In the wake of an end-of-season senior international break during which England could scarcely have looked more underwhelming, a penny for the current thoughts of those Football Association blazers who decided to appoint Thomas Tuchel as Sir(!) Gareth Southgate’s replacement following Lee Carsley’s six-month interim spell in charge. While it’s probably safe to say a chimp with a tactics board could navigate England’s passage through the qualifiers to next summer’s World Cup finals, Tuchel has been hired at great expense on a short-term contract with the sole target of lifting the trophy next summer. When the inevitable handwringing starts (should he fail to do so), folk will want to know to know exactly why a “forrin” – and a German one at that – with a penchant for being difficult and precisely no international management experience got the job ahead of an oven-ready homegrown replacement who seems seriously clued-in when it comes to excelling at summer kickabouts.
Whether or not the criticism will be justified remains to be seen but what we can probably all agree on is that when it comes to securing England’s progress through under-21 tournaments, Lee Carsley seems to have the Midas touch. Having masterminded England’s victory at the last Euros, he is now on the verge of helping an almost entirely new set of players retain the titlewon by their country two years agoin Georgia. Having alreadyseen off tournament favourites Spainin the quarter-finals, England booked their place in the final with a2-1 semi-final victory over the Netherlandsin Bratislava. Harvey Elliott – one of just two 2023 winners in the 2025 squad – scored both goals, either side of an opportunistic Noah Ohio strike from 40-yards that caught out England’s goalkeeper at his near post. Mercifully, it was the only time of the evening James Beadle was not about. “We’ve got so much quality,” trilled Carsley, who is looking to emulate Dave $exton by managing England to back-to-back Euros success. “But, more importantly, we’ve got a squad that believes that they can win. There’s more belief, which is important if we’re going to go that one step more, which is generally the hardest step now – getting over the line.”
One player who found it conspicuously difficult to get over the line on Wednesday was Elliott, the Liverpool midfielder taking the impromptu decision to celebrate his opener with an ill-advised knee-slide towards the touchline that was abruptly and painfully curtailed by a dry surface that had been slowly baking in the evening’s 33°C heat. Despite knacking himself in the process, Elliott was able to play on and is hopeful of being fit for the final. “I don’t know what I’ve done to my knee, but it’s bloody hurting,” he said after the game. “So hopefully it’s nothing too silly. It’s a silly decision from me, to be honest, but it’s just one of them, live in the moment. You do these things, but I forgot the pitch was ridiculously dry and it is the price I have got to pay.” Next up? Germany on Saturday, when hopefully the pitch will be well watered, all the better to facilitate celebratory tomfoolery that is as aquatic as it is acrobatic.
Join Scott Murray for piping hot MBM updates fromJuventus 1-2 Manchester City from the Copa Gianni, with kick-off at 8pm BST.
“You guys don’t have variety, it’s pasta, pizza, fish, steak. You know what the problem is with Italian food? It’s good specific food that you do very well, but in America if I go to a burger joint or a steak house, then I go to another place, it’s a completely different taste. [In Italy], I go to this restaurant and get a pesto pasta, I go 10 minutes down the street and order a pesto pasta, it’s the same thing” – Weston McKennie risks a diplomatic incident on Juventus’ official podcast, Talk With Us.
“The USA is the country with the worst food in the world. They would even deep-fry the soles of their shoes. How can McKennie say there’s no variety in Italian food? There are 200 million Yanks and all you eat are hamburgers” – former Italy international Emiliano Viviano hits back in style.
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