England face Germany at Wembley today in a last-16 Euro 2020 tie which has, unsurprisingly, captured the imagination of the nation.
Gareth Southgate’s side earned their spot in the knockout stages with 1-0 wins against Croatia and the Czech Republic and a turgid goalless draw with Scotland.
Despite doing little to capture the imagination, England at least progressed with relative comfort – Germany scraped through with a dramatic late equaliser against Hungary to claw their way out of a group of death also including Portugal and France.
Victory for either side would earn a favourable quarter-final draw (against Sweden or Ukraine), followed by an equally winnable semi-final against Czech Republic or Denmark – here’s how to watch the clash live.
How to watch England vs Germany
All fixtures in Euro 2020 are being broadcast live and free on the BBC and ITV.
Today’s clash kicks off at 5.00pm, and is live on BBC One, with build-up starting at 4.00pm.
You can a live stream online through BBC iPlayer here, while there will be highlights on ITV at 10.45pm.
England team news vs Germany
The key issue in the build-up has been the absence of Mason Mount and Ben Chilwell, who have been in self-isolation for the past 10 days after coming into close contact with Scotland’s Billy Gilmour.
Southgate told ITV that it was “a very difficult situation”, explaining: “They’ve been able to work in very small, well-distanced group session but not with the full group. And they haven’t been able to take part in any of the full team training sessions.”
“The guidance from Public Health England has been very clear, very specific and we’ve had to follow that… There’s not only the training part of that but the psychological part of that as well, of course.”
While Chilwell is more interchangeable – Luke Shaw impressed against Czech Republic – it is Mount’s potential absence which presents Southgate with the greater conundrum.
Before the tournament kicked off, there had been some talk that the Three Lions would shift to three at the back – not used since the November match against Iceland – and early indications suggest Southgate will indeed utilise wing-backs.
Declan Rice is expected to keep his place, while it is thought Bukayo Saka may have done enough against the Czech Republic to do the same, which could leave Phil Foden on the bench.
What to expect from England vs Germany
Kevin Garside, i‘s chief sports correspondent, cautioned that despite the hype around the contest, it “might easily emulate the stifling contest between Belgium and Portugal, which never came close to matching the sum of its parts”.
However, if Southgate is tempted to follow the lead of Portugal manager Fernando Santos by leaving some of his most creative player on the bench, Garside cautioned: “Winning ugly is harder than it seems.”
Instead, he urged the England boss to follow the example of Hungary, who “gave Germany the hurry up” in group stages, and approach the fixture with “a sense of adventure”:
“Let us hope that England give a performance worthy of the fixture and the sense of occasion surrounding it. Since taking over from Sam Allardyce five years ago Southgate has seduced us with big themes, sold us a vision unencumbered by past collapses, powered by a squad of players fluent in methods and techniques formerly associated only with our continental neighbours and exotic dribblers from South America.
“This utopia is England’s to claim, Southgate promised. Yet when called upon to set pulses ablaze in this tournament Southgate has fallen victim to the very thinking he would have his players obliterate. He has laboured under the familiar caution that has fatally inhibited England in the past, prioritising clean sheets over creativity.
“So it is to Southgate’s sense of adventure that we appeal. If England really are to cut ties with a past that includes knockout defeats to Germany on the four occasions the teams have met since England triumphed at the 1966 World Cup, it starts with Southgate delivering on his own manifesto. Failure to do so risks driving us prematurely into the arms of the returning Love Island. There has to be more to life than that.”
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3y5nEzD
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