Spain’s new team struggled with the familiar problems on Monday as a string of missed chances allowed Sweden to hang on for a goalless draw in their Euro 2020 opener in Seville.
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NewsTranscript
00:00And now we've had the first nil-nil draw as well. Spain against Sweden. Did not expect that.
00:08Good morning. You're watching Golf News kicking back. My name's Imran and I've got my footie
00:12pal Shamsir and a disappointed looking Matt whose team lost yesterday. He'll talk about Scotland
00:17soon. But first, let's bring you up to date with some of the latest news from Euro 2020.
00:2140,000 fans are going to be allowed into Wembley Stadium as the tournament progresses,
00:26as coronavirus restrictions are eased later this month. Currently, I think there's about
00:3022,000 fans allowed, so that's almost double the capacity. Belgium's players will be spending less
00:35time in St. Petersburg because the team management want the squad to prepare, and I quote, in a more
00:41COVID-safe environment. So they're obviously worried. And De Bruyne is back in training
00:46with the squad, so that's good news. And finally, Christian Eriksen has told his Denmark teammates
00:50to look forward to the game against Belgium on Thursday. So it sounds like he's doing
00:55a lot better now, which is great news. Right, let's talk about yesterday's game,
00:59starting with Scotland and the Czech Republic. And Matt, the floor is yours, mate. Go on.
01:07Yeah, it was a little bit of the old and the news about Scotland. And they went out,
01:15they played great to start with. And then the old familiar feelings came back. And
01:21yeah, they basically got bit in the bottom once again. Won by a fine goal just before halftime
01:33against the run of play somewhat, when it looked as though they were in the ascendancy.
01:37And then a freakish second goal from the halfway line that Ronaldinho would have been proud of.
01:44It was just, it was brilliantly finished. It really was. He looked up, he took his chance.
01:51Martial was off his line. And yeah, he'll be living that down for a little while now.
01:58And then for some reason, Scotland didn't collapse, as we're used to them doing.
02:04They kept fighting and fighting right to the end. They had 19 shots on goal,
02:09which is insane for a team like Scotland and also insane not to have at least scored one.
02:14But on another day, they would have won that match. But when you're Scottish,
02:21you don't get the breaks more often than not. And yeah, they had a good old luck of the Scots
02:30again. And yeah, a bit of an unfortunate day already. You could see the difference between
02:37a seasoned campaigner and someone who plays in a major tournament once in two decades.
02:42It was clearly evident because Scotland were rushing towards the things, whereas Czech were
02:48methodologically doing it very calm on the ball. But Scots were really rushing on the thing.
02:54You can see the first half chance from Andy Roberts, and he could have put Scotland ahead
03:00even in the first half itself. But he rushed to it. And also the question marks will be on
03:06Steve Clarke's team decision. I don't know why he started Dyches ahead of Che Adams.
03:12Che Adams had a decent season at Southampton. And we all know that Dyches' score conversion
03:19rate is not that great. But Che Adams would have given them something different. But yes,
03:24he brought him in the second half. But with that wonder goal, everything changed. It was outrageous.
03:30One of the best goals that I have seen in the tournament and could be the goal of the tournament.
03:35You can ask question marks on the keeper, Marshall. But it was one outrageous kick.
03:43Even the golfers couldn't score that with the wind and everything. Because the direction when
03:48you see in the picture, and if you show that picture and ask someone whether this went in,
03:55they can't say it. Because it was that good. It was a brilliant kick.
03:59Matt, you mentioned 19 chances. I think you started really well, especially in the early
04:04stages. You were up for it. It was a really good, positive start. I mean, I think you were
04:08really unlucky. You missed plenty of opportunities. But you kept creating chances, I think. But the
04:12problem clearly was there was just no one there good enough to convert them.
04:17Yeah, absolutely. The class did tell, as Shammy just said there, about experience over enthusiasm.
04:28And there is a golfing class when it comes to an out-and-out class finisher for Scotland.
04:37You know, some teams have got them coming out with their ears. Scotland are just crying out
04:42for one. They've got a lot of quality. They've got some good players in midfield. For once,
04:46they've got some great defenders. You know this. That happens once in a generation.
04:50And ironically, other times when we've had great strikers, we've had a really poor team behind
04:58them. Now it's the other way around and we've just not got that clinical finisher that they
05:03were crying out for yesterday. You mentioned Schick scoring that world-class goal. But I
05:11think if Ronaldo or Messi had scored that, I think we'd be talking about it for years. But yes,
05:18he's got to take some blame for that. He was so far out of position. He was closer to the halfway
05:23line, I think, than he was to the 18-yard box. Yeah, he was 35 yards away from the box. That
05:30was ridiculous. But he was not expecting that thing. Yeah, you can share the blame on the
05:35keeper. But that shot was outrageous, man. It was like Ronaldinho, like what Matty said. Or
05:41Beckham, as we have seen, Rooney does that. That was brilliant. That was absolutely brilliant.
05:46But like what Matt mentioned, if Che Adams would have started, I think it would have been a
05:51different scoreline, probably. Because he is a seasoned footballer. He's a seasoned Premier
05:56League footballer who knows where the goal is. But as you know how Dykes is, he isn't good at
06:02converting the chances. And also, for Clark not using the likes of Billy Gilmore in the midfield,
06:08it's absolutely criminal. Because the quality is evident. Yes, of course, they have McGuins and
06:14all the superstars in the midfield. But this kid is special. They should be using him,
06:19at least in the next game. Yeah, Robertson, we know that he's a world-class left-back. He showed
06:27his quality. He was trying to drive the team forward like he does for Liverpool. But I think
06:31you mentioned McGuin. He was being man-marked by Sochek and I think he did a really good job on him.
06:40Sochek and Alex Kral in that midfield was absolutely brilliant, man.
06:43That chick, like I have mentioned, they play like seasoned campaigners. They know what they
06:48were doing. They were patient enough. They were spamming in clusters. They were making all sorts
06:54of uncertainties in that Scotland box. I was surprised the way that Sochek scored the first
07:02goal when Liam Cooper is so good. We know he's so good on the air. But that was a world-class header.
07:08People are not talking about that header because all attention is going to that wonder goal. But
07:12that header was equally good. Good point. That's a good point. That really was a good header.
07:18You're playing us on Friday. You've still got Croatia to come. And the good thing about this
07:23format is that, as we know, some third-place teams are going to advance to the last 16. So
07:28it's not all loss for Scotland. They've still got a chance.
07:34Unfortunately, I think that this game wasn't their best chance to get three points,
07:39unfortunately. There's no chance we'll get anything at Wembley, which means that we'll be
07:45hoping to get the finishing boots on against Croatia because we'll get chances against them.
07:52But they are still, to me, a level up from the Czech Republic. So,
07:59yeah, we could be the team that has zero points.
08:07But there is some positivity in that Scotland performance, like Matty mentioned earlier.
08:13They created a lot of chances, which is so unlike of Scotland. And even after going 2-0 down,
08:22it was a pretty confident performance from them. It was just unlucky, man.
08:27It really was. On another day, this could have been a totally different scoreline. The amount
08:31of chances they… I mean, they created lots of chances, but they didn't let the heads drop. They
08:34kept coming at them, which was a real positive to have. And I think it just makes the game on
08:41Friday against us. It's going to be even more interesting now because there's so much more
08:44to play for. I don't write them off. I still think Scotland, like I thought they would do,
08:49has probably finished third. As long as they get a decent goal difference in, they could
08:55still advance. Right, let's move on to the next one. We had Poland against Slovakia.
08:59It was the first upset of the tournament with Slovakia winning 2-1. Poland found this one
09:03really hard to… they just found it hard to get going. Lewandowski, he had to come deep to get
09:08the ball and he didn't have enough service. And in the end, it was a pretty frustrating game for
09:12him, wasn't it? Yeah, it was one of those days that I tipped him to have a great game and then
09:19he'll go flying and score goals for fun. So, he obviously heard us and decided he was going to
09:24have a bad game. Yeah, obviously, going down to 10 men didn't help the Poles, but I hope you're
09:34not going to ask me to pronounce half of these names, by the way, on either side. But, yeah,
09:45they went down to the goal against… trying to play a little bit, but yeah, they didn't impress
09:52me at all in them. I think that when you see Lewandowski in a Bayern team, he's surrounded by
09:57such talent that maybe that's lacking a bit in that Poland team.
10:04Like I have mentioned in previous previews and everything, this game was also
10:11won in the midfield. The veteran Hamsik and Dudos were brilliant in that midfield for Slovaks,
10:18whereas Matthias Klick and all others for Poland, it was non-existent. So, that was a huge difference.
10:24And when you look at the second half, Poland started really well. They scored in the
10:31early minute itself, but then you have seen that absolute suicidal moment from Krzysztof Kwiatk,
10:38who is a seasoned footballer, who has played for PSG and West Brom and Chalbium. That was
10:42suicidal. He shouldn't have made that. That red card cost Poland the game because they were right
10:47on top of the game and he got that red card, the second yellow card. Even the first yellow card
10:51was avoidable and the second one was absolutely suicidal.
10:55He definitely let his team down. But just getting into the tournament, Poland's form
11:00hasn't been really great. I think they've played five games this year. They've only won one time
11:04and that was against Andorra. So, I mean, they've really not been tested. But you're right, they got
11:08themselves back on level terms really quickly in the second half. In fact, I missed it. I was making
11:11a cup of tea and I came back and it was 1-1. I think Mileti got the goal. But then Slovakia went
11:18back in front through, I think, Skriniar. Is that how you say it? Skriniar, man. He deserved it.
11:24I mean, he had a solid game at the back. But his finish, I mean, he's a superb first touch and
11:29a lovely goal. I think Lewandowski would have been proud of that one. Exactly. What an outstanding
11:34first touch for that goal. Milan Skriniar of Inter Milan scored an absolute peach of a goal,
11:39which even all the strikers in the world would be proud of. Like you have mentioned,
11:43his counterpart Lewandowski would be looking at that and said, wow, that is an amazing strike.
11:47And he had a great game. And it's a pride moment for all the Slovaks.
11:54I think the great thing about these tournaments as well as all the superstar moments and
11:59sensational goals, we unearthed new talents that we'd never heard of from other parts around
12:05Europe. And I think that we might see a couple of guys from the Slovak team beginning to make
12:10a name for themselves and get themselves on a few shopping lists over the summer.
12:17Yeah, I think you're right. That normally tends to happen as the tournament progresses.
12:21There's always a couple of standout players that you never really thought about and
12:24they actually take the tournament by storm. But I think just coming back to that Poland,
12:28they were really forcing it. I mean, every single pass they were looking for Lewandowski. There
12:31didn't seem to be a plan B. I mean, there's got to be more to come from them. They can't
12:36just keep relying on him to get them out of jail. There was no cohesion. There was no absolute
12:42cohesion. Like I've mentioned, the midfield was non-existent. But in the second half,
12:48he did the right thing. The coach, he's a man of experimentation because I think he came recently
12:53in January and he started experimenting a lot, which didn't help the team either. But the right
12:58thing he made was he asked them to move 10 yards up the pitch, even the midfield and the defense,
13:06which actually returned profit. But the thing is that that moment completely spoiled everything
13:12for them. Absolutely. Yeah, that was the moment that changed the game. When you're playing with
13:17the 10 men, when you're chasing the game, especially you leave yourself open at the
13:21back. And in the end, it was still a surprising result. I still fancied Poland, just to name
13:27this one. But yeah, I guess you could say that is the first upset. And now we've had the first
13:32nil-nil draw as well. Spain against Sweden, did not expect that. The first half, I mean,
13:38you could see what Sweden was going to do. They were going to get behind the ball and just make
13:41life difficult for Spain. But it was one of life's mysteries how this one stayed nil-nil. There was
13:46tons of chances in this game. Yeah, I think they've been watching Scotland and how not to score.
13:54It was, as you said, it was chance after chance. As we saw in the Netherlands-Ukraine game,
14:02sometimes you just need a half chance and you can just get five goals, you know, boom, boom, boom.
14:06This was like the opposite. No matter what they tried to do, it just wasn't falling for either
14:12team. And I think that both of them would probably have settled for a draw, given the
14:17fact of the chance that they could easily have lost two or three goals in that game.
14:21So the Spanish side, you know, reminiscent of the old, they were good in the first and second
14:29phase of the pitch. But on the third phase, they're absolutely calamitous, man.
14:34With Alvaro Morata up front, the amount of chances that he misses, the sitters that he misses,
14:39and the amount of times that he goes offside and he kills the attack for Spain, it's absolutely
14:46mental, you know. So this was expected by me. And it's boring to watch Spain, you know. You can see,
14:52yes, they created chances. They had only like five shots on target with all the possession
14:59they had. They had like 85 percent possession of the football and they were bringing passes
15:04everywhere. It was more than 800 passes. And with all those things, with all those stats,
15:09they created just five shots on target. Alston was in good form. But that's not good enough for
15:14a Spanish side to progress well in the tournament. And the problems were clear from the
15:20attacking perspective. Like I've mentioned, Alvaro Morata doesn't fancy scoring football,
15:26doesn't fancy scoring goals. And there is someone like Gerard Moreno on the bench who had a stellar
15:33season at Villarreal. And he even won the Europa League for them. And he scored tons of goals in
15:41the Spanish league. But he's not getting his chances. He got his chances towards the end of
15:45the game. But that's not enough. He should be starting the game for them. Because Morata
15:50is going to miss sitters. He is going to miss sitters. You can't rely on him.
15:54Yeah, Sweden were quite well organised. They frustrated Spain. They were sitting deep and
15:58they looked happy just to defend. And they weren't really offering too much going forward. But they
16:03nearly stole the game when Isaac's shot was deflected onto the post in the first half. And
16:07then somehow in the second half, how did Berg miss that from two yards out? I mean, he should
16:13have scored. I don't know how he's put that over. Well, again, as you said, on another day, that
16:19could have really hurt Spain. Because they failed to take their chances. Obviously,
16:24Champs really is a massive fan there of Morata. But yeah, no, you've got to agree though that
16:34that could have been really costly for them. They could have found themselves on the losing end
16:37because they failed to take their own chances and kill off the game themselves. And we all know
16:43how quickly a game can change. And it just takes one moment. And as you said, Berg could have had
16:48that moment. I don't know, deer in the headlights, shall we say. He didn't know what to do with it.
16:56Like what you guys have mentioned about the young players and the unknown players
17:01coming into the tournament, Alexander Isaac is one of them. He showed to the world that he's so
17:06good at being a lone striker. He had hardly anything to do in the first half. But then one
17:11moment came to him and he showed with his footwork, amazing technique abilities. He almost
17:18scored for Swedes. And in the second half, like Imran mentioned, the Berg miss, but it was created
17:23by Alexander Isaac. And he plays for Real Sociedad and all the big eyes is on him. And he'll have a
17:30thing to prove. So, Swedes were lucky. They were very organized and they had a plan in place
17:36against the Spanish side. They know that Spanish side is going to pass left, right and centre.
17:42And you know how the Spanish side used to be. They used to kill with thousand cuts.
17:47Now, they tickle you with thousand feathers.
17:54I just go back to Isaac. As soon as he... I don't know why they took him off in the first place.
17:58He wasn't injured. He wasn't looking tired. He was the main threat, like you say. As soon as he
18:03went off, you know, that was it for Sweden. They literally just got two banks of four behind the
18:08ball. And okay, they left a couple of guys up front, but that was it for them for the last half
18:13hour. Spain really came on to them, but there was just no cutting edge. And yeah, you're right.
18:17Olsen had a good game. He made some really important saves in the end, but still surprising
18:22to see this one finish goalless with just the amount of chances that were created.
18:28Yeah, I agree. I agree. It was a case of Sweden maybe just deciding that, you know what, we've
18:37run our luck long enough here. Let's just try and park the bus and kill the game now and get away
18:41with a point because on another day, Spain will probably be beating us. So let's take the point
18:48where we can. And that's why they sat back after that. They came with a plan and they executed
18:55well. That's it. Yeah, it was a well-earned point in the end. Yeah, they'll probably take that.
19:00Right, let's move on to Group F, the group of death, as they call it, starting with Hungary
19:04against Portugal. How do we see that one going? That's the first kickoff today.
19:11I'm sure you can take that one so far.
19:14Hungary, you know, for many of us it will be an unknown team, but they have had a good
19:21playoff and they had a good qualification round. But they'll be missing their main striker,
19:27what was his name, Szaboszlai of RB Leipzig. He scored in the playoff final for them, but
19:33he'll be a huge miss for Hungary. But, you know, everyone is writing them off.
19:40That is the moment that these guys can turn around without any pressure, they can perform
19:45well. But when you look at that Portugal side, oh my God, the score strength they have is as good
19:52as a French scorer. They have talents all over the pitch. But the latest news about Cancelo
19:59missing out on Corvette is going to be a miss for Portugal because that's one area they'll be
20:05having to shorten. They have players like Semedo and Cedric Suarez, but not good enough like
20:13Cancelo's quality. So other than that, I think Portugal should win that game. But we have seen
20:19in the 2016 Euros that the game ended in a draw. But eventually Portugal winning the Euros,
20:27the game started in a draw. I think we're going to see quite a few games in this one. You
20:31mentioned Cancelo being out and all the other injuries from COVID and everything. And like you
20:36say, when you look at the Portugal team, aside from obviously Ronaldo, you've got Fernandes there,
20:40who's going to be pulling all the strings in the midfield. Another player who I really like,
20:45I think he's done really well from his step up from Wolves last season to Liverpool is Diego
20:49Iota. If he starts, he'll be providing lots of cutting edge for them. And I'm going to go for
20:54a high scoring Portugal win here. I think 3-2. I can see five goals in this one. Predictions?
21:043-2, that's a bit ambitious. I think you might be right with five goals,
21:09but I think it'd be more like 4-1.
21:13For me, Fernando Sandoz is...
21:14Portugal, by the way. I mean for Portugal.
21:19For me, Fernando Sandoz is a very pragmatic manager with all the attacking
21:23talents that he possesses. He still plays a pragmatic football. He's primarily focusing
21:29on not losing the match. So I don't think it is going to be a high scoring game, even though with
21:34the wealth of talents they have with the likes of Diego Iota and Cristiano Ronaldo, I think it's
21:40going to be a low scoring game where Hungary is going to park the bus. It'll be on Portugal to
21:48see how they can break them down. So it could be like 1-0 or a 0-0.
21:53All right, we shall wait and see how that one goes. And the one that we're all waiting for
21:57obviously is the big one of the tournament, France against Germany. France, the World Cup
22:01winners in 2018. And when you look at that squad, Benzema, Griezmann, Mbappe, Pogba,
22:08your favourite player Kante, and there's so many more. But then Germany's got the likes of
22:12Hummels at the back. All right, he's a bit old now, but Rudiger's going to have a very important
22:16role to play. Then you've got Kroos, Gundogan, if Mane starts up front. More important than all
22:22those players is that German mentality. They just know how to grind out, resolve, win games,
22:28progress through tournaments. So how do you guys think that one's going to go?
22:34I definitely think that this is one for the absolute masses. Everybody will be sat down
22:39for this one, regardless of who you're following throughout the game or throughout the world,
22:43for that matter. This is a game that the people across the globe will be wanting to watch. Joachim
22:49Löw's got a lot to prove as this is his last big tournament as a German coach. This France team are
22:54two years older as world champs. They've got to be seeing how they're going to be
22:59bedding in with that reputation now, especially on the likes of Mbappe. And obviously Benzema's back.
23:07Is he going to be destructive? Is he going to be welcomed back? There's so many fascinating
23:10subplots in this, it's unbelievable. And then there's just the old guard of Germany,
23:17as you said, Hummels, Muller, how are these guys going to be faring against and keeping up with
23:24these much younger talents that we're now seeing coming through in this France team that really
23:28burst out the scene in the past few years? It's just a canny wait, as we say in Scotland.
23:35It's going to be a titanic match. Everyone is looking for that.
23:40For motivation purposes, I can say one stat which Didier Deschamps will be looking at,
23:46he can be writing things in the record books because he could be the only person in the
23:52world who can win the Euros and World Cup as a player and a manager. So if that is not a
23:56motivation for him, that's more than a motivation. And for the squad, like Matty mentioned,
24:02they are experienced from the World Cup when they are two years older and they know how to
24:08tackle the pressure. But the pressure will be on them because in this tournament, everyone knows
24:13that France are the favourites. They all know that France, they expect a lot of things from the
24:19France team. And we can see with the likes of Benzema and Griezmann and all the N'Golo Kantis
24:27in the team, they expect a lot. So if they don't start well, it's going to be a massive problem for
24:34them. And everyone will be on their heads.
24:38Yeah, you're right. It's going to be interesting to see as well with all that wealth of talent that France have in their squad,
24:45are they going to be able to play as a team? I mean, that's very important. If they all start
24:48leaving it to one another to pick up the ball and score the goals and make things happen,
24:55it could be a bit of a disaster. So let's have some predictions finally. What do you think
25:00is going to happen with this one?
25:02I'd say 2-0 France. I just think they'll have an extra class. I mean, I think they've proven that
25:09they can't play together. And I think that if Griezmann hits Foreman, if Benzema can
25:17find his way into the fold, they'll just have so much, too many, a wealth of options.
25:23And the German bones will creak.
25:27To be honest, I like the Germans. I always loved Michael Ballack's team. So I don't write them off
25:34because the mentality that Germans possess is absolutely immense. Even though not so long ago,
25:38they were defeated 6-0 by the Spanish side who couldn't score a goal against the Swedes
25:43last night. So it's totally unpredictable which side Joachim Löw is going to pick.
25:49But I still have faith in the German side. I think with the likes of Kai Havertz up front,
25:58it's going to be a scoring draw.
26:01That's what my gut tells me as well. I'm as good as France are and we all know they've got
26:07some really quality players there. I mean, the spotlight's going to be obviously on Mbappe.
26:11But then Germany, it takes a brave man just to rule them out. So I'm also going to go for a
26:18slightly cagey game. I think a 1-1 draw I think is what I'm going to see.
26:23Anyway, guys, that's all for today. Get in touch, everybody. Leave a comment. Give us
26:27your predictions. And don't forget to head to golfnews.com for all the very latest news.
26:31Thanks for watching and we will see you tomorrow.
26:35Thanks, guys.