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Three Lions. Will this be one continental get-together or international leaders that doesn't see England's representatives who have come home early and then say sorry? Under dogs, can the Scott Spank Germany's bots dark horses, Austria, Hungary, Ukraine, which shadowy equine a keep, is set to most excite? We'll be talking all that much more in this. Totally at the Euros 2024. Unglobalist. Unglobalistus. Wow, listen, not going to lie, it's Wednesday the 12th of June right now.
That makes it one. Two days until Euro 2024 actually kicks off and four days until a lone trumpeter picks out the notes of the great escape, somewhere in the Veltz and Arena, and then the tournament really begins, of course. But here in the studio, licking his lips and other people's too, Duncan Alexander. Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. We've got Scott and JJ Bull. And also Tim Spears, who likes walls and dark horses. Don't put them in a pen together, walls and dark horses.
Well, I don't know who would come out and talk. That's the thing about dark horses. You can never rule them out, but more on them later on. On the subject of walls, Tim, I see that they suffered a late defeat, a season ending defeat in the VAR challenge. Yeah, it's a bit embarrassing as 191 defeat. Were you surprised about it? I was a bit surprised it was that emphatic.
I think the suggestion was that other clubs sort of agreed but weren't prepared to stick the next out in an anonymous voting system, which I find a bit silly. But yeah, it's sort of backfired for walls. They put this out a week before they raised their ticket prices quite substantially, which didn't feel too coincidental to me. And there have been lots of angry fans about the ticket prices and have they been defeated in the VAR thing.
All right. Well, they'll get more match for their money, of course, with the VAR system. More of the match going to experience at least. On the subject of things that slow the game down a bit and that a lot of people hoped would be gone for next season. How about that 10-hug news? He's staying at Manchester United. JJ, what a T-Fog up prepared for that. We had a couple of videos prepared for who we thought might have been the manager. I can probably say that. That's probably fine.
But it seems they've gone from really looking hard at other managers to staying with what they have. And maybe, who knows? Maybe that will turn out for the best. You'll have players who aren't injured all season long. I mean, the signings you've brought in have all worked really well. So I think another summer of that is good for everyone. Right. It feels like the perfect outcome in a way, in some ways not. But Manchester's not fans in general won't it have to stay, I think.
I saw a few polls where they were like. Yeah, mostly they wanted them to stay. I think opposition fans aren't averse to it. And I think fans of narrative also. Yeah. He's just one in FA Cup. Yeah, I think that probably was the key thing. That has given him a lifeline which is sort of used. Is it fair to say that the sports reporting industry at large has been blindsided by this? I think no one really knew what was going to happen there.
I think it's a strange position because next season everyone will know that Manchester's not a dead look at other managers quite extensively. So a bad start, a big defeat early on, another 25 shots allowed as was the start of last season. And the same conversations will begin again. I think he thought he was gone, I think. If you look at post FA Cup final he knew he was gone. So he might be sort of strangely empowered by it. But I mean, what was it there, worst to finish for? 34 years?
It's amazing that they've got different letting more shots and darby, no seven or eight. Most girls in city binding, who's team and champions league group ever. I mean, wasn't a great season. But he may be unaware of all the stories about him either. So I wonder if it's him, is a brand of reputational repair. He wants to be able to show that what he's actually capable of. And that's where he wants to then stay. It's one of the biggest jobs in the world.
So if you can make it work, that is quite good for you, I suppose. Well, there'll be loads of opportunity to discuss Eric Tinhag. But the Premier League season rolls back around today, though, we're all about the Euros, which we're giddy with excitement about. Part of the reason that I'm so pumped, JJ, is our lovely new theme music, which we owe you. We owe you thanks for. And actually owe you for basic. I'll take me over, you want to give me. Yeah, that's fantastic.
That's very much your beat from the seminal Gary Neville is a national treasure. Yes, so sorry, did it, but Gary Neville's national treasure. I quite like the groove and the beat on it. I'd love it. Oh, that's nice. Thank you. Do you like it, listener? Hmm. Are you doing any new things for the Euros? Yeah, so I do it live stream every single Sunday. Yes. And then I make up songs live on stream. Sometimes they're absolutely amazing. And a lot of the time they're not.
But that's the box of chocolates that you sign up for. But there's a few, I put quite a few out. There's a John McGinn song that's out now in Spotify. Yeah, how'd that go? John McGinn is coming to get here, but he's going to do you no harm. I've also got one about Mikael Arterta. That was quite popular. Well, the Arter was popular, but not your Euros specifics. No, it's not. That's why I'm excited by John McGinn. Well, there we go.
So he's, yeah, so that's so that's doing, just doing the rounds and places. Some places have picked it up. It's nice. Okay. All right. Well, John McGinn may get a mention later on when we discussed Germany Scotland, the big opener. Of course, we did our first preview to the Euros just several weeks ago. Plenty has happened since then. So before we go any further, here's the latest from around the camps. Let's see.
All the squads are now being finalised England with seven cuts from Savage, Garas Southgate, Harry McGuire and Jack Grelish, both sent home. England then promptly losing to all friends Iceland in their last pre-tornment. Friendly, they weren't the only big team underwhelming. Though France only managed a Neil Neal draw with Canada. Germany needed a late Pascal Gross goal to scrape a win with Greece.
And Portugal got beaten to one at home by Crowe's shirt, before then bouncing back with a three-nil victory over Ireland featuring a brace from... You know who Poland beat Turkey but saw Robert Lewandowski go off injured. He is expected to be featuring sooner or later in the tournament.
But big names who won't be include Frank and Yonge of the Netherlands, who failed to recover from an ankle injury, and turn coat miners as also ruled out for the Orangie, which means that Champions League runner-up Ian Martzen has got a call up. Czech Republic midfielder Michael Sadlecch is also out of the Euros after... How about this? Falling off his bicycle. His name Sadlecch. What about that? Yes, the haunting.
Meanwhile, simmering tension in the German camp as probably Germany's two beefier squad members, Nicholas Falkruggen, Tony Rudiger, almost, and I emphasize, almost came to blows according to reports. Let's hear more about that and more about Friday's opening game, Germany's Scotland. Next. This is totally at the Euros from the Affetic. Friday, Munich, the referee will go, P, Germany's Scotland will get Euro 2024 underway.
Candle scots start things off with a Saudi Arabia Argentineist style upset, but we get GG Bullsports very, very shortly. First though, here is a very special guest. Raphael Honnickstein. Hello, James. Lovely to see you. Yeah, back in from the cold, Raf. It's not so nice here. He's in not. Just to set the scene a little bit, you're already in place in Munich, but this is the news, you've got yourself a proper job.
Oh, if you say so, James, I won't be sadly covering the tournament for the Affetic because I've gone off to do some other things with a couple of coaches. She doesn't really sit so well with proper journalism, therefore I'll only be an occasional hello, so that here I am guest rather than a real journalist. I see. If you were still a real journalist, Raf, as you put it, what kind of thing do you think you'd be saying about the Germans are going into this Scotland match?
I'd be saying that in a way, survey traditional German buildup, because there's always some degree of angst and worry and doubts. And are we really that good? Is it all going to fall apart? It's been basically the story as long as I can remember.
The difference is that everyone's trying to re-conjure the ghost of 2006 and think that somehow it's going to be this fairy tale 2.0, everything's going to click, the whole country's going to get swept up in this euphoria and Germany go deep in the condition at the very least of the semi-final. I think it could happen because the squad is good and maybe this is a better squad than we had in 2006.
But of course, Germany's had three poor tournaments in the role and people are a bit wary to get too excited before the first game. I think what they need more than anything is a good start. German teams have started well in competitions in the last 20 years or so have tended to go on and have good competitions. German teams who started poorly, as they did in Russia, as they did in Qatar, in Belgium and in Portugal have done pretty badly. So I think a lot rides on this game on Friday night.
And they build up to it marked by simmering tension within the German camp that busts up within a Rudiger and Fulkrug. For you were talking about me and Seb, but there's no real animosity, James, I think. Right. Fulkrug and a pretty good friend, Rudiger was one of the names that Fulkrug mentioned a few weeks ago as the guy he gets along with best. And he's a bit of an eye-mater play against even in training.
He's very close, very annoying, keeps pushing you, keeps tweaking bits of your anatomy, which is never pleasant unless you're into that sort of thing, James. And you saw then very next day in the way Tony Cross reacted to this, that they saw a very civil storm in a team cup with no real recriminations. There are other issues. I think that question marks about Mano Neuer.
He's had a poor buildup to the tournament, another mistake against Greece, mistakes against Hoffenheim, that famous slip against the Real Madrid in the semi-final. And for the first time ever really, his starting position has come under some kind of pressure. So anything but a perfect performance from him will then open up the gate to one of those very classic, but slightly tedious Germany goalkeeping debates that we love to have before tournaments, not so much during them.
And I think that would be a big distraction and potential problem. Lovely stuff. Brodie Raff is excitement rampant ahead of the big kickoff. I wouldn't say rampant just yet James, because I don't know if you've mentioned this already, but the weather is a little bit cloudy, a little bit cold. I think it has dampened the mood a little bit. At the same time, the city is filling up with scots. And you can see already killed, you can see already people desperate to have a good time.
There is a sense of things happening, but with two days to go, I think we have a bit more room for the real party vibes to kick in. Oh, well, it's so kind of you do catch up with us this morning from Chili Munich. And I do hope that we will be getting further. Hello from Honnickstein as the tournament progresses. For now, many thanks Rafael Honnickstein. You are, James. Rafael Honnickstein. Nice to hear you doing all right. Yeah. J.J. The game with Germany.
How much have you been looking forward to this? I'm really excited for this game. For a long time, I've been absolutely convinced that Scotland are going to be able to do something special. But the closer we get to the actual kickoff time, the more realism has settled in. But I'm not going to allow it to happen this time, because there's a collective state in Scotland where we always get just so close and then don't get over the line. Something weird always happens to us, so we don't do it.
But this time, it's gone. Steve Clark's changed everything. This is our game to win somehow. Okay. But much like your own state of enthusiasm, Scotland started on a real high and they're qualifying process. Yeah. And then results have tailed off a bit. Is that why you've begun to doubt? Yeah, a bit of that. There's a few injuries that weren't ideal going in. Everyone's got that. I mean, it might end up playing Anthony Roest in it right back or right wing back.
Whatever system, Clark plays, which isn't the worst thing. I think it's more that the more I've looked into how good Switzerland and Hungary are, they're a lot better than I initially thought before doing all my research for work. And so those games, I think it's a, like, I think Scotland and Hungary and Switzerland, honestly, those results could be anything that I would believe any squad told me between all three of them when they play.
Germany is difficult, but I can just see a thing with Germany with the centre of their midfield. They don't have a lot of, I would say, speed and power in the middle of that of the team in a very narrow Germany. And I can just see there's opportunities there for Scotland to do something with, like, running forward quickly and you've got runners like McTormony and McGinn and Robertson if he's fit. If he was taken off injured from a training session recently with a precautionary precautionary.
So hopefully, I haven't seen anything this morning to say it's not anything other than that. So I think there's every bit of chance and we're not expected to do much. So I should say we, that's not being neutral to journalists. I should say they are, they are, it's not expected to do too much, but that helps, I think. I think you can fly your scot flag on this one, too. I've got to say, if you want me to bring it in. Yeah, no, no, no, you're very much here to do that. It's all about the passion.
Beyond your journalistic research and stuff, where do you think Scotland's best hope lies? Could it be setpaces with that ostentic fee? Well, that is a plus point and tournaments are, I mean, the team who wins tournaments does well and tournaments tend to be the one who makes the fewest mistakes. But I think you need to go on it and take a bit of a risk. And like Scotland are fine, it's epic. It's ostentic fees, it's epic, it's coach Aston Villa as well.
He was at Hearts with Foreign Scotland and there'll be routines that work. But then the routines that will work on this, you have players with tack the ball with aggression and they're well prepared for it. I think we've got strong players in the midfield to keep the ball. We've got good runners. Mictormity and McGinn turn up in the right place all the time.
Lyndon Deix, being injured, is difficult because although he's not the best player in the world and he's not the most prolific striker, he does give you a certain level of aggression and hold up play that is really useful, like dropping into combined my players, which then allows the other two to run on. And so the choice now between Shea Adams or Lawrence Shanklin, too, is a pure goal scorer. He has a lot of dialogue with the midfield when he plays for Hearts.
But I don't know how well it translates into the international game and what he'll be able to do. He could just be the poacher that he needs to try and score his goals. That's kind of reduces what he's good at. He's got a lot of things. But I really think that there's some decent players in that Scotland team and I hope I don't look stupid coming into the tournament or it's three games time when everything I've hoped for doesn't come to pass.
I was just saying Lawrence Shanklin, he's the pie guys, isn't he? The pie guy. Wasn't he the guy who ate a pie that was thrown at him? I don't remember that he could well be. Sounds interesting. I should make a film about that. It was Shanklin. Wasn't it Hearts Hips and someone threw a pie at him and he caught it. Sends like something he would do. He caught it. Yeah. It was Shanklin did that. I don't know how I've forgotten that. He was playing with the pie. Did he take a bite?
Yeah. I think he scored. Someone lobbed a pie from the crowd. He caught it and took a bite out of it. Was it on the internet? Was it like in the Tour de France when the cyclists go by? They have a feedback. They have a feedback. What's he going to eat in the dinner? But if we should point out, that's what they're doing. They're not giving you those little juicing things to be pie. It probably is a catch, I'd say. Less chance of buying. Dangerous. Going straight down the throat though.
Illegal pie items. Obviously the Sutton Goldkeeper was very much not that good pie. They're the big two. Scotland certainly had the worst of it at the last. But last year, oh sorry, Duncan, I was just going to ask JJ whether, you felt, because you probably went into that tournament, 2020, straight 21, with a lot of enthusiasm. And then it was a bit rubbish apart from the no-no draw with England. No, no, no win. I think you mean you. Sorry. Is this team better than that one?
Or will they fare better than that one? I think there's some sort of acceptance that we are now of a level where we can actually compete in these tournaments without looking silly. And it doesn't have to be hoping for an Alie McCoy's one goal in the whole tournament. I think people are sensible and realise we're not going to be able to do damage to a lot of teams. But we've seen in qualifying. I think beaten Spain 2-0 was a real moment.
And it really sort of set like there's a broadread to be fair. Yeah, it's a broadread. It's the way they play. We have to respect that at the end, for me, it's a bit rubbish because it's always wasting time. How do you say, they provoke you? And they always fall. This is for me, it's not for me. The Spain game is huge. I think beaten Norway 2-1, those are the scenes in that was phenomenal. Dijk scores and then sets up Ken and McLean who's injured for the tournament with a layup goal.
We just slot into the corner and it's amazing. And there's a certain momentum that would have been great to carry into this. But I think maybe the reset of recent results is quite useful just to come into it and realise that it's not as easy as it would maybe hope not easy. But it's not as simple as we thought it might be. There are good players there. I think you can trust in Steve Clark's tactical setup. You don't need to be able to press high and go at people. A lot of teams will do it.
I've noticed Austria and Hungary. A lot of teams will go and press people. But I think the group we have, I think there's a chance for something that's Germany because of the tactical setup between the two teams. And just the profile players that Germany have in midfield, they've got better players, but it's got a little bit of people through them. And then I think Switzerland and Hungary should be draws. So we could... There's a way through.
We could really draw us, but you sure did it and won the whole tournament. In our crazy 16 teams and 24 pure drama. Obviously the thing with Scotland is that they've never got through a group stage. And they have contrived to mess up some very good situations before. And surely, eventually, it's going to happen. 11 tournaments that. What does that do to you? I mean, I support Scotland and Aberdeen. So I'm not allowed to have any joy in football.
So it's interesting to me when people support big teams. And then they moan like, oh, I've even won a trophy for like four years or something. It's a big people who point out as well that, you know, Scotland and Minos recently. But back in the 70s, you know, they went to tournaments as outside. It's reasonable outside. It's instilled and get out of the group despite archery, gammalt, etc. So... The few of the players that were in those 70s team are in this current squad.
And I think that should be a hangover from those playing days. I don't know. I think there's an optimism about it. I think it's going to be really fun. I think part of it was Scotland is that it will be like fun. It doesn't have to be that serious. You don't have to have the expectation of winning it and that makes it enjoyable. Just to be there is... Yeah. And the last one was strange because it was the sort of, you know, semi-escape from COVID tournament.
And, you know, you obviously got the draw wembley but the other games are at Hampton. So it's not quite like being aware tournament and hanging out of Munich, is it? Exactly. And I think there's just something about it that I'm really excited about. And regardless of what happens, I think everyone usually, I'm really just, I think everyone who's there, I think it'll be fantastic. And I don't think anyone will let anyone down. So, you know, we've got there. So that's fantastic.
If anything happens, it's just, well, we just want good enough this time. But to qualify for it again is big, even though they made the tournament bigger to let us in. Yeah. Indeed. Oh, commendable attitude. Tim, you're going to be, what are you flying out tomorrow, I think? I fly out tomorrow and on Friday, I'm going to watch this game, Germany Scotland, at the fan mile in Berlin, where up to 30,000 people can line the area behind the brand of Birdgate. Get there early.
I think it's actually a kilometre. Yeah, one piece of kilometre. Yeah, which looks crazy. They're going to screen all of Germany's games there and all the games in Berlin. And then they've got a separate fan park where every game for like 10,000 people. So, Berlin is like the centre of it. What else on your itinerary you most looking forward to? So I'm doing a couple of Austrian games. I've seen Portugal and the Netherlands, but just been there, you know? Right here, yeah.
And there've been tournaments, so. Have you known how much fun? Can't wait. It's amazing. The whole place is like a theme park basically. Yeah. You just go around everywhere. Everyone's having a good time. You get to hear all the songs. You see all the foot hanging there. Duncan, you'll be here with us. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. It's like a theme park in here. How do you get to it? Badly maintained metalwork. I love love it. I caught it.
A Hungary Switzerland is the other game in that group you're taking place the day after. Germany's Switzerland. So, we'll talk more about Hungary later on. Although Tim Chirlishe doesn't want to include him in his special Dark Horses stable, which he's been tending at the back end of this show. Before we get into any of that though, next is the obligatory England interlude. And now, two pigeons bemoaning the fact you can stream direct TV satellite-free.
Direct TV gives you access to apps like Netflix and live sports right next to each other. I don't get it. Let me put it in pigeon terms. It's like that one amazing dumpster with the old fruits and cardboard all in one place. How am I supposed to keep up with illustrative metaphors when you are making me so hungry? Good live TV and streaming apps together with a satellite. Visit directtv.com.
Requires high-speed internet connected Gemini device and separate paid subscription to watch Netflix on direct TV. Terms and restrictions apply. This is the totally thoughtful show at the Euros with James Richardson. England update everybody. No harry, no jack got beaten by Iceland. Duncan, can you sum up the past week of England noise? Erm, ominous, I'd say.
I don't know, I just feel like this tournament is starting to edge towards, you know, one of those where there's a lot of like, I would remember, Euro 24 and it all gets... It feels like... Root crops being prepared for the backpages. Yeah, yeah. I think the game against Iceland, and I know that other nations have had underwhelming warm-up matches, but it was pretty dismal stuff. Why was it so bad, you think?
Just the... I mean, there was one shot on target, but just the chance creation, it was laborious, and yes, it was a friendly and players were trying not to get injured, and yes, Jude Bellingham was still being rested off the Champions League final, but it just... There's something missing at the moment.
England look vulnerable on transitions, and they're going to have a lot of those games in the group stages where they're going to have to break teams down, and I just don't think at the moment, you know, Phil Foden, for instance, looks what, not even 20% of the player he does for City. Right. I don't know, it just fills a little bit like Southgate has kind of done what a lot of people wanted to do and wielded some changes, but it's one of those things. Those changes. Yeah, not like that.
And I don't know, it may be it would all go fine, but it just fills... I'm old enough to remember previous tournaments where, like, you know, well, Cup 2010, when England obviously smashed the way through you qualifying, and the owl on the crossbar. Yes, and it all went wrong. So yeah, we'll see. I just got that feeling of, like, players being played at a position, players carrying injuries into the tournament, like has always been the case. But don't you know?
Isn't they usually these kind of pre-tournament jitters? Much like JJ's having about Scotland. It's the first time England had lost their final game before tournaments, it's 1968. Good Lord. So, you know, they drew with... Yeah, Al Jure or Tunisia before the 1990 World Cup, and that went okay, but even that started terribly. Yeah.
I just... I don't know. It feels like the cycle that maybe peaked the Euro 2020, kind of carried on a bit for the last World Cup, and now, I don't know, maybe we should have had a different approach. I was at the... I sat down France Canada on Sunday. Oh, yeah. And that was Neil Nail, and Canada were probably the best team and hit the bar, and France were very good, but they were cheered off. And Bapai leading a sort of a happy sort of lap of the crowd, and you can...
And supposedly France and England are the two favourites for tournament, and you can pair that with England's sort of farewell. It couldn't be more different, really. Serbia and Sunday evening, accompanied by 1% Lager. Did you hear this? Apparently, the authorities have deemed this match to be high risk, and have urged the stadium condiment and courage to... That's quite a medieval king, isn't it? Like, watering down the beer, and then they've been tending on the result of the battle.
Did medieval kings water down the beer to put on the result of that? We were about to drink beer all the time because of the water being bad, which I guess we've come back to at this point in history. And... That's quite excuse, yeah. So you had like day beer, your breakfast beer, which would be about 1%, and you'd never see your evening beer would be ramped up a bit, so... But if the battle went badly, they ramped it up.
Yeah, ramp it up before, and then if the military hierarchy was disappointed, they would probably wash it down as a sort of, you know, punishment. Interesting, Scotland, the tap water is the best thing you can possibly drink yet. We all start the day with ten until end of the theme. Tap water means it's particularly good actually, might say. Tim, do you share Duncan's concerns? Yeah, I do. That defense is just...
It's nowhere near enough to win a tournament, and that's going to impact the rest of the team in how they play. It puts the handbrake on the plays in front of them, I think. Everyone focuses on Kirin Tripier at left back, because obviously he's right-footed, and it's not a natural thing.
But I think, as Liam Tharn pointed out, it can work if you have a more attacking option on the right, like you probably would need Trent Alexander-Arms, and England did look better when he came on, but, you know, it sounds like he might be playing in midfield. So, you know, we'll see. I mean, it could all be fine, but it's a bit different to the last few tournaments, winning in a coming in a high spirits, and yeah, we obviously saw the fallout from the desalection day.
It sounded like that was a particularly tricky moment for Southgate, not quite a hodl 98, but... In terms of the reaction of the other players? Yeah, and there was obviously senior players who weren't happy at Maguire and Grielis, not being there. The hodl thing with Gaza felt the same thing to me. I remember exactly what that was like at the time as well.
I remember listening to Radio 1 playing championship manager with a friend, and they interrupted to say that Gaza was an in there, and I think it was quite to that level. But it did... Did they play... Did they play... I'm your man straight afterwards. Yeah, good, good reference. Thank you. Yeah. That's... Off to... That's such a noble. Yeah. Was it I'm your man? I think so, Marcy Margaret. Yeah, that's when they wrote, hang the DJ. There you go, listen up. Cut an edge. Come, come.
Basket appearance. Anyway, JJ, just to wrap up this England chat, do you look on this from outside and think, well, I don't know what you're... Is this a little bit like Rishi saying he didn't have Sky TV in terms of... I don't know, I get to see it. It's quite fun being able to work amongst all the English journalists and all the English people as a neutral. My parents are English, but they don't really care.
England has some great individual players, but yet again they don't seem to have a team that works quite the way it wants to. In the past few tournaments, I felt like whenever they played against someone who's actually good, they end up losing immediately. The chance creation is all set pieces and playing in transition, but they don't really have... I mean, I think the team is better than maybe a lot of people now think it is.
Players like Anthony Gordon appearing on the left wing is quite a good option. Right. Because you're really fast and you need that. But then you've got... You were trying to get Phil Foden into the team, and he's probably best playing in the middle or sort of 10, you know, or in there. Then you've got Bally and the same. Alexander Arnold is not in the field of yet, but he is quite good at that. And I think a lot of decisions Southgate has made make a lot of sense on paper.
Like, for instance, having Kyle Walker in the right, bombing up the wing, you have Alexander Arnold in the field who can drop to defend that exact space. All of it makes sense on paper. But I think when you actually go and play, and then teams are really organized and rigid, and they play more to a system than I think England do, I think you start having a few issues and get caught in transition. It's the occasional goal.
They will score a corner, they will score a penalty, they will get through games 1-0 and things like that. They have done in the past, and they'll probably be okay, but as soon as they end up playing France, they'll lose for me. As a neutral. I think they're going to. I think they're going to tear it up. I mean, the group looks doable. Yeah, I'm going to get clipped out now. The final. Slovenia, Denmark, Serbia and England, Serbia to start off. And that might be a tough game. We'll see.
We'll be talking about that game ahead of Sunday night's clash. They're in Gelsenkirchen. What about other teams? We talked about previously the nations who are expected to dominate, and we included England in that list. France, Germany and Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and Italy, the other favourites. But should Belgium be on that list? Chris Oftaro is going to be answering that question after this. You're listening to Totem at the Euros with James Richardson from the Athletic.
All right, Belgium. It's like the place out in Qatar to be fair, but they changed their manager. And Dominiko Tadesko, who's well used to playing football in Germany, or at least managing it. Shao Keren-Lypesik is former clubs. He's had a brilliant run with the Belgians. I'm beaten in 14 matches so far. So with him, with Qualifying's Topscorer, Romelu Lukaku, the likes of KDB et Al, should Belgium be counted among the contenders? Let's hear from Chris Oftaro.
We've been used to being the king of the qualifiers, to be fair. And the back to Martin, as we were just walking through qualification games, and winning everything in an autonomous, we suddenly struggled. So I think Belgium are fairly realistic and not really dreamers. That we don't dream yet also because we feel that the oldest part of a generation, the part of the Golden Generation is past, to speak like the plan and Lukaku if it's turning within just a lot over the last two seasons.
And that the young generation is a bit too young to shine yet. David Stegenkurtwa, and Abok, the Motivlick, will either be re-bought or not. The Motivlkurtwa is a penalty specialist, come on. KDB Kutwa's time is finished in the Belgian national team. He fell out with Tomenikot, the desk called last year, just after the qualification game against Austria. Basically, Belgium were celebrating Kutwa for his 100th cap before that game. And they flew in, his girlfriend at the time now, his wife.
And he thought that, yeah, Kevin DeBranos was injured at that time. And he was one of the two vice captains, he thought he would be captain in his game. But, yeah, Tomenikot, there's Desko had to choose between the Goma Lukaku who had just missed a huge chance in their Champions League final within their against Manchester City. Desko chose for Lukaku to lift the spirit of Lukaku a bit. And Kutwa was bitterly disappointed at for him.
Everything about his conversation that he had laid down with the Federation Desko leaked out in the media. There was a breach of trust and since then, yeah, they haven't talked anymore. And I don't think they will talk anymore. We are struggling in defense. At the moment, we only have four fit defenders. So, our left-back, Maxim de Karpel of Cliburge, he has something special over him.
But I don't know, he's already ready for this level, but in the friendly game that he played like, he was there already for years. So, he might be the one that people absolutely don't know, because Arthur Vimeyre, a midfielder who has played more for Belgium in 2024 than for Atnetic Commodritte. People already know him a bit from the Champions League. But the captain is the real unknown factor.
And he might start in the first game of the year, because, yeah, the young Vartongan, that the HF37 is still out. Arthur's day out of Ren is struggling with an ankle injury, Axel Vitzel of the old generation who got cold up for the first time in more than a year is back to playing defense but he's struggling with a muscle issue too. Toma Minier, right back injured himself in the last friendly game at the hamstring, so he will be out for a few weeks too.
And we don't have any more defenders left, so he might surprise everybody. Christophe Tarrur, he's another one who's not very optimistic. Hmm, decent draw though for the Red Devils. They've got Slovakia, Romania and Ukraine. Tim, I kind of hinted at Domenico Tadesco and his playing days in Germany being an asset. Absolutely not Jimbo, so he only reached the eighth level of German football. Is that... I wrote an article comparing the 24 managers of the Euro's Nations as players.
Where can we read that, Tim? It's on the athletic right now. Okay. And Tadesco, Sportler Alert, was 24th of 24. He gave football up at a very young age and his job as an industrial engineer to become a coach. But he's doing very well as a coach. Very well. Good to hear. And his name means German. Coincidence perhaps. I don't know. Who was the best? Was it DDA D'Han? No, he was the best in terms of achievements.
Right. And the player I went for Ronald Kuhman, in terms of one alert and pretty good. You know, where was Southgate? He was, I think he was just scraped into the top 10, sort of below Willy Sanyal and Reberov, but above Murat Yakin and Salviniya. It's a traditional spot for Southgate. I said that Belgian had got a decent group with Slovakia, Romania and Ukraine, but JJ, you want to make the case for Ukraine and potentially disrupt her.
I've gone through all the teams, basically, through the Euros as pre-tournament research. And I think Ukraine are interesting for a few reasons. I think international tournaments, you need to have a collective that works very hard together as a team. And of course, Ukraine have outside influences from football that might bring them together and might weigh heavily on them as pressure or having to almost act as ambassadors for the country during a very difficult time for them.
But on terms of just football, like they have La Liga's top goal scorer up top. They've got a really fast winger in Madrid, even though he doesn't seem to know how to shoot the football towards the goal. Mudry. Yeah, I mean, he is really quick, and he can dribble past people, and in transition, really useful. Then on the other side, they've got another Xerona player, Winger, Tsegalkov, I can't say his name is, who is also a very useful player. So you've got two white players who are very useful.
Goal scorer, it's kind of all you need. Everyone else behind the ball and just hit them in transition. Parade's not. We're hearing from England. That's not really any good, I mean. Well, that's a waste of England though. And then you've got, like, Sinchenko's decent player, a couple of decent centrebacks and the Real Madrid goalkeeper at well. Right. Courtaval. Yeah. But it's so good that he could easily be Real Madrid's number one. Yeah. And it was for me.
And it was really strong spine, which is important for any team, but in tournament football, that's good. And Rebrow is a good coach. They played decent football. And I thought this right up until I watched the gaming against Poland, the friendly he played recently, which Millik went off injured, and he's out the tournament there as well. And they can see the couple of goals in a short space of time. And I can see there's a little bit of vulnerability there.
But again, like, all these teams have had poor pre-tournament friendly, so it can't read too much into it. But yeah, I think there's something about Ukraine. That'd be quite useful. Additionally, there's a couple of folk who did some football manager simulations. And Ukraine reached the final one at five times out of a hundred. So I'm just going to go with that as well. Pretty impressive stuff.
To JJ's point, I think people, and this happens with every tournament, it's going to take a few days for people to shift into the mindset of it's an international tournament. And the standard of football isn't quite as good. And it is a bit like going back in time, 15 years. And that's why certain players shine international level that don't at club level. Look at LeCarco, you know, there's 85 goals. He's like the ultimate centre-forward for an international team.
Unless you're playing at the World Cup in Qatar. Everyone has downtime. I still know every single player now. I wonder if it was the 90s again. We've not really heard of Mudrick by now, maybe. You wouldn't have played. Yeah, perhaps listen, you're like me and a daily aware of half of them. The most surprising thing is still for me next. When we talk about some of the other dark horses, could see Tim's bays. This is the totally capable show at the Euros from the Affleck. Hey, listen up.
If you like what you're listening to or perhaps seeing on our YouTube channel, then why not come and join us for a live in person, totally football style experience. We'll be doing totally football show live at the Leicester Square Theatre on the 8th of October. A Duncan, you're going to be there, I think. We'll be there. Also on the bill, although below Duncan, is Julian LaRose. And probably, well, me, I'll be there. And I think somebody else, not sure who exactly. Mystery guest.
Woo, could be anyone. Brilliant. You can go to LeicesterSquareTheatre.com to purchase your seats. We're going to be live, by the way, throughout the Euros on our YouTube channel. Sounds like Madness, actually. That was mentioned. I don't really consider it. But it does mean you'll be able to get our thoughts straight after the final whistle of the evening game with the Edison version, slightly easier on the year. Up. A few hours afterwards.
So Dark Horses, I think that's what I'm most excited about. The teams that are going to surprise. The Dark Horses. The shadowy beasts. And please. Yeah. What is it that way? Is that fun? What? Dark Horses. Yeah. Because it gets said a lot. Doesn't it? Well, producer Charlie says that Dark Horses, I mean, it just means that Darken's the Dark Ages, which disappointingly weren't really, really dark with everyone stumbling around. Who's that? Dark essence propaganda. And absence of information.
So they are horses in a gambling sense that punters didn't know much about before they wagered. And it's a pretty apt analogy for some of these teams lining up, isn't it? Yeah. I think in terms of nations you wouldn't associate with getting into the latter stage of a tournament. Austria would be sort of the best of the rest, I think. Do you think? Certainly in terms of form and what Ralph Rannick's done with them in two years. Yeah, he was a club manager for basically four decades.
And then six months of the man United finished him off. So moved into international management. He's done, yeah, really good job. They're sort of like typical Ragnick, high pressing, high energy. Lots of goals. They're in a really tough group with France and the Netherlands. But they've beaten Croatia, Italy and Germany under Ragnick. And in March they thrashed Turkey 6-1, despite having Alaba out and on out of each out and Sabit so that day. There's still one 6-1 which is...
So there's this real sort of wave of rare optimism amongst Austria fans. They're not used to being optimistic about their nation doing anything because apart from getting to the last 16 at the last euros they've been able to get out of the group stage since the 50s. There is an issue in that Alaba's out injured. Okay. There'll be a big mess. So what players have they got? So Sabit so would be sort of the main, their best player and their main creator.
They've got a lot of Bundesliga players who are familiar with Ragnick's style which I think has helped them sort of implement it quite quickly. My nature is still knocking around. Ace 35 will probably play. Gregoritz from Freiburg is their sort of main goal scorer. And then Conrad Lema from Bayern Munich. Sabit so as well. Bam Gartner from RB Lipsick. So they've got quite a few creators. Like I said, they're missing Alaba.
They've suffered four serious injuries from the squad which is definitely going to be debilitating. The first just keeper Schlager is out as his namesake in midfield. He also has Schlager. And Wolfstreicher, Tessa Kallijitz, he's out as well. They've all got serious ACL leaders. And the world's favorite team because they have Schlager, Schlager, etc. No worries. I'm interested to see Austria play based on how Ragnick has them playing. The outer possession, it's really energetic.
And I've watched a couple of families. They really pound some people in their very compact. And then international tournaments that I've not really think I've seen that really before played out. And naturally my response to it is that then teams can hit you in transition quite easily. I think you can just put the ball in the hind spaces that you're leaving. So I wonder whether it adapts a little bit. They don't just press high like you might think they do right up the pitch.
They let teams draw out and then they pound on them. And they're really compact. It's hard to get past them. But I can see they're especially, it makes France right. If they do that and then the ball was on the top for them baffity. Yeah. But like I said, they beat some really top teams. And they won seven of eight. They're in beating in eight games. I sort of like double detendances there. Everyone's getting really buying into it. Probably the most high profile manager ever really.
And he's turned down buying to stick with them as well. Yeah, exactly. So if they can, I mean the big games also can be against Poland. Right. If the big Poland's three points is generally enough to get through it. Yeah, as you manage your goal difference in other games. So four of the six third place teams will be going through to the knockout stages. It's a brutal system. What about there?
For my Habsburg buddies, Hungary, who I'm pretty hot for, ever since seeing them tearing it up against England in that then nation's league. That four-neil victory at Dan Yorwe team at Mollinieu. Yeah, it was. Yeah, so have you counted them as among the potential upcessors? They're not one that I've absolutely. No, because they're brilliant form. They went through the entirety of 2023 with that losing a single game. Didn't lose any of their qualifiers.
They got Dark Horse fatigue because they've been previous Dark Horse. It's like Turkey and people like it now they've been burned by the failure of the Dark Horse. Okay. Well, they didn't look very good at 2020, went through 21. Yes. But they didn't have Dominic Schlobber's lie then. Who I'm looking for. Well, they did, but he was injured. He was injured, yeah. That's fair. They also, I don't think, had Kalim Starr's a Bansley in their ranks.
They didn't. No, no. No. Quite a good, a decent league one player. Quite surprising that he's in the hungry team. But his grandparents gets in that way. Fair enough. Never an interesting team, tactically hungry. Are they? I've not seen enough of them to properly give you a rundown on them, but I know Marco Rossi's employees, certain elements of relation is to play. So whether the players will have relations with each other rather than to find positions. Okay. It's a lot more nuanced than that.
But there's a big, in the, in the tactical world. If you move left, I move left as well. Well, you often see players bunching together in the middle and it looks like it's almost, it looks a little bit like when you have 36 people playing football on the school pitch at lunchtime. And people are all gathered together and there's not much structure. But in that, there is control to it. It's not all random, but there's secret signals and understandings between players.
They know roughly where you're going to go. So you get a good bunch of players together. They know roughly where they're going to go. And then you can create overloads and situations that positional teams don't are prepared to deal with. I mean, they will be obviously in this tournament. It's quite NFL, isn't it? It's interesting. But then that's why it's quite NFL. Because it's all like, you know, little tricks and little knowledge.
And if we, you know, dummy hair and then suddenly we're going to pop up hair. Oh, really? Who plays relationship football? So, relation is football. For landled needs. Yeah. Like, sweet jobs at once at one point in the evening. Right. Is it Brazil National Team and Palm Air? Okay. So they played relationship football. A relationist football. I prefer my... I can tell. Yes, they're all... They all know how to hang out with each other.
All right. Krikey. So that's Hungary, Tim, for your Dark Horse file. Who else you got in there? I mean, in terms of a nation that probably nobody knows anything about. That may sort of spring a surprise. Right. Albania are pretty fun. I've got to say. So, yeah, managed by a Silvino who's had a pretty awful managerial career up to this point. Leonie lasted like two months, Sackdemy table. Anyway, it's a Corinthians. Lasted a few months. And then it's about rocked up Albania.
Taken Pablo Zabaleta with him. And Dereva, the former Middlesbroughman fielder. So they've got this sort of Premier League trio in charge. And in 13 matches Silvino has already become the most successful manager in Albania's history. Wow. Who's they played? Well, they topped a group with Czech Republic in Poland. First time they've ever won a group. They qualify for Euro 2016. This is first time they topped a group. They won seven of 13 games.
And so Taken are the country with Silvino that he's been presented with the country's highest honor, which is the golden decoration of the eagle, of course, handed out for either bravery and armed war, which I don't think is relevant here, or acts of civic courage in peacetime, which I think is always got it for. He's the first foreigner. He's a really good girl that's down for Britain. Yeah. Yeah, that was factored in. He's the first foreigner ever to get this award. It's all right.
And he's been given Albanian citizenship as well. Really? Marco Rossi's a Hungarian citizen. Yeah. I mean, I think that's the game of the weekend for me, Italy, Albania. Is Italy looking not super, they're repaid of all this? Well, they are an enigma, I would say. We'll see what's spelletia, what magic, what alchemy is managed to work in his training camp, but sure. I know that James Hornkoss was purpuing their lack of girls scoring now, up front.
And maybe the arrival of Skamaka will be the difference in that as part of the younger generation coming through. But when they've croaked their way through tournaments before, it's always been, I think, on the back of a really strong defence. And I'm not sure that their current line-up shouts strong defence. Albania have got a strong defence. They're only conceded four in qualifying, which is one of the best records. They don't score many.
Armando Broho is their main striker, but he hasn't scored for Albania for two years. But they do have, and this is like this maverick move that Silvina did. He needed like a left footed right winger. We didn't have one. So he kind of scoured the globe and then looked at who'd maybe played in Albania's youth ranks. And he found a former under 21 international called Justia Assani. 27 now. I need the guy to score that. I'm just going to score this.
Yes. Bretter, you see Assani in the camera, it's the only person to play for Rua. You see Assani from Borne, you go, did ya? Go! 27 now, playing in South Korea. Right. And yeah, picked him for the first time, played in every qualifier. He scored like three goals, got three assists, including an incredible goal, cutting in from the right wing and smashing it to top corner, his left foot. He's got, he's kind of an inconsistent genius. He scored 1915 in Hungary before he went to South Korea.
But there's a fantastic YouTube compilation entitled of his skills and goals entitled When Football Becomes Art. It's just something I'm putting. I think Albania, rather, anyone looking to get into this tournament and hasn't found a way in yet. Albania, at the entry point. Wales fans, that's your team. And what an example of coaching courage. No wonder they gave him that big golden thing. Duncan has got Italy against Albania as the match he's most looking forward to.
This opening round of fixtures, JJ, I imagine you're going with Germany against Scotland. Yeah, I'm really excited for that. It's going to be fun, fun, fun. What is your match of most interest team? Is it England against Serbia? No, absolutely. Well, I think it's Germany's Scotland. That'd be fun. I remember Brazil, Scotland in 98 was it? When Scotland sort of gave him a bit of money. Oh, he boys. Yeah, oh yeah, with the own goal.
I think it's probably Jim Littin pushing the ball up into his own net. I was out of that game, is she? I was just going to say, Austria-France as well, is one to pick out on Monday. On Bappé, I'm going to play 15 minutes in there last friendly. So whether he's fit enough to start will be important because they look pretty tootless with that in him. That's on Monday. That's on Monday.
Excellent. Excellent. Well, we're going to be going live, as I say, from Friday night, post the Germany Scotland game. How are we feeling about the schedule? You know, two. Where if you're here, it's two, five and eight. You see, for your team's business, it'll be an hour on due to the old times that I was just feeling about the schedule. I think it's pretty good. I think I felt like the last World Cup was, it was too much, maybe, four. Four in a day. Yeah, I think three is the perfect amount.
Okay. Those early morning games I enjoyed, though, they often throw up the most interesting contests. Yes. Yeah, well that could be the two o'clock game. Perhaps so. Just really just you. Yeah. You're daily schedule. You're daily schedule with them. Yeah, indeed so. Indeed so. Crikey, well before we finish, we better get a prediction or two. So let's have a surprise and a likely winner from you, JJ. I think France are going to win it.
I think they have the best players and they play a way that wins two elements. I just think they have the nice to do it. And then my surprise pick is... I'll come back to you. Yes, please, thanks. Tim, for a memory of the favourites, don't always sort of win this. I mean, certainly Portugal were outside in 16. Italy were like, what, fifth, sixth favourites probably last time. If Portugal click, I think they'll win it.
But they're not, they're certainly not clicking yet, but Martin Esers really changed them to what they needed to be, which is more attacking. They're too pragmatic under. Right. Santos, so yeah, I think they can win it and Austria, I think. Austria. I think I can, I think I fancy them to get to quarters and then you never know, do you? Shit. You don't. Duncan. I mean, I think France and Portugal are the two. I mean Germany, maybe in a, you know, hept up home environment.
Albania, let's go all in. Why not? Yeah, why not? The summer, this is Silvenio summer. It's tough for, they're in though. If they gave him the eagle for just qualifying. Yeah, they're gone early there. What, what, what, what if they win it? With the gold thing. Yeah. Platinum. Platinum. Perhaps so, perhaps so. Brilliant. Well, listen, Tim, have a great trip. Thanks, Tim, bro. And enjoy yourself on the mile of fan. And JJ, you enjoy Friday night as well.
Maybe we'll be speaking to you, I'll try to do that. You never know. And I think my surprise team will be Scotland. Let's go with that. Oh, yeah. Sorry. And I even sorry to come back to you. Brilliant, thank you so much for today. And to you, Duncan, as well, you're going to be overseeing the athletics output. And do you want to just give a word on that? Is it going to be total and comprehensive? It's going to be monumentally comprehensive.
So whatever your team, whatever your desires, it will all be on there. Wow. All right, well, we're going to be a small part of it here every night. Live as a safe you viewer. And at some point for you as well, listen up. But thank you for being with us today. And many thanks as well to Duncan and to JJ and to Tim and Limer, Charlie and the Booth. Date line Friday. See you then for now from all of us here. It's goodbye.
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