Trent Alexander-Arnold is expected to play as a midfielder – pure bred, no hybrid – tonight. Many pundits have criticised his lack of defensive nous, most notably Wayne Rooney and Roy Keane, and Gareth Southgate was asked the question during his press conference.
Everybody’s more than entitled to opinions. I spoke to Trent about playing in this role over a year ago. It’s not something he’s been doing for the last five years. There is an element of the unknown. But I think it’s an opportunity that’s worth grasping because he could be incredibly special.
So, England. You can read all our preview pieces on our dedicated Euro 2024 site, but we’ll dot them here throughout the day as well. Let’s start with David Hytner on Harold Kane esq.
Kane made the point that the squad stood apart from previous vintages because of the form that many of the players were taking into the finals. Phil Foden, for example, is the player of the year in England; Jude Bellingham in Spain. Kane also backed himself to win the Golden Boot, which he secured at the 2018 World Cup. “There is no reason why I cannot be the top scorer,” he said. “If we do well, I expect myself to be up there. That confidence is still there.”
Three years ago, Christian Eriksen almost died during Denmark’s game against Finland. Now he is preparing for the start of another European Championship.
Germany are basking in the afterglow of their impressive performance against Scotland on Friday. Here’s what Kai Havertz had to say about it.
I hope there is more to come. Obviously when you win 5-1 it is a statement but it is just the start and you can see how much quality there is in the team, how many good players that we have.
Although Scotland were a very good team with a great coach, the opponents are going to get tougher. It was actually a tough match. But as you go further and further into a tournament, the matches get harder and harder. We keep on going, train good, sleep good. And play with confidence.
The other game yesterday was in Scotland’s group, where Switzerland survived a wobble to deservedly beat Hungary. Granit Xhaka was majestic in midfield.
In the other Group B game, the astonishing 16-year-old Lamine Yamal put on a show as Spain hammered Croatia despite having less than 50 per cent possession. The last time that happened in a competitive game was in 2008, when Yamal was a couple of weeks short of his first birthday.
It’s been a really good start to the tournament, with 16 goals in the first four games. Three of those came in Dortmund last night, where the reigning champions Italy conceded the fastest goal in European Championship history before recovering to beat Albania.
Hello and welcome to our live blog for day three of Euro 2024. It’s the big one, the day when our heroes enter the tournament. Denmark play Slovenia at 5pm, hoping to emulate the boys of 1984, 1992 or even 2021.
England are also involved: they meet an attacking Serbian side in Gelsenkirchen tonight. And first up, Poland play the Netherlands in Hamburg. That game is in an intriguing Group D, which also includes France and a fast-improving Austria. I was going to say the Netherlands can’t afford to slip up, but it didn’t do them any harm when they lost their first game of the last European Championship to be played in Germany.
If you prefer these things in list form, here are today’s games.
Poland v Netherlands (Group D, 2pm)
Slovenia v Denmark (Group C, 5pm)
Serbia v England (Group C, 8pm)
Marco van Basten scores the winner against West Germany in the Euro 88 semi-final. The Netherlands lost their opening game but recovered to win the tournament in glorious style. Photograph: STF/AP
