admin
BERLIN. — The four remaining teams at the European Championship will take centre stage in the semi-finals to be played today and tomorrow. Here is a quick guide to the fixtures (times in GMT).
SPAIN v FRANCE
Today — Munich, 9pm
Spain, three-times European champions, will try to earn a shot at a record fourth title against 2022 World Cup finalists France.
Spain, with 11 goals so far in the tournament, have the highest tally of all four teams in the semi-finals with 10 of those goals coming from inside the box.
They are the only team to have won all five of their games so far at Euro 2024, while they also have the highest number of goal attempts (102).
Despite featuring one of the world’s top strikers in Kylian Mbappe, France, twice European champions, have only three goals in their five matches so far, via two own goals and a penalty.
They have managed to keep four clean sheets in their five matches so far but have just under 30% fewer goal attempts than their opponents going into the semi-final
NETHERLANDS V ENGLAND
Tomorrow — Dortmund, 9pm
The two sides met five years ago at the same stage of the Nations League with the Dutch winning 3-1 in extra time.
Neither team have been convincing at the tournament to date despite the array of talent at their disposal, but they have potential match-winners who only need an instant to find a decisive moment.
England were seconds away from elimination before a 95th minute Jude Bellingham overhead kick rescued them against Slovakia in the last-16.
Despite England’s below-par performances in Germany, they are unbeaten in their last 12 Euro matches (not including their shoot-out defeat in the 2020 final), winning eight, and last tasted defeat against Iceland in 2016.
Netherlands had their best performance of the tournament in their comprehensive 3-0 win over Romania in the round of 16, but needed to dig deep to score twice in six minutes to come from a goal down and edge Turkey 2-1 in the last eight. The Dutch have reached the Euro last four for the first time since 2004 having finished third in their group behind France and Austria.
Netherlands and England are both aiming to reach their second Euro show-piece match, with the latter eyeing back-to-back finals after losing to Italy in 2021. The Dutch have not reached the final since lifting the trophy back in 1988. — Reuters.
Online Reporter