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They're playing Hungary, isn't that the mark of winners and Italy Albania. If Menage scores three, what will the headline be? Answer to those questions and many more in this Totally at the Euros. Hello, Friend, it's Totally at the Euros and it's live and it's going to be live every night on our YouTube channel at the Totally Football Show. But you can get it a few hours later or cleaned up and professional like in a polished pod cars.
Around about 1 o'clock in the morning because that's how much producer Charlie who if you're watching on YouTube you can just about see in the glass there gives away of producer Charlie. There you go. That's how much he cares. And thank you, Friend, for being with us today. It's Friday the 14th of June for us. Here in the studio we go. Jay Harris, hey Jay. Hey, you're good. I'm very well. Thank you. You ask us if we haven't just been chatting for the last time.
And also Tom Williams with this. Hello James, good evening. I could even into Tom on the line from Germany a little bit later we'll be hearing from you are a Vardiliak on Croatia. But right now, Raphael Honegstein, good and tag. Good and am James. Good and am. Well, yes, you're right as usual. Hey, what a start for you and your team, Raf. I want to play Scotland every day James, be like the Christmas song. Wonderful start.
I think hard to judge how good Germany really were because I think they might have just found the worst team at a tournament. But Germany were good. And what I really liked about the game is the gig and pressing whenever they lost the ball and had so many people near the box or inside the box. They hurried and harassed whoever tried to break and there was not one effective break through the whole 90 minutes. If there was, I might have not had off. It was just so controlled that had the balance.
And they managed the game really well. It didn't finish anything stupid. And of course it helps when you take an early, early lead. And it was just the best possible start really. Thank you, Vincent. Tom, you were watching that thinking tonight. Thank God it's them instead of you. Yeah, obviously as a Welshman, you know, this tournament has not been quite as exciting as recent tournaments.
And yeah, there have been hangs of envy at the scenes of Scottish people enjoying themselves on the streets of Munich today. But yes, I think had Germany come up against this particular Welsh team. They might have weren't even more comfortably. So yeah, a degree of relief that it was our Scottish cousins and not ours. Indeed. All right, well let's get into the meat then of a Germany five Scotland one. This is totally at the euros from the athletic.
We're the underlicent, ex-Fan, Dan Ubersani, vertical in it's draft from the speed. If you like the socials, we're emre chante! Napite, Dyser, the funster, Dys di Kioshoff, the torter. Wow, Jay, we haven't got your take yet on what was a pretty thrilling Germany performance. Where do you stand on the, on the raffle was hinting there about the Scotland material and Germany with brilliant scale?
Just kind of following on what Raffa said, I think there were points, especially in the first half where Scotland were maybe stringing together 10 or 15 passes and didn't even get close to the halfway line. And I think they kind of just got showed for the lack of quality that they had. I think we kind of noticed that about 30 minutes into the game they tried to switch formation
and within a few minutes Portius was sent off. So from a Scotland perspective it was horrible, but I mean Moussiara has been a favourite player of mine for a couple of years and it feels like if he continues to perform how he did in that game for the rest of the tournament, then he already is walk-ass and he already is a superstar but he's going to go to another level. He was simply phenomenal, the goal was great, his pass and run in the build-up to Fulcris goal was great.
So I think for Germany to have Vertsa Moussiara in the same team feels like a bit of a cheat code to be honest. Yeah. Estonishing performance for us to pick out. On a broad level when we spoke to you the other day you said that the nation hadn't really begun to develop that sense of there being something massive going on yet. And the Germany needed a good start and you couldn't have asked for a better one.
No and I think this will really change the momentum. We saw some footage, some scenes from the public viewing, the fan parks and people weren't quite mad and I think this is going to now last until, importantly the end of the group stage and the way that the draw works I think if Germany keeps winning they might have a pretty easy ride until the quarterfinals. So I think that momentum is so important.
Everyone talked about before the game that a Germany team that win the opening game I think has always gone at least to the Euro semi-finals in the Euros whereas the last three games of course in the tournament openings have always been losses to two World Cup and Euro 2020. So I think it was so important to get that momentum to build that confidence.
I don't think the public will get carried away and in a way I think the reaction will not be quite as strong as in our six because in our six there was an assumption that things could go horribly wrong that this could be the worst Germany team ever to work up. And then it all shifted and sort of the eruption was even bigger because there was so much pessimism before. I think this time people were sort of in the middle and now the pendulum is swung much further towards optimism
but it isn't just the eruption of suddenly oh we can actually play with a football. I think everyone knew that looking at the squad, looking at the players that we have that we can play a bit but I don't think everyone will let us play as much as the Scots allowed us tonight. No one's going to be looking forward to taking on this side. So much talent there and none of the issues that may have been floated before for Germany's prospects.
Was there anything that you didn't like about their performance? Maybe we should talk more about the things that you did like. I mean it's hard to find any flaws in this but then they weren't tested. I mean Manuel Noyer there was so much talk about him, how solid is he? Didn't get a single shot. I mean how do you know what is the answer? The back four weren't really tested. I think Kimmy and Mitchell Stead are a bit vulnerable to pace but we never saw any pace.
Crawl looked like he's you know playing with a cigar in one hand and maybe a beer cook in the other one and it just was never troubled. That in itself I think is a reason to amend what Naga's one has done because after November when really the pessimism was huge and people were really down on his team.
He said okay I need to make a few changes. A and E to bring back Tony Cross which at the time I must admit I was not 100% sure but it's turn out I'm asked to stroke already I think it's safe to say. He tried to actually didn't try he acts a few big names who didn't perhaps fit into the team as much and who perhaps hadn't quite got the humility and the glue factor to bring the team together.
And again it's worked out beautifully this team looks a lot more happier playing with each other they look a lot more united and with the kind of work rate combined with the technique and creativity that they have they will they will cause problems is this the winning combination to go all the way. I'm still not sure but I think we know now that Germany will be competitive and that's I think something that we can all be happy about considering how poor we've been in the last few tournaments.
I think we're real pleasure to watch as well tonight. Yeah they're fantastic and I think from Julian Nagelsmann's perspective one of the most pleasing things will have been that this this formula that Germany used tonight was something that he only really settled on in the March friendlies with Gunderwen as the advanced central midfielder and verse and must see I decide Kai Havats as the false nine all three of the front three of scored a goal by half time.
And then when he decides to mix things up in the second half it's two of the substitutes Nicholas full group with that absolute bullet of a fourth goal and the memory Chan who took us when in at the end so yeah you know perfect perfect start for Germany perfect start for nalgasmann and some of the football was fantastic as Jay was saying.
I think Jamal must yell and might currently be the best dribbler in the European game and we saw that time and time again you know he scores the second goal with a really neat sidestand he's at the origin of the fourth goal for the first half as well. The Gunderwen pass for that second goal which was equally sublime.
Yes Gunderwen plays it into Havats on the left and what was peculiar about that going in particular was that Scotland had so many players back but seemed incapable of anticipating anything that Germany's forwards were going to do. Havats was inevitably going to have to cut back inside which he did and you know must see all allowed the ball to run across his body so cleverly and then whipped it into the top corner and yeah I think any hope.
The faint hope that Scotland might have harbored of mounting a comeback were probably snuffed out by the penalty that that Kavats took away and of course that the red card to support you as well indeed so and they suffer the worst opening game defeat in Euro history. Was that the ultimate kind of yeah I mean there was there was a danger they were going to equal the record for the heaviest ever European championship finals to feet because no team has ever been defeated by more than five goals.
The own goal that they got through really good meant that they managed to avoid that despite chance scoring at the end but yeah the heaviest ever opening defeat in Euro history. Okay J is that it are they out on opening night at the Scotland. No they're not out. Still got games to come against Switzerland and I think the last time they won at a major international tournament was against Switzerland and you're a knight.
And it was recently as well. Yeah not that long ago so obviously still got two group games to go six points available but I think depending on where they finish in this group their chances of maybe finishing third and qualifying that way.
I'll probably a little bit screwed on goal difference suffering a heavy loss at that doesn't help at all so kind of relying on getting four or six points against Switzerland and Hungary I think it is which is not going to be easy when like I said they've not won at a major international tournament in some time.
And I think there'll be lessons to learn from this obviously the two other teams in the group don't have the same quality as Germany but the shape they went for just didn't work like we said they changed it after 30 minutes they had pretty much a sort of five for one and I couldn't tell you how many times shared I'm touched the ball but not many I think they had one touch in Germany's box and especially for the first goal.
Despite the fact that had so many numbers back versus a completely free shot from the edge of the box and it felt like they weren't very good at keeping the ball but they weren't very good at defending either and certainly there was a little bit of clamor on social media about Billy Gilmore not starting and you can certainly understand why he might have helped them escape the pressure a little bit more but yeah lots of thinking for Steve club to do.
Yeah I think Scotland's approach both with and without the ball looked quite confused in that they looked like they were trying to defend in quite an aggressive way in terms of how high their defensive line was but they weren't putting any pressure on the ball and you know J mentioned Billy Gilmore and it was to few Scotland fans on Twitter sort of wondering why he hadn't been picked because he is almost certainly Scotland's best central midfielder when it comes to conserving possession and I think that's a good thing.
And I think one of the problems that Scotland had was Scott McTominay who was playing as one of the the two deep lying central midfielder's alongside Colin McGregor wanted to press but knew that he couldn't so for the opening goal when Tony Crowe gets the ball and looks up and prepares to ping that diagonal out to the right hand side.
McTominay knows that he needs to close him down but he also knows that there's no one behind him to step up if he does that so he kind of stands off-crows allows him to play the ball but because he's allowed himself to be drawn forwards when Gundle and Run takes McGregor out of the picture.
Verts is left completely unmarked and McTominay should really have been tracking Verts is run and I wonder whether if you put Gilmore in alongside McGregor and you put McTominay a little bit further forward alongside John McGinn can they press a little bit more aggressively and if Gilmore is in there does that enable them to hold on to the ball a little bit better I mean obviously I want to be wise after the event but I just bet that will be a feature of the Scottish post mortem.
And Newt would have said it won't make any difference. It's quite possible. I'll just go ahead and quickly say it's been forgotten after the fact but I do think Germany probably should have had another penalty as well. I can't remember who is the first person that kind of fows Mousseala but Tony definitely kicks his right boot in the box and then Mousseala drops. So I think they're a little bit fortunate to not have been 3-0 down even earlier than they were.
I see. Porosanga's gun was of course the goalkeeper at the wrong end of that 9-0 the Lester Southampton 9-0 must have been having shivers in that first half as the goal started piling up. On the subject of Tony Cruise Raffer, Thomas Riccala points out that he had a 99 pass completion rate in this game. 101 of 102 pass attempts. This is apparently since Thomas the highest since 1980 according to Opta. How on earth can he be retiring?
It feels almost like it's the lowest for Tony Cruise. I mean, what did he do with that one pass that went astray? He'll be disappointed. But yeah, I mean he gets Germany so much curiously on the ball. He just doesn't give it away. He keeps it. And always know that he will find both the space and the time to control it and does something with it. And as I said before, I was skeptical that he perhaps wouldn't have the legs and of course bringing him in changes to whole setup of the squad.
Nuggetsman has found an ingenious way of accommodating all his creative players by saying we play without wingers, which is is counter intuitive, but has worked. But he has made such a mess this difference and his calmness and his presence. For a Germany team that have been lacking in charisma and balance and had had a tendency to kind of raw games away and open up. He is the perfect remedy to all of that. And yeah, it was. It was absolutely sensational performance from him.
Raffa, where are you off to next? I am here for a couple more days and then I'm going to see Austria France in Düsseldorf. Well, that'll be interesting. Fantastic to have you with us this evening, get your perspective on it. As I say, an absolutely fantastic star for Germany. You must be quietly making plans for Berlin at this point. Yeah, for the final, you think not just yet, but I'm very happy. I think this means that Germany will be at least in the knockouts already.
And that will keep things exciting. Very good. Always nice to see you, Raffa. Have a great time in Munich in the meanwhile. Thank you, James. Thank you guys. Bye bye. Raphael Honegstein, crikey. Well, the other game in Group A, we'll see Hungary taking on Switzerland. That's Saturday at two o'clock, taking position. Kuhn. We're kind of man to asking, are there any Denmark slash Greece style nations that can create a huge tournament upset?
The Danes and the Greeks cause former winners of this tournament. Hungary, Switzerland, Tom. Yeah, I mean, the European championship is a competition that is renowned for its surprise winners. This would be Denmark and Greece arguably, two of the biggest upsets in world football history. Austria are being talked up as potential dark horses. Hungary is very interesting game tomorrow. It's nice today, depending on when you're listening, of course.
Yesterday. Last week, who knows? In that Hungary looked very solid, qualified in very impressive fashion, top day group above Serbia, Unbeaten. Unbeaten, calendar year. Dominic Schlobbazai back in. Yeah, very strong spine. Right. Gave a decent account of themselves at the last European championship, albeit got knocked out in the first round. Switzerland, who are, you know, sort of hardy perennials as a major tournament scene, it kind of feels like they're on a bit of a downward curve.
The last stand for this generation of players who've taken them to, I think this is their eighth successive major tournament. So, it feels like, you know, this might potentially be an early, an early upset on the cards. Crikey for Hungary, victory, you think. Switzerland and Madeys, they're knock out rounds of the past five major finals. But their form of tradition starts qualifying as not being great. They're anyone one of their last seven matches in the group.
Not sure how much you've put a ring round this one in your calendar, Jay Hungary, Switzerland. Of course, Scotland's next opponent are Switzerland. Yeah, I'll be watching. So, I'm pretty certain that Switzerland's boss was under quite a lot of pressure at the end of 2023 and there was a little bit of, yeah, yak in at Merit, yak in.
And there was a little bit of talk about. And there was a little bit of talk about him being sacked, but I think they just kind of tweaked the coaching staff around him. The strange thing is if you actually look at the, the Spine of Switzerland, that Tom's mentioned, a lot of those players individually have had amazing seasons. Jacques with Levakuson, a kanji's one, the title with Manchester City, summer one, the Celia with Inter.
Obviously, they've still got Shakiri, who's clearly not the player that he was a few years ago. And I know that in the past, the sort of dynamic player, Switzerland, sometimes looked to, he's been brilliant bowler, but he's only just come back from an anterior cruise ship ligament injury. So, is he going to be able to play at 100% you wouldn't think? So, I can't say I have either of these two teams down as my dark horse.
Okay. Fortunately. Alright, obviously, I had to get on two o'clock on Saturday. After that, there'll be group B getting underway, and that will be gay and very exciting. Arguably, it's the hardest group of all to call, but let's have a little look at those fixtures next. 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 that a satellite. Visit Direct TV dot 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.
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Saturday afternoon, Struck evening, quite the double bill. At 8 o'clock, there's Italy, Albania from Group B and before that, the other two teams in the group go at it and that is Spain against Croatia. And that fixture is a rematch of one of the games of the last Euros. It was the last 16, 2021. Spain, Croatia kicked off with that own goal from Pedri from the halfway line, do you remember?
Which was actually Unice Mons' era. Spain came roaring back, took the lead. Croatia made it 3-3 with the last, the dying breath of the 90. And then Spain ran away with it with the 5-3 win in extra time. The two teams have met since then in the nation's league final last summer, which is less exciting. It was Neil Niel wet penalties, blah, blah, blah. Spain won. But anyway, what about this time? Can Croatia, who never won a knockout game at the Euros for all of their World Cup exploits?
Can they get off to a good start at this tournament against these Spanish three-time Euro winners? Croatia Football writer Uri Vardoliak joins us now from Berlin. We're looking forward to another really good game. The last two encounters between Spain and Croatia have been pretty close. But Croatia coming out on the wrong side of both of them, how do you feel about this encounter?
Yeah, exactly. I mean, these past two games as far as Croatia and Spain went, it's beginning to look like a derby game in terms of international football. The nation's league final was a really close encounter. And I think that Spain is somewhat of a black cat for Croatia. If you will, a team that Croatia really doesn't like the face, but this is, I'm guessing, going to be as close as it gets.
Because it's an opening game of the group stage, both teams will be very careful even though, you know, Spain is a really exciting team. But I don't think that we are going to see much of a kind of a far-shame pain in football if you will tomorrow. It's a game that will decide the top of the group in my opinion, which is a really strong thing to say with Italy and Albania joining in. But yeah, it's going to be a derby of this really tough group for a great.
Well, both both Spain and Croatia have so much pedigree. 18 months ago, your guys were third best in the world. And you got many of the same elements still there. So should Croatia be ranked among the favorites for this Euro tournament? Definitely should be considered up there. I mean, the recent results on the major tournaments speak from the results. But it's now not a story of 100 dog anymore, I guess, especially if you include the aforementioned nation's league final.
But Croatia will definitely look to advance from the group. I mean, with three best teams going from the group, I guess that Croatia still has a really big chance to go on from the group. But it's a really tough group. I mean, you have rainy champions in Italy and you have Spain up there. So I mean, depending on how the group stage ends up for Croatia, it's going to tell quite a lot how the tournament will pan out in the knockout stages.
So it's going to be an interesting couple of clashes, especially against Italy and Spain. Is there a sense, Euro, that this is the last chance for this great Croatia generation? I mean, depending on what you assume is their last chance, they want to battle them to World Cup.
They've ended up seconds in the league nation's final four, so they've done their job pretty much. But there's an idea that at the euros, Croatia could have done more this generation, especially because Spain knocked them out at the Euro 2021. It also is very dramatic fashion. So there's a story to tell there as far as Croatia goes. There's feeling that Croatia could have done more in the history of the euros.
And this is their perfect opportunity to go away with a really big nod, I guess. So this is, I think this is the last dance as far as zero goes for this generation. Yes, okay. But you mentioned the number of Croatia fans there. Who are they most excited to be seeing in terms of players from this Croatia side? The Croatian camp is in this small town. I'm not really sure how to pronounce it. Just 50 kilometers, Northern from Berlin.
And the stories coming in from these past few days are, it's really madness. There's a thousands of fans swarming the camp for ever since Croatia came after the final game, friend of game against Portugal. So once they arrived, it's been loads of fans pouring in because there's a huge Croatian diaspora in Germany. It's a very traditional Croatian migrant work location, Germany itself as a country.
So there's loads of fans coming in and there's been even kind of a lack of, I mean, not exactly complaints, but there's been some grants about how the Croatian national team cannot even train in normal conditions because of all the fan attention.
So now they moved into Berlin ahead of tomorrow's game and it's just a thing more and more hectic. So it's also interesting to follow up how the huge, huge fan base located in Germany will affect the focus of the national team and the preparations for the big game tomorrow. So we're looking forward to it. You're right. Thank you so much for bringing us up to speed before you'd even done your unpacking and we'll speak to you soon, I hope. Yeah, definitely.
You're right, but dolly, I'm looking forward to it. J U as well. Yeah, really looking forward to it. And I know we want to say that it's probably Modjic's last dance, but I wouldn't be surprised if you was at the walk up in a, in two years time. It's certainly sometimes when you're in the group stages of these competitions, you're kind of always looking for that one game that's going to stand out. And for me, this definitely stands out.
The quality on display from both teams. I think the midfield of Croatia of Covertic, Brazowic and Modjic is something like 360 capsule together. The experience is ridiculous. They've got Vardy or Fervor back. I can't have lost people like Loveren, but yeah, really experienced team. I just have that tournament know how I remember watching them at the World Cup in Qatar and there's this steely,
and one necessarily call it arrogance, but the steely determination and confidence about Croatia that there's sometimes more than happy to do it the difficult way and take teams in texture time and take teams into penalties. I know that doesn't matter in the group stages, but they often make life very uncomfortable for teams. And they probably still have that kind of underdog slash dark courses tag.
They're such a small country. I think the population is only 3 million. So they are always kind of punching above their weight. Spain don't have the same glamour as they did from 10, 15 years ago. But then they've got people like Lamin, Yamal, who if he plays just once at this tournament will become I think the youngest player in Euro's history.
You've got Nico Williams on the other wing. Obviously you've got players like Pedrian Rodgerie. So they still play in the same style of Spain as old, but very different faces. It's not the same kind of cabal of Real Madrid and Barça stars that are kind of dominating the lineup. So I think it's going to be really interesting. Don't ask me for a prediction. Let Tom do that.
What, Tom, you're asking for a prediction? Yeah, J.K. Weather, prediction, please. I think that went well. Spain warmed up for this tournament, Tom, as you probably know, with two five goal halls. Middle East, in friendly against Andorra and Northern Ireland, but Miguel Oyazabel of a Real Sociedad getting four of the ten goals in those matches. So could be another name to watch as is surely Alex Cromaldi with that incredible season for German champions by Leva Kuzn.
And right, so that in March they had that three three draw with Brazil. So Spain have been very watchable of late. And yeah, as J.K. says, it's the same old Spain in terms of dominating possession, et cetera. But I think the fact that we're expecting, I mean, Le Minimal definitely to start quite possibly Nika Williams on the other flank. There might be a little bit more dynamism to Spain in the wide areas. They look a bit more wingery, a bit more dribly, which could be fun.
And yeah, I mean, you mentioned the nation's league win against Croatia last summer. That was their first major tournament, if we're going to refer to the nation's league as a major tournament. But their first tournament win of any type since they won Euro 2012 and a first success for Luis Delafuende, who came in to replace Luis Enrique after the World Cup,
was a bit of a disappointment going out to Morocco in the last 16 on penalty. So it kind of feels like the next phase of Spain's evolution is well underway. And yeah, a very different looking team to the Spain team that we got to know so well during the kind of the tiki taki years. And yeah, you know, Croatia with that fantastic midfield and also in excellent pre-tournament form, when and played Portugal in Portugal and their last pre-tournament match,
and Portugal put out a pretty decent team when Croatia beat them 2-1. This is a Croatia team who we often think of as sometimes struggling for goals, because for all the ridiculous quality there is in midfield, they haven't managed to find a centre forward to match the quality of modrich and covertich and drozavitch. But, you know, if this game against Portugal was anything to go by, that might not be too much of a problem for them.
We should probably say we should probably add, I don't think Emmerick Laporte is playing for Spain tomorrow either. I think he's missing through injury. Which means I've got a little bit of a decision about who to play at centre back, because I think it's Len O'Mand who would have started with the port. So it's just a decision about who plays within whether it's natural from Rama Drill or somebody else.
All right, we'll find out at 5 o'clock on Saturday then at 8 o'clock, the game I'm most excited about. The Adriatic Derby between Italy and Albania. This is a game which is not going to be taking place in the Adriatic of course or near it at the Tourism. Endormen, which has certain amount of significance for the Azureli, because that's where they had that incredible semi-final victory against Germany back in 2006 with Grosso doing the Tardeli and all that.
The Italian commentary on that absolutely kills me every time. It's one of those videos that if it pops up on social media, I cannot not watch it. And I do not have any connection with Italy, I could not be less Italian if I tried. There's something about that specific piece of commentary that the Grosso goal against Germany that just flaws me.
This game is seen as a must-win affair against Albania because it is such a tight group, Spain, Croatia, Italy and Albania. Italy, we'll talk about it in a second, but Albania and other of these teams who we certainly have talked about as dark horses. I don't know how long that theory is going to last into the 90 minutes that starts at 8 o'clock on Saturday.
It does look like the perfect potential banana skin opponent for Italy in this sense that Italy are notorious slow starters in big tournaments in Albania, potential surprise package, qualified really impressively, finished above Czech Republic and Poland in their qualifying group. The European Cup has been seeded four goals, a very solid team, very well coached and just to add to the intrigue, they have a squad and in particular starting 11, full of players who play in Italy.
Captain Ben Atgem City was just captain at Atlanta to Europa League success, goalkeeper, Alcid Hissarja right back, Lazio player, Ilber Amidani of LECHA, Christian Aslani of Inter as well. I've got that kind of extra motivation and I think the fact that Italy's following two games are going to be so difficult puts even more pressure on them. 100%.
If they don't beat Albania, they'll probably have to win at least one of those games against Spain and Croatia and this is not an Italy team that's going into the tournament in... They never are though. They're true. They did come on on some fantastic results and I think they were on a brilliant run before 2021 as well.
This time not so much, although I think their manager doing one, Mancini when he wandered off to Saudi Arabia is actually going to be in the long run, a very good piece of news because he did brilliantly winning the last Euros. The manager could seem to wear off a little bit and spiletti. Mancini took Napoli to the skireto. I think it's tremendously exciting the kind of football he's trying to get them to play. Has he been there long enough for it to take hold on the team? I'm not so sure.
I'm slightly confused and one of the reasons I'm so interested in this game is that the notion about Italy coming into the tournament was that they were in contrast to 2021. They were defensively a bit weak but might have sorted out their goal-scoring issues because Scamacca is on a great run of form. Having said that, looking at the last five results they've conceded one goal and scored about one as well.
They are not prolific at the moment but the way that the papers at least reckon they're going to line up is really exciting. Scamacca has had that brilliantly season four at Atlanta playing there as a lone forward with three guys behind him, three very attacking players. Chiesa, who was so brilliant at the last year, has hadn't had the best of seasons but still, Fratezi, who I think could be one of the breakout stars of this tournament and Pelagrini of Roma.
But Fratezi, who in the last... I think it was that. Yeah, it was the last friendly before the tournament against Bosnia. He scored the only goal but he was at the heart of everything. He's been a little bit sideline, he made the move to enter. He's not really had much of a look in. But tremendously exciting, very bold, quite a flamboyant player. But he seems to link up pretty well with Scamacca.
So I think that could be really, really interesting that the problem is at the other end where a couple of the players they were really hoping to build the defence around. Scalvinian and Chiarabia are both out. So some decisions there for Spaletti. But I think they should be all right against Albania for all the talk of Albania and the Slovenia and that triffit run a form. But we'll see, eh?
I was going to say... I think the goalkeeping situation with Albania is one to keep an eye on because they've been switching between Berisha and Strakosha. And Strakosha is somebody I know because he plays for Brentford. I say he plays for Brentford. He's played twice this season and he's played three times for Albania this year.
So no doubt in that he's a good goalkeeper, but in terms of match sharpness, match fitness, quite rusty. And I think if he starts and plays in the three group stage games, that's a hell of a step up to go from a season where you're just training all the time and you're never actually playing games to all of a sudden being thrust into the spot like a major tournament.
And how about Albania player who was seen several seasons in Italy? Yes, in Italy. Crike it anyway, that game is at eight o'clock and what a double bill that is. Group B setting us up nicely on Saturday night. The later game taking place in Dortmund, a just quick shout, which is a bit random at the end of a show about Friday night game at the Euros.
But speaking of Dortmund, did you see that British at Dortmund have have let it in Terzic go? Yes. And he's been replaced or you can say if you want to go ahead. He's been replaced by Nuri Sahin from Dortmund midfielder who I'm pretty certain was only appointed as Terzic's number two earlier this year along with is it Sven Bender?
I might have got that wrong. I think that's right, but there's two there's Sven and Lars Bender. I think it's Ben Bender. It's Sven. I'll back myself. So yeah, so that change only happened a few months ago. Now Sahin's got the top job. So it's a very quick promotion for Sahin. And then Terzic, he could have had, you know, the perfect farewell to his boy, his team at Wembley in it's just not worked out. Could have won the title a year before that.
He could have won it. Yeah. So it's been a glum. There you go. Fine margins. Yeah. Fine margins. Crikey. Tom, anything you want to add to that? Okay, then. Well, no, as you can say, I think Saturday's lineup, I mean, it's just perhaps not the most insightful opinion that you'll hear during the tournament.
But I think there's something very pleasing about the way the games exceed each other on Saturday. Hungary, Switzerland is not the kind of thing that ordinarily get you on the edge of your seat, but it's only the second game of the tournament. It's a Saturday afternoon. What else are you going to be doing? So of course, we're going to watch it.
Spain Croatia, I mean, that could be a semi-final or a final such as the quality. And then you've got, you know, Italy, Albania with sort of the pressure on Italy to win that opening game. The storyline around Albania, the Italy connections in their squad. So yeah. And you know, sometimes when you spend all of your time during a major tournament, sitting indoors, watching televised football, the weather makes you feel like you should really be making better use of your time.
But the fact that the weather scrap at the moment is if anything, it's just it's just further motive to not leave the hands. You say that. Sorry. But I'm about to go to Crete on Sunday. And I plan to... Jiki, Brian. Well, I plan to just watch football in the sun for a week. So, yeah.
I think it's not a sign of a true football diehard if you're if you're turning your back on, you know, literal swimming pool and beach time as well. Indeed. J might find a space for some of that as well. Anyway, J, lovely to see you today. I don't sure if we're going to be catching up with you before you go and do one degree. I don't think so, but I'll be back before you know it. Superb. Tom, great to have you as well. Many thanks to you, right for Johnny's earlier and Rafael, Honeg Stein.
To Liam and producer Charlie in the booth and you if you manage to find us on YouTube and listen if you're on the podcast and think, hmm, I wonder what that will look like. Join us Saturday night because straight after Italy, Albania will be pressing the big button marked live on it and going again all over YouTube. Or if you want, we're in podcast version every night too. And that's it for now. Those are from all of us here at Totally The Eros. It's goodbye.
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