Euro View: Don't let controversy spoil the best group of the tournament!

Slovakia's Stanislav Lobotka and Ukraine's Mykhailo Mudryk (Image: PA)

Euro View – Marc Iles

WHO knew that the most controversial and exciting group at Euro 2024 would contain a bunch of ‘spent force’ Belgians, a war-affected Ukrainian squad and two unfancied fellows in Romania and Slovakia.

There hasn’t been a lot to criticise with the officiating in this tournament, but Romelu Lukaku’s second disallowed goal in Belgium’s second game still rankles, no matter what that Snickometer says.

It was a rare misstep for a VAR system which has behaved itself thus far, and it has added another touch of spice to a group that remains very hard to predict, even going into the last round of games.

Now we are hearing conspiracy theories claiming that Romania and Slovakia could manufacture a draw tonight, which would guarantee they both qualify for the knockout stages.

Such suggestions have been levelled at major tournaments before, of course. Those with long memories might remember Argentina ‘conveniently’ smashing six past Peru to knock Brazil out of the competition in 1978.

Or how about 1982’s ‘Disgrace of Gijon’ in which West Germany beat Austria 1-0, guaranteeing the two teams went through and that Algeria did not.

Can you honestly see something that underhanded happening these days, where the whole world is watching and there are hundreds of millions of eyes on each second of each match?

It has been a great group to watch, so far. Ukraine’s fine second-half comeback against Slovakia setting things up nicely for a bit of channel-hopping between BBC One and Two, in which I will inevitably miss every live goal but manage to catch every single trailer for iPlayer and whatever is happening in Dr Who.

It certainly isn’t the same compelling viewing in Group F, where Portugal have the situation well under control and will most likely extinguish Georgia’s hopes this evening too.

I have my doubts as to whether they will go very deep into the competition whilst a talented squad is having to channel its energies through ‘you know who’ up front.

At the start of the competition, I’d narrowed it down to Portugal or Belgium as the fancied team I thought would be suffer an early exit but they both played well in game two, and it would be a real shock to see either exit in the group now.

The Turkish fans have created some truly memorable atmospheres so far, underlining just how huge their population is in Germany. Reports suggest there are more than seven million ex-pats, which makes them effectively a second home nation.

Having spent loads of time in Germany down the years, the Turkish influence is hard to miss in most major cities, particularly when it comes to food. And it would be to the massive detriment of Euro 2024 if Vicenzo Montella’s side went out early – which is still a possibility if they were to suffer a heavy defeat against the Czechs.

Euro View - Dan Barnes

Some players are just impossible to hate and Luka Modric is definitely one of them.

At 38, the Real Madrid midfielder is still running games and the prospect of never seeing him play in the Euros again is a bitter pill to swallow.

Modric thought he had sealed a crucial victory against Italy, firing into the roof of the net moments after his penalty had been saved by Gianluigi Donnarumma.

But Croatian hearts were broken when Mattia Zaccagni curled home in the eighth minute of stoppage time, leaving the team on the brink of elimination.

Modric has signed on for another season in La Liga but after the final whistle, he admitted he isn’t sure how much longer he will keep playing.

A wholesome video went viral from the post press conference where an Italian journalist paid tribute to the midfielder’s achievements in the game and asked him to never hang up his boots. His response was typically classy.

Premier League fans who watched Modric during his Tottenham days knew he was a special talent, but I don’t think many expected him to have such a huge impact at the Bernabeu.

Following the recent Champions League final victory against Borussia Dortmund at Wembley, he has now won more trophies than any player in the club’s rich history – surpassing Marcelo and Karim Benzema.

At the time of writing, Croatia still had a slim change of making it through to the knockout rounds despite only picking up a couple of points from their group games against Spain, Albania and, of course, the Italians.

Pepe is still playing for Portugal at 41 so you never know, but there is a decent chance this might have been Modric’s final international tournament.

If that is the case, he deserved a much happier send off. But football can be a cruel game, we’ve all learnt that the hard way.

Danny Rohl proved a success on his punditry debut this summer (Image: PA)

TV View – Marc Iles

Will we miss Danny Rohl’s punditry at the Euros? Well, Ja!

Hugely popular over the hill in South Yorkshire, the Sheffield Wednesday boss has now headed home to start his preparations for a new season in the Championship.

He has won some new fans around the country, too, and not just because of his quirky speech pattern, he talked a lot of sense too.

Rohl did not have an especially glamorous playing career in the German lower leagues and retired early because of persistent injuries. He is one of a new breed of coaches who literally became a student of the game and steadily build a fine coaching career with RB Leipzig, Southampton, Bayern Munich, the German national team and now Wednesday, where he made a big impact last season and steered a troubled club away from relegation.

Is this the future of punditry? Are we finally entering an age where what you say is equally – if not more - important than the medals you won? I hope so.

I caught ex-Portugal defender Jose Fonte in the Spain v Albania game the other night, who came across quite well. He clearly has a fine background and won the trophy with Portugal in 2016 but, like Rohl, his wasn’t a name which would instantly spring to mind when assembling a list of Euro pundits, so good research BBC.

It just makes me wish that Sky Sports et al didn’t just fish from the same pool of mates for each and every game they aired in the regular season. Perhaps with more ground to cover this season they will be able to diversify and bring in some of the many ex-players and coaches who still have a lot to offer on the microphone whilst they are out of the game.