Euro 2024 Day 23: England’s ‘cheat code’ water bottle and can the Dutch keep it up?
The line-up for the semi-finals of Euro 2024 is complete.
France and Spain secured a place in the last four yesterday, and today England and the Netherlands followed with victories.
Both quarter-finals were tense and dramatic in different ways. England again looked sluggish and unimaginative for much of their encounter with Switzerland, but managed to squeeze through thanks to Bukayo Saka’s brilliant individual goal – which cancelled out Breel Embolo’s opener – and then some heroics in the penalty shootout.
Meanwhile, the Netherlands came from behind against Turkey to reach the semi-finals of the European Championship for the first time in 20 years. On Wednesday, a meeting with England is scheduled in Dortmund.
Our writers analyze the most important topics of conversation.
The secret to the English penalty? It’s all about the bottle
At first there didn’t seem to be much in it.
Cole Palmer had just scored England’s first penalty in their shootout with Switzerland and Manuel Akanji sauntered forward to make his reply. Jordan Pickford, the England goalkeeper, also started to trot, before suddenly dropping back.
Pickford had forgotten something — his water bottle, which was wrapped rather strangely in a towel. After picking it up, he walked back to his target and placed the bottle, still in the towel, next to the side netting.
After keeping Akanji waiting a little longer by stepping forward to inspect the penalty spot, Pickford returned to his goal line. Akanji had a short run-up and struck the ball with his right foot, but Pickford was a step ahead. He dived to his left, parried the penalty and England had an advantage they would never relinquish.
Luck? Not so much. This was actually a triumph of cunning for England and their team of analysts who had studied the punishments of all the Swiss players, noted where they usually placed them and printed out their findings for Pickford to stick on his water bottle.
The analysis was captured by a photographer on the ground, but Pickford took no chances in the moments before Akanji’s penalty – hence his decision to wrap the bottle in that towel.
And the England backroom staff had clearly done their homework. They had deciphered that Akanji was likely to fire to the right, so the best way for Pickford to play the percentages was to dive to his left — which he did.
Pickford’s water bottle with the instructions for Akanji’s penalty (we’ve circled it here)
Pickford had done well the first time, but surprisingly he did not follow the advice of his bottle on all the penalties.
Fabian Schar took their second, but instead of pretending to dive to the right before actually diving to the left — as his bottle instructed him to — Pickford did the opposite, pretending to dive to the left and jumping to the right. Schar’s penalty unfolded as the bottle had predicted, to the right, where the net was empty.
Pickford did follow his bottle on the final two Swiss penalties, with Xherdan Shaqiri firing the ball to the right, but the ball was too well placed and his shot just evaded Pickford’s fingertips.
The only penalty where the bottle turned out to be wrong was for Zeki Amdouni on the fourth kick. Pickford stood firm and dived low to his left, as he had been told, but Amdouni outwitted him by going to his right.
Fortunately for England, that one save was enough. And if their semi-final against the Netherlands on Wednesday goes the distance, don’t be surprised to see Pickford’s bottle and towel reappear.
Andrew Fifield
Saka shines — but where’s Kane?
When Saka starts well, England start well. He was their best player in the first half against Serbia in their opening match of Euro 2024, when he repeatedly beat goalkeeper Andrija Zivkovic, and he was again today.
It was no coincidence that today’s first half was England’s best since they began the tournament almost three weeks ago. High and wide in possession, in a formation that almost resembled a 3-4-3, Saka faced left-back Michel Aebischer. And he easily outplayed him.
So often in the first half, Saka took advantage of England getting the ball to him much quicker than they had against Slovakia in the previous round. Saka got into good positions, delivered crosses and forced corners. The only frustration was that England were never able to convert any of those crosses into serious shots on goal.
Bukayo Saka was a star for England (Clive Mason/Getty Images)
Striker Harry Kane, who had a tendency to drop deep throughout the game and ended up playing in defence at points in the second half, was unable to cope with any of Saka’s deliveries. Kane was substituted in extra time after an inadvertent collision on the touchline with England manager Gareth Southgate.
Without the ball, Saka had to run back and mark Ruben Vargas, but he did so diligently. And when England needed him most, Saka delivered the crucial equalizer, just when his team had run out of ideas.
Jack Pitt-Brooke
Can the Netherlands make it big?
An unconvincing run, a manager who won’t convince many, a couple of come-from-behind wins and the feeling that they are only in the semi-finals because they are in the good half of the schedule… ahead of England, read Netherlands.
But here they are, in the last four of the European Championship for the first time since 2004. What are their prospects of winning their second major tournament in history?
Well, Turkey capitalized on their weaknesses in the quarter-final today, particularly through set-pieces and crosses, while Austria also capitalized on a poorly organized defense to relegate them to third place in the group stage. But the Dutch have plenty up their sleeve too.
Netherlands celebrates victory over Turkey (Stu Forster/Getty Images)
Like England, when they play with confidence and energy and show composure and intensity, they can be great to watch, as was the case when they beat Romania 3-0 in the round of 16.
Tonight they needed to show determination, spirit… and a bit of tactical insight from manager Ronald Koeman with his second-half changes.
Three-goal scorer Cody Gakpo is a clear threat (who Turkey dealt with well until he crept in at the far post to take advantage of some slack defending and score the winner via a Mert Muldur own goal), while Jerdy Schouten, Tijjani Reijnders and Xavi Simons can play if given time and space in midfield – and then some.
Denzel Dumfries is always a quick threat from the full-back position and then there is the big Wout Weghorst who throws in from the bench and provides a number of aerial battles.
England will have plenty of food for thought.
Given current form, it seems Wednesday’s semi-final in Dortmund is still uncertain.
Tim Spiers
Guler leaves… like a star
While Barcelona’s teenager – Spaniard Lamine Yamal – rightly captured the attention of the tournament for his dazzling performances, someone from their arch-rivals Real Madrid is emerging as someone equally exciting.
Turkey’s Arda Guler may not have featured that much for Real last season, mainly due to injuries, but he ended his debut year at the Bernabeu in fantastic form (five goals in five games) and carried that momentum into Euro 2024.
Arda Guler was a star at Euro 2024 (Odd Andersen/AFP via Getty Images)
His second assist of the tournament against the Netherlands today was a beauty. Turkey and Guler, after a slow start, had come into the game through a series of threatening set pieces that the Dutch struggled to deal with, and the opening goal was an extension of that.
Guler took a free corner on the right side of the penalty area and couldn’t wait to get the ball onto his favoured left foot and fire it into the penalty area.
With no chance to do so, the 19-year-old, who had also hit the post with a free-kick in the second half, reluctantly took a swing with his right foot… and delivered a stunning outswinging cross that completely bewildered goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen, who looked like someone who had half-crossed the road but recoiled and hesitated as he saw a roaring motorbike heading their way.
Verbruggen didn’t jump to claim the ball or drive back to his goal line. He was helpless. Step forward Samet Akaydin at the far post, playing alone due to Merih Demiral’s suspension, and he headed an easy ball into the net.
Guler’s tournament may be over, but you can sense that this is just the beginning of a glittering career, for club and country.
Tim Spiers
What’s next?
- Spain vs France (Tuesday, 20:00 BST; 15:00 ET)
- Netherlands vs England (Wednesday, 20:00 BST; 15:00 ET)
(Top photo: Carl Recine/Getty Images)
