Euro 2024 is underway! Our daily files give you the latest reporting from around the tournament as well as betting lines, what to watch for and best reads.
Check in with ESPN throughout the tournament as we bring you the latest from Germany all the way up to the final July 14.
The lead: Switzerland’s hunger and energy exposes Italy
BERLIN — Once again, the neighbours to the north haunt Italian nights. Italy‘s two draws against Switzerland — two games in which they dominated but missed penalties — cost them an automatic place at the 2022 World Cup. And now, this: the reigning European champions fell 2-0 in the round of 16 at Euro 2024.
The difference? This time Italy were roundly and comprehensively beaten by a Swiss side that might be less technically gifted (if so, not by much) but are more athletic, more intelligent and — dare we say it — better coached.
That’s a credit to Swiss boss Murat Yakin, though it wasn’t that long ago — October 2023, following a 3-3 draw against Belarus that saw his side needing goals in the final two minutes to avoid an embarrassing home defeat — that some were calling for his sacking. On that occasion, Yakin didn’t help himself after the match. He was asked about how his backline looked unprepared and said: “We don’t need to prepare against such teams [as Belarus].”
Switzerland certainly looked prepared against Italy … or maybe it was just because the Azzurri were THAT bad.
They punished Luciano Spalletti’s decision to drop Jorginho for Nicolo Fagioli in the playmaking role by shutting down his passing lanes; they blunted Italy’s press by having Ricardo Rodríguez join Remo Freuler and Granit Xhaka in the build-up; and the constant, pacy threat of Dan Ndoye and Ruben Vargas pinned the opposition full-backs deeper than they should have been.
You can, of course, chalk up both goals to defensive errors. Freuler wasn’t tracked quickly enough when he cut into the box to score the opener. And the entire backline suffered a defensive brain fart inside 27 seconds of the second half when giving Vargas all the time in the world to bend it around goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma for the second. But that would be exonerating the rest of the Italy side from responsibility for the way they were second best in every other area of the pitch.
The signature moment of the game? Not the goals, but one moment, late in the first half, with Switzerland a goal up and Italy pushing for an equalizer, when Xhaka went on a rampaging forward run, pressing one opponent, then another, until he got all the way to Donnarumma. The ball went out of play and Xhaka pumped his arms as the red half of the stadium roared.
When your 31-year-old captain, playing in his 64th game of the season for club and country, does something like that — with hunger, energy and intelligence — it sets the tone. And it underscored just what Switzerland had in droves and Italy lacked entirely. — Gab Marcotti
Sights and sounds around Euro 2024
VAR takes Andersen from hero to zero
DORTMUND, Germany — Poor Joachim Andersen. The Denmark defender went from hero to zero in the 2-0 round-of-16 defeat against Germany on Saturday in the space of two minutes and all because of VAR.
Germany ultimately coasted into the quarterfinals thanks to a Kai Havertz penalty and stunning Jamal Musiala goal, but it could all have been so different had Andersen not been the victim of an incredible, heartbreaking twist of fate in the Westfalenstadion.
The Crystal Palace defender thought he had scored his first international goal when he capitalised on a goalmouth scramble to put the ball past Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer in the 48th minute. Andersen celebrated as you would expect — he had just put his country into the lead against the Euro 2024 host nation and Denmark were ready to fight tooth and nail to hold onto their advantage — but those celebrations were cut short by referee Michael Oliver signalling that the VAR officials (Premier League referees Stuart Attwell and David Coote) were reviewing the goal due to a possible offside.
After an agonising wait, Andersen’s goal was ruled out. The semiautomated VAR footage showed Thomas Delaney to be perhaps a millimetre offside in the build-up. It was so close, and although the decision was correct, it was the kind of offside that would never have been given before VAR because the margin was so tight that it could not be spotted by the naked eye and the advantage so minimal that it wouldn’t have warranted being disallowed.
Yet those are the rules, and Andersen had his dream moment erased from the record books. It got worse for the 28-year-old less than two minutes later.
A cross into the penalty area by Germany defender David Raum brushed the fingernails of Andersen as he turned away. The ball did not deviate and nobody inside the ground shouted for a penalty.
Once again, though, VAR intervened. “Snicko,” the new tool at the VAR’s disposal that can record the slightest of touches, flagged up a possible infringement, forcing referee Oliver to watch it back.
If Oliver had been bold enough, he would have shaken his head and ruled out a penalty. Andersen’s arm was not in an unnatural position, but he was penalised nonetheless and the spot kick was awarded.
Havertz scored the penalty to put Germany ahead and they never looked back, but you can bet that Andersen will spend the rest of his career looking back and cursing VAR. — Mark Ogden
Austria birthday cake
Austria coach Ralf Rangnick was given a “pie and a beautiful song” by his squad to celebrate his 66th birthday on Saturday.
The former Manchester United interim manager has restored his reputation as one of the game’s foremost tactical thinkers by guiding Austria into the Euro 2024 knockout stages, topping a group that included France and Netherlands.
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