6,10 Jules Koundé (6) 6,07 Marc Guéhi, Virgil van Dijk (6) 6,05 Average Netherlands, Dayot Upamecano, Nathan Aké, Tijjani Reijnders (6) 6,04 Average France 6,03 Robin Le Normand (6), Bukayo Saka (7) 6,01 Kyle Walker (7) 6,00 John Stones (7) 5,99 Average England, Jude Bellingham (7) 5,95 Memphis Depay (6) 5,93 Harry Kane (7), Jerdy Schouten (6) 5,90 Gareth Southgate 5,82 Didier Deschamps 5,75 Kieran Trippier (6) 5,72 Joey Veerman (6) 5,64 Phil Foden (7) 5,48 Antoine Griezmann (6)
XI UEFA Mamardashvili; Carvajal, Koundé, Pepe, Cucurella; Rodri, Fabián Ruiz, Kroos, Dani Olmo; Lamine Yamal, Nico Williams. It coincides in 8 with the one that came out to me, although they put Koundé who played as a fullback. There were several possibilities: Rudiger, Laporte, Saliba, Akanji.... Here they bet on 4 midfielders without a center forward; I based myself on Spain's tactical design and that's why I put a center forward and for me, the best one was the Georgian. The most difficult thing was to choose the left winger, because Musiala and Gakpo had as many merits as Nico Williams. All three played very well.
It's the compilation of 18 different sources of Italian, German, francese, Spanish, english, etc... Magazines
My best XI Euro 2024 (4-2-1-3): Oblak - Kimmich, Dias, Saliba, T. Hernández - Rodri, Kroos - Olmo - Yamal, Musiala, N. Williams.
Some thoughts about the tournament: Spain won deservedly, they played the best football, but were lucky they didn't get a penalty against them against Germany (handball, Cucurella). A penalty given would most likely resulted in Germany going through instead of Spain. Cannot understand how that is not seen as handball. But on the other hand it was probably offside (?) just before the handball-situation, so in the end it's probably correct and fair after all. Another controversy is the England penalty against Netherlands; I think it's a ridiculous penalty (though the general view among the Norwegian 'experts' is that it was correct). I wasn't too surprised it was given though, considering Germany's 1-0 goal against Switzerland was annulled (personally I don't agree with that one either). In the end I think the best team won the game anyway, and apart from Watkins's goal, England also had a goal annulled for offside, so they were surely looking like the most likely winner at the end there. Don't think England were the correct finalist though, I probably rate England as only the sixt or 7th best team of the tournament. And Netherlands should have left after the group stage after their performance against Austria, but the 24-team format saved them. The most pathetic prize goes to Belgium/Tedesco for their performance against Ukraine. If they had won the game, they would also have won their group and had a very good chance of reaching the final, but instead they played like cowards, drew 0-0, ended second in the group and luckily went out after playing France in next match. Of course there was a danger of getting knocked out in group stage if they conceded a goal against Ukraine, but the reward for winning was very big, and they have a better team, so it was extremely disappointing to watch their performance in that game. In fact the whole round three of the group stage was very disappointing and the worst I have seen in any Euros. In general it's probably the worst Euros I have seen, even though it improved towards the end. I put the blame on the 24-team format. It should be 16 teams playing the tournament. Scotland should be embarrassed for lobbying the 24-team expansion towards UEFA back in 2007-2008. Happy England didn't win the final though. Apart from playing very poorly in most matches, and having the easiest route towards the final of the big nations, I think they are so stupid sticking to that mediocrity Southgate. It's a quite attractive position (Thomas Tuchel expressed interest in the job after the sack from Chelsea, for example), but instead of getting a quality manager, they stick with mediocrity. So stupid. And stupidity should not be rewarded with success.
I have no real issues with Saliba - it's like flipping a coin as I said - but I think Rudiger does not belong there (the alliance of course thinks otherwise). SofaScore rates him 7.0 (Scotland), 7.6 (Hungary), 6.9 (Switzerland), 8.2 (Denmark) and 6.8 (Spain). I'd say that is actually about correct on all counts. Germany conceded three goals this tournament, aided by the very easy group stage. Rudiger had the own goal against Scotland (and lost possession eight times, which is high for a CB against such opponent). He was sleeping and reacting late at the N'Doyo goal at the 28th minute for Switzerland (saved by Fullkrug in 92th minute). Then famously lost any sense of Merino when Spain scored the winner in extra time. During the entire run of Merino it seemed like Rudiger had no idea where he was. His best rated game is against Denmark. I think that is right, from my own judgment. I don't think Rudiger did anything wrong there, but wasn't super impressive either. Before the all-changing cancelled goal and penalty decision there were two major chances for Denmark (in the highlights). At 1:09 Rudiger is positioned imperfectly and reacting late (shot Maehle). Then the counter at 2:35 (careless possession loss by Gundogan), where Hohjlund just didn't lift the ball enough over a diving-to-the-ground Neuer. I'd say Rudiger there also not 100% flawless, not 100% good timing or positioning throughout. Many had question about the Sabitzer goal (for 3-2) and Van Dijk in the Austria game, and again, I don't think it is clear (in the two elite games he did play he is without the yellow card the best rated defender of the eight in both games). But he is actually directing and shouting there. His team-mates don't listen or had not the legs any longer against super fit Austrians (in the eyes of Cox, both Austria and Netherlands should have won against France; and England was not better against Netherlands in his eyes either, on twitter, with the latter having the better Xg as well - who knows what happens without biased officiating). As for Kroos, despite all the narrative that went completely over the top (also one match commentator in this country), an excellent player and he played well (I don't entirely agree with what @Kroos46 said about this). But it is also someone with marked weaknesses. You saw it here again, against Spain (saved by serial tactical fouling) and against Switzerland, just as a number of previous tournaments for Germany. Which someone as Uli Hoeness knew all too well. There are some really clear weaknesses (Honigstein his Das Reboot book from 2014 profiles all this, look it up) and while I'd say this is maybe not true for the Kroos before 2016 or 2014, it is certainly true for the Kroos of the last eight years and also for Real Madrid since 2017 I'd think. Kimmich, Musiala... I don't see the problems. Musiala is one I really like.