Brasil v Argentina 0-1
Argentina wins Copa America, RapidHammer wins 13 €.
Update: This was all lost with my bets on England on the Sunday evening!
Good luck message from Her Majesty
Two In Claret And Blue
Jack Grealish (Aston Villa) and Declan Rice (West Ham) preparing for the Euro 2020 final on Sunday
First Brexit, Now This
Gareth Southgate’s side has marched through to the final, where Italy await, and created shockwaves across the continent in the process. For decades England have always been seen as the team who fail to deliver at the big moments. But this time it’s different.
Among journalists from various European countries, French author Pierre-Etienne Minonzio (above), wrote what he feels about this English team in The Telegraph:
“Personally, I’m completely amazed by England. I love English football culture. I’ve covered England since 2015 and I’m fascinated by the weight of history that England feel. There’s a line in the Great Gatsby – the last sentence – that says: “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” It always felt like that with England – being thrown ceaselessly back into the past.
“I reported on the Iceland game at the EURO 2016 in France and I saw it there – when they went 2-1 down, England knew it was over, even though there was still an hour to go. You could see the players thinking ‘it’s happening again’; the curse had struck.
“But now this England side have overthrown the weight of history. Huge credit to Gareth Southgate, the man responsible for this, he has changed the state of mind for the players. It was obvious in 2016 that it was over but against Denmark they stayed calm, said ‘OK, that’s fine’ and they won. Incredible. So impressive.
“I’m totally fascinated by their coach, it’s so impressive. And I ’m quite in love with these players too.
“At the end of the day, football is for the kids, and now they have these role models to look up to. It’s wonderful. If you are a young English player you know you can make a difference now.
“It’s such a diverse team. It’s the same as France in 1998. When we won the World Cup it was exactly the same, everyone came together, all races, all people. I mean, don’t get too carried away; three years later, Jean-Marie Le Pen reached the second round of the Presidential election – but it planted a seed and had a huge influence on the next generation.
“One thing to remember is: you’re in a final. Enjoy this. It doesn’t last forever. Things change so quickly in football, you have to savour moments like these when they come round.”
‘Freedom Day’ ahead, but scientists condemn UK Covid policy
In a letter to The Lancet published late on Wednesday, 122 scientists and doctors condemned the UK Government’s strategy as a “dangerous and unethical experiment” and urged Ministers to pause plans to abandon all restrictions in a couple of weeks. The withering comments come amid a mounting backlash against plans to ease nearly all coronavirus restrictions in Britain on July 19 – dubbed “Freedom day”.
In the Lancet ‘memorandum’, scientists outline five key concerns about plans to lift nearly all restrictions, which it describes as “dangerous and premature”.
Chief among them are fears that vaccination rates are not high enough to confer population immunity. Currently, just over half of the UK population has two doses of a coronavirus jab, while almost 70 per cent have had one.
“Even assuming that approximately 20 per cent of unvaccinated people are protected by previous Sars-CoV-2 infection, this still leaves more than 17 million people with no protection against Covid-19,” the letter says.
— Read more: www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/moral-emptiness-epidemiological-stupidity-condemns-uk-covid/
“Football’s Diving Home”
Of course not everyone is happy with England’s victory over Denmark courtesy to a soft penalty given after contact was made with Raheem Sterling in the box close to the byline. There was a VAR check, but the penalty stood … and was criticised by several pundits after the game, and defended by others.
There were several twitter users speaking of “diving”. “And then they wonder why no one likes England,” the Danish Jyllands-Posten newspaper quoted one Danish twitter user, Kasper Grøndah, writing: “Booing during the Danish national anthem, diving like crazy during the game, elbows in every header. Laserpens. I hope they get a taste of their own medicine against Italy.”
Uncle Rice
There was a surprise waiting for midfielder Declan Rice after England’s victory over Denmark. The West Ham star learned of the birth of his new niece, who arrived in the world at the exact moment Kane scored the winning goal that meant that the Three Lions reached the final of Euro 2020.
Speaking to BBC Sport, a delighted Rice said: “My brother has literally had a baby as the second goal went in. He’s crying his eyes out, he’s had a little girl. It’s a special night all round!”
A Squad For All England
“This is not just any England squad. This is a squad for all of England.
“I was always more passionate about my club than country, but this England team has stirred me like no other”
(Jamie Carragher in The Telegraph)
Gareth Southgate and his players are playing Italy in the final at Wembley on Sunday, and this English national team can go all the way!
C’mon England!
Semifinale in Wembley
Spanien – Italien 1:1 n.V. (0:0, 1:1) Elfmeterschießen 2:4
Dänemark – England 1:2 n.V. (0:0, 1:1)
Five Aspects of Rice
West Ham midfielder Declan Rice may not be universally loved by fans but five aspects of his game against Ukraine proved his importance, as the Telegraph reports.
That Rice is undroppable for England was also shown when he was substituted in the second half when England was in control of the game at 3:0 to protect him from a second yellow card. He is one of England‘s “brains” and hence is going to be very important on Wednesday in the semifinals.
What makes “Deckers” so important are these five aspects of his game:
– exemplary positional sense
– recovering posession and tackling
– doing dirty work with an industrious work rate
– powerful shooting and
– set piece threat.
EXTRA TIME 
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