Spain shine as England labour to progress, with Austria and Switzerland making the most of their limited squads
, kick-off minus five-and-a-half hours. A large crowd has formed at a barrier on the long path that leads from the Fröttmaning train station to the Allianz Arena. The security officials have told everyone they cannot let anyone in until 4pm. Everyone waits.
As the group stage comes to an end the German organisers can feel relieved and pleased: the tournament has, despite everything, been a big success so far. Yes, the media hype anticipating a “Sommermärchen 2.0″ proved overblown – if you were here during the 2006 World Cup you can see that the excitement levels in the host nation are not comparable to the mania of that summer. But then the Euros is not the World Cup.
The huge contingents of travelling supporters have created immense atmospheres at many of the matches, with those of Scotland, Hungary, Austria and Croatia standing out as especially passionate. The crowd couldn’t help them against the cool proficiency of the Portuguese, who tuned out the noise and beat them 3-0. That was one of the most quietly impressive performances of the tournament so far, although most of the attention ended up focused on the stream of supplicants invading the pitch to get a picture with Ronaldo.
Lamine Yamal is clearly a major talent, but is it a sign of desperation on Spain’s part that he has become so integral at such a ridiculously young age? They seem unbothered by the recent examples of Pedri and Gavi, who became regulars for club and country at 17 and soon paid the price with long injury lay-offs.
Austria’s opposites in this sense are the pre-tournament favourites, England, who have contributed most of the angst and melodrama. Confidence inis crumbling fast. The coach began the tournament with a midfield three that had never played together before.
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