No matter the level of roaring in the football jungle of Berlin on Sunday by the Three Lions of England against the La Roja Boys of Spain in the 17th European Nations Cup final, England cannot by record cart back to London reckoned as the Home of Football the prestigious trophy.
The 71,000 capacity Olympic Stadium on Sunday at 2000 hours Nigerian Time will host the famous finals. The stadium has staged every German Cup final from 1985; was the 2006 world cup finals between Italy and France and in 2015 hosted the UEFA Champions league final between Barcelona of Spain and Juventus of Italy popularly called THE FIRST LADY.
Spain with 12 appearances at this tournament and England with 11 appearances has shined more playing in the 5th final, just one behind Germany that has played in six finals while England is appearing in her 2nd final.
Cover Photo: Tournament wonder, teenager Lamine Yamal of Spain. He will be 17 years old on Saturday 13th July 2024. The Football world greets him HAPPY BIRTHDAY YAMAL!
Both Spain and ousted Germany hold highest record at UEFA with three titles each. Spain won in 1964; 2008 and 2012 and was runners-up in 1984. Apart from the three times Spain won the title, she was Runners-up in 1984 when she lost 0-2 to France; in 2012 when she won her 3rd title she defeated Italy 4-0 and was a semifinalist in 2020.
Spain has the record of the biggest ever win of the European Nations Cup final shredding Italy 4-0 at the Euro 2012 final in Kyiv.
Spain has the continental record of being the only team to have won all five matches at Euro 24 but no side has ever won six consecutive times at the Euro Football Championship Games. Will the La Roja cap it up with a 6th straight win over the Three Lions of England on Sunday?
England appeared first on the Euro scene placing 3rd at the Euro 68 games beating Soviet Union 2-0. In 1996 she hosted and lost to Germany 6-5 on penalties after 1-1 at full time on 26th June. Alan Shearer was the highest goal scorer in the tournament with 5 goals. In 2020 when many countries hosted to celebrate 60 years of European football, England was Runners-up as Italy won her 2nd title that year via penalties 3-2 after 1-1 at full time. That year, Rashford, Sancho and Saka lost their penalty kicks and they were crucified. In the match played at Wembley, Kane and Maguire scored. Christiano Ronaldo of Portugal and Patrik Schick of Czech were highest goal scorers with 5 goals each. Rashford is not in the team in this tournament.
On current form, Spain is it scoring 13 goals and conceding 3 in the pending Championship, unlike England that scored 7 goals and conceded 4. That means Spain that scored an average of 2.6 goals per match is far better that England that scored 1.4 goals per match. Strategically the Spanish side could erode England within regular play and even end the game in the first half.
On the current form presented above, Spain is more physical and rugged in defence with the concession of 3-4 goals. Spain has the highest yellow cards in Germany 2024 with 15 flashes; Germany had 13; Austria 12; England, Netherlands and Slovania had 11 each. Four teams received least yellow of 7 namely Belgium, Croatia, Albania and Czeh.
The only bad boy of the tournament that saw Red, Dani Carvajal who missed the French semis will be back on Sunday against England. That means with the Yellows and Red card, the medical team will have an herculean task of quick attendance to injured players to avoid orthopedic disasters.
Well then 35 year old French Ref Francois Letexier who had been international Ref from 2017 and has handled 65 EUFA matches will be in charge. He was in charge of the Round of 16 games between Spain and debutante Georgia; two group stage matches of Denmark versus Serbia and Croatia versus Albania and was 4th Match Official at the opening match between Germany and Scotland in Munich.
He will be assisted by Cyril Mujnier and Mahdi Rahmouni both of France on the lines while Jerome Brisard also of France will lead the VAR team.
To get to the finals, Spain won group B with 9 fantastic points winning all her matches not conceding a single goal but scored just 5 goals. Croatia was tamed like a Croc with 3-0; piped Italy 1-0 and beat Albania 1-0. Spain pounded elastic Giant killers of a Debutante Georgia 4-1 in the Round of 16. She dismantled the hosts German Machine 2-1 in the quarterfinals and spinned off France 2-1 in the semifinal.
England topped Group C with 5 points scoring a paltry 2 goals and conceded one goal. She piped Serbia by a lone goal; played 1-1 with Denmark and goalless with Slovenia before defeating Slovakia in the Round of 16 by 2-1. She scaled Switzerland via penalty shootouts 5-3 after 1-1 at full time in the quarterfinals. The Three Lions devoured the Orange Boys of Netherlands 2-1 in the semifinal for which I report that her fans suffered violence from the Dutch fans who raided them at Drinking Joints throwing Chairs, stones and bottles in viral videos. The football world had known England as home of football hooliganism until legislation stopped it.
We remember with nostalgia the 2nd group stage group B world cup qualifier between Spain and England played on 5th July 1982 that ended in a goalless draw at the Santiago Bernabeu.
After that a record 7 friendly matches were played between them. In 2001 England won 3-0; in 2004 Spain won by a lone goal; in 2007 Spain again won by a lone goal at Wembley; in 2009 Spain spanked England 2-0; in 2011 England won 1-0 at home; on 13th November 2015 Spain again won 2-0 at home; on 15th November 2016 they drew 2-2 in London.
There last competitive meeting was in 2018 at the UEFA Nations League group 4 when England lsot in London 1-2 but won away at Santiago Bernabeu 3-2.
There are major attractions at each grand finale like the award winning sessions. It looks obvious that Spanish wonder boy, may win the Young Player of the Tournament for U21 Players. 16 year old Barca teenager, Lamine Yamal dazzled with leg work before scoring the equalizer in the 21st minute off a Morata assist in the semifinal against France. At that age (16 yeaars and 362 days), Yamal became the youngest goal scorer at a major tournament world cup or Euros, a record previously held by the late soccer legend, Edson Narento De Nascimento known as Pele (then 17 years 239 days) against Wales at the 1958 world cup.
There will be the PLAYER OF THE TOURNAMENT for Best player different from MAN OF THE MATCH given for each game. There will also be THE TEAM OF THE TOURNAMENT.
The focus of the award ceremonies usually is for the Highest Goal Scorer. There are now six joint top scorers in Georges Mikautadze of Georgia; Jamal Musiala of Germany, Cody Gako of Netherlands, Ivan Schranz of Slovakia, Danni Olmo of Spain and now Harry Kane of England all having three goals each. Harry Kane and Danni Olmo who are still in the game may lift the Golden Boot meant for highest goal scorer. If Olmo and Kane do not score at least via penalty, all the six players will be on record as joint winners of the GOLDEN BOOT.
The greatest top scorer in a single tournament has been Michel Platini of France who scored 9 goals when France hosted in 1984. Next was also a French man, Antoine Griezmann with 6 goals when France also won and hosted in 2016.
Participation fee for each team at Euro 24 is 9.25 Euros; winner of the tournament takes 8m Euros; Runners up will pocket 5m Euros; winner of Semifinal carts home 4m Euros; Quarterfinal winners take 2.5m Euros each; Round of 16 winners bags 1.5m Euros each; win three matches at the group stage and go home with 1m Euro (3m for a total of each group game won) and draw each group game you take home 0.5m Euros). Spain may take home 28.5m Euros if they win the tournament.
Eniola Olatunji reporting for Patmos Media Line.
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