In the second semi-final of the 2024 European Championship, the Netherlands will face England. Both are lucky to be on the right side of the tournament tree – and are battling massive criticism of their coaches.
The English national team has not been well-received at home recently. The players were verbally attacked by the media and experts for their poor performances at the European Championships. The national coach Gareth Southgate received the most criticism, being accused of turning a nominally top team into a sad, average team. The mood on the island has now brightened. “I would rather watch boring football and win. It is a lifelong goal of mine to see England win something,” said chief expert Gary Lineker. After all. The same Lineker had previously described the performances as “shit”.
The former goalscorer does not have to give up his dream of winning the big title. England has made it to the semi-finals of the European Championship and will face the Netherlands in Dortmund. What made Lineker so angry: Coach Gareth Southgate’s team made it to the last four with a defensive style of play that was geared towards absolute security – and they also played badly.
The opening victory against Serbia with a good first half was followed by two poor draws against Slovenia and Denmark. In the round of 16, England saved themselves in extra time with a few seconds to go thanks to a brilliant overhead kick by Jude Bellingham and won.
England can play penalty shootouts at Euro 2024
Things hardly got any better against Switzerland in the quarter-finals. This time it was Bukayo Saka who shot the Three Lions into extra time with a long-range goal. In the penalty shootout, the English showed nerves and converted all five penalties, while Switzerland missed one. England, traditionally rather weak in penalty shootouts, celebrated themselves and their new coolness.
The dream of a second major success after the 1966 World Cup title lives on. Before the tournament, England were among the big favorites. At times they lost their status due to their performances. The attacking line with Harry Kane, Phil Foden, Jude Bellingham and Bukayo Saka in particular has not been particularly brilliant so far. This was partly due to the coach’s tactics, which are based on absolute safety. Southgate consistently follows the tradition that defense wins titles, while offense only decides games. Nevertheless, his caution apparently led to the team holding back or simply playing poorly. At times the anger at the coach was so great that the fans threw beer mugs at him. The team urgently needs to improve against the Netherlands, that much is certain.
Their coach Ronald Koeman is facing similar criticism. When attacker Cody Gakpo was told at a press conference in Wolfsburg that the English team was being criticized more heavily at home than the Dutch team, the Liverpool FC professional replied: “Oh, is that even possible?” The criticism is particularly due to the performances in the preliminary round, when the Dutch finished third behind Austria and France. The good thing: Holland slipped to the easier side of the tournament tree as a result. Their opponents in the knockout round were Romania and Turkey. They also have this in common with the English. Just like the great longing to finally win the second major title after the European Championship victory in 1988, which was also achieved in Germany.
Ronald Koeman is a pragmatist
Like Southgate, Koeman is a pragmatist who plays conservative, result-oriented football. He knows what is important in a tournament: winning games, no matter how. And he sticks to his game plan and reacts intelligently to setbacks: before the tournament, Koeman had to replace central midfielders Frenkie de Jong and Teun Koopmeiners as well as left-back Quilindschy Hartman, who was out with a cruciate ligament tear. He managed to do that. Nevertheless, according to many critics, the Netherlands have played too conservatively so far and have not lived up to the idea of the “beautiful game”, the “totaalvoetbal”, which is always the aim.
Koeman’s philosophy has nevertheless taken him to the semi-finals. “We can be proud that we have reached the semi-finals,” he said. “Nobody expected that. But the mission is not over yet.” If he completes it successfully, Koeman would be the only one, along with Berti Vogts, to have won the European Championship title both as a player and as a coach.
Sources: “”, “, “”, DPA.
Source: Stern
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