It was cagey, it was nervy, but England finally freed a 55-year albatross from their necks as they downed Germany 2-0 at Wembley to book their place in the quarter-finals of Euro 2020.
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00:00this is golf news kicking back the chat show all about the beautiful game and i've got to say
00:05it does feel extra beautiful this morning i'm imran and i'm joined by my guests matt shamsir
00:11and sahil okay let's quickly get you up to date with what else has been going on before we talk
00:19about yesterday's football frank de boer has left his job as manager of the netherlands after that
00:25defeat against the czech republic in the last 16. i don't think any of us are too surprised about
00:30that juventus have entered the race to sign arsenal midfielder granit xhaka the switzerland
00:36captain was uh was really good against france the other night and uh aston villa are hoping
00:41to tie down jack greeley to a new 150 000 pound a week contract following interest from premier
00:48league champions manchester city in the england midfielder and it's with england that we've got
00:53a start uh look guys this is massive this could be the spark that takes us all the way we've
01:00finally beaten germany in a knockout competition we hadn't done that since the 1966 world cup
01:06finals been 55 years pain and misery all the way since then every time we played them in a
01:11knockout i remember i remember italian 90s so clearly euro 96 i mean it feels like that was
01:17just yesterday uh and the entire nation was dreading penalties again yesterday and it looked
01:23like it was going to go that way until sterling scored uh what did you think of that it was uh
01:30it was great it was great for england it was a great game um i was i'm loving the way that
01:35you're keeping your uh superstition is a crypt and now you're not touching your england shirt
01:41everything's staying the same way now is it i was saying earlier there that's it he's not
01:47going to wash his socks for the next 10 days now and like i said we see this two-year cycle
01:53with england um the the pessimism before the tournament from the fans we creeps into slight
02:01optimism becomes euphoria and then comes the fall um but this year round it does it does seem to be
02:40the monkey of his back with a late stooped header uh and you can see the delight in his face almost
02:46as big as the delight and relief among the the fans at wembley because that they knew i mean
02:53you can see in the crowd that most of the people there weren't born the last time england beat
02:57germany in a tournament like this um if not all of them and uh they yeah they they know what this
03:05means now because they know anybody that knows a slightly little bit about football knows that
03:09england have got the best run now should they not do their classic slipping up they're very good at
03:15um and um yeah and with the semis and the final at wembley and that crowd backing them you've got
03:22to fancy their chances now congrats imran first let's start with that and uh yeah that's a huge
03:33morale-boosting win man against the mighty germans though we know that uh the germans are not like
03:38the previous ones they were pretty bang average this especially to this tournament nobody gave
03:43them a chance to win the whole thing but uh with their performance against portugal we all thought
03:48that okay uh they are different now but that wasn't the case you know the frailties were shown
03:54even yesterday you know the the kind of chances they were missing it was on the platter for a
03:58couple of players especially the team over in the first half the chance was absolutely on a platter
04:04and then they the molar chance but you know you have to give credit to england you know they they
04:09came up with a plan and they executed well i but still i don't understand why greeley is not
04:14starting because he was the game changer again yesterday he should be starting that for england
04:19you know every game because he has got that little magic in him but uh and declan rice was
04:25was really lucky not to get a red card in the first half you know that was uh that was that
04:31was a touch and go moment but yeah maybe we're right through the backup yeah but it's just
04:38kyle walker had caught up so he wasn't the last man i think the referee saw that but you're right
04:42i'm saying he could have had he gone then oh my gosh it would have been a completely different
04:46game but still i don't think german would have scored because they were they were creating
04:51chances but they were not scoring you know but yeah not many chances uh i like uh very clear
04:56cut chances but pickford was up up for the game you know it's uh i don't know it's it's it's a
05:01completely different story when pickford come to come with the national team you know we we see
05:06this guy week in week out in everton making a lot of mistakes but when he wears that england chart
05:11shirt you know he's a different different player and he he looks world class at times you know but
05:17we all know how he is actually but yeah credit to the boy because uh it was brilliant he was
05:22maguire was brilliant at the back he was uh it was incredible then declan rice had a good game
05:27after that uh especially after that uh yellow card because he he controlled the cruises uh cruises
05:34progress in the midfield overall a great game for england but for germany you know they could have
05:40they should have actually let joachim low go like four or five years ago man because
05:46he had shown signs now the rebuild task for hans flick will be even more uh a difficult one with
05:52only just one year to go for the world cup but i still think germans will come back but it's a
05:57great morale boosting win for england definitely i mean i mean i'm the i'm super happy you know
06:04again mr garrett southgate starts his favorites 11-5 at the back two defensive midfielders and
06:11you know it's a safe lineup and but in the end you know like there's just a smile on my face
06:17because again this was the hurdle now they have games which they should win comfortably either
06:23whatever it be ukraine denmark czech republic and as shamshir said i wanted to mention a point like
06:31jordan pickford has been england's unsung hero he mentioned when he puts that everton shirt on
06:36he's absolutely terrible but when he puts the england shirt on there's something else he's
06:41fantastic for england in goal and you know i got to give a lot of credit to him important save on
06:45both havertz and verner very important saves there were no easy saves but one guy we have not mentioned
06:50is luke shaw how about that ball to raheem sterling and winning the ball to give it to jack
06:55greelish and greelish to kane so you know he was also one of england's best players there and
07:02now we can now we can see why harry mcguire is also one of the most important players in the
07:07england squad you know we've you know everyone criticizes him for some reason but in the end we
07:12all know he's in england's most important player so yeah i mean they just had to get over the line and
07:19i'm sure you all must be wondering how thomas muller missed that chance honestly man when he
07:24when he went through on goal one-on-one just keeps the nine times out of ten he scores
07:29he put it wide and i think i mean that was a big moment of the game because you know if that had
07:34gone in our heads would have dropped i'm pretty sure and i think they would have probably gone
07:38on to do what they always do to us which is which is beat us i'm pretty sure another painful defeat
07:44but then yeah harry kane finally arrived in the tournament put the seal on him and that was that
07:50and to hear wembley in full voice to see all the fans all the scenes tears of joy from everybody
07:56uh it was more than anything else it was just relief you know to finally get that win over
08:00them in a knockout tournament to the quarterfinals and there's a real chance now to go all the way
08:06like matt was saying you know this is uh with the fixtures coming up now uh but overall it was
08:10another really solid performance wasn't it that's four clean sheets now yeah they um as you said i
08:16think that one of the key factors in the muller thing there was uh well uh he showed he still had
08:23the pace to break through a bit clear um and the one thing for me that really put him off was the
08:30crowd had just found his voice again they were really quiet before the sterling goal and it you
08:36could you could hear the shouts from the players like it was a d uh a covid uh empty stadium you
08:41know like we've been used to hearing uh that the fans had really got down and then they were
08:46starting to get on southgate's case a little bit because there was no realish coming on there was
08:51nothing happening uh but you hadn't turned to the bench like most people do in 60 minutes
08:55um and you'd five subs and he was still you know like that game against um scotland he just hadn't
09:01been using his players um and then the uh you know like the the the wembley crowd got their voice
09:10back after the goal and they were just uh they really really i think that's what him cook miller
09:15um the yeah but the key are they and now that now that i've got a fully fit mcguire they really are
09:21looking really solid at the back now they've got four clean sheets which no one else has in the
09:25tournament um they've uh managed to really get that confidence and they've had a great
09:33slow burning tournament as well one nil wins here and there but now that you know they've
09:38impressed in the last game and they um they um also put it onto the uh you know like actually
09:45getting a tuna win over germany you know it shows that they're actually finding their eye for goal
09:50um they're getting everything in the right places um is now that we get to the business end of the
09:56tournament um and yeah but the one the one thing that southgate has to do is he's got to get really
10:02strong from the start so you don't get into these nervous situations because against the likes of
10:06ukraine he he could put the game to bed in the first 20 minutes you know and then they can relax
10:12if you can play their um their french players a bit more give give them the main men a bit more
10:18of a rest and uh focus on getting all the way just get as you get get more business like get the thing
10:24get the job done and uh you know just keep your focus on everything that has to be done the right
10:30in order to um win the tournament they've never won before in the history
10:36you mentioned southgate there uh he does deserve a lot of credit i've said before that the weakest
10:41link in this england team isn't any other players it's the manager i've often questioned a lot of
10:45things that he's done the team sheets tactics and everything and when i saw it last night i was i
10:50was genuinely worried i thought no this is going to be this is not going to work out but he got
10:53it spot on and sticking with kane worked out he finally came good uh even though he had another
10:58average game uh but it was the boost that he needed so we might now begin to see the the player
11:04that we see every week in the premier league uh but just back on southgate you know he missed
11:08that penalty in euro 96 it was a vital one when england lost against germany and now to mastermind
11:14that win against them at wembley uh he'll be feeling so much better now and it's the biggest
11:18win in his in his managerial career so far he deserves a lot of credit yeah it will do a world
11:24of good for the manager you know like uh it's like a monkey off the back for him for the whole
11:31nation it was a it was a tense game but you know like what you mentioned yeah we have to give credit
11:35to southgate uh because uh the team that he put on they won it but but you know i still think you
11:44know he should start greelish up front man you know he he makes that difference to that team you
11:49know like sahil mentioned luke show was brilliant in the second half but he was he came to life when
11:54greelish came onto the pitch he because you know greelish allows that uh the left back to run
12:01behind and all these things you know it says he has that little magic so if southgate doesn't pick
12:06greelish for the next game then i will be really really worried but yeah now they have got a golden
12:11route to the final if they don't reach there they'll have only themselves to blame but that's
12:17the most england thing to do to go and lose against ukraine in the next game absolutely
12:22it's spot on you know when if you guys remember the 2016 euros against iceland i was scratching my
12:27head now it's ukraine you know i'm not gonna write ukraine off at all you know unfortunately
12:34england choke towards the end and it's going to be a 50 50 i cannot say like england are favorites
12:40let's be honest they are the favorite you're right sahil i mean you can't write anyone off right now
12:46but honestly i think england's becoming experts and just getting the job done we're not playing
12:51expansive football at all and i can imagine for the neutrals probably really awful to watch
12:56but as we all know tournament football is not about playing pretty football it's about winning
13:00and uh and they're doing that without even conceding the goal we mentioned jordan pickford
13:04i've been one of his biggest critics i mean for everton he's made so many mistakes that have cost
13:08us games and aside from the mistakes he just doesn't look like his focus his concentrations
13:13all over the place but for england last four games anyway he's been uh probably one of the best
13:18definitely the man about yesterday he pulled off two really good saves one from uh
13:22werner i mean he probably should have done a bit better with that with that effort
13:25but then uh that uh kai havertz volley that was heading for the roof of the net he saw it really
13:30late he managed to tip it over i mean pickford's getting all the credit at the moment and he
13:35definitely deserves that doesn't he yeah i mean even earlier than uh that that great save is when
13:40he uh he came he came off his line quickly to um to to block in the first half um which showed that
13:47he's really he was really on his game early he was alert he knew that it was uh he's got to do
13:53that and uh your new boss rafa benitez will be going why does he not do this for everton
14:02i like that that'll be an interesting one on merseyside but uh that's a different story
14:08they um but yeah no pickford is he's been he's been really good i mean they also mentioned
14:12luke shaw when that ball came in for sterling i was like oh that's great from greelish
14:17wasn't greelish that was that was luke shaw what an fc doing having a good game for once um but
14:24yeah no the um the the strength and depth would have been a concern for england had they uh
14:30been on the other side of the draw knowing that they would have to be in the top of the game
14:33against the likes of italy belgium or whoever um but that the team that they've got there if they
14:40can steer clear of injuries or covid crisis they will uh that that 11 will be um ukraine they'll
14:45be ten months they'll be checking public no problem and i think that the the uh yeah they've
14:50they've they've pretty much already booked their um place in the final that will come back to haunt
15:00they're already they're they're now they're now the favorites um with the bookies to win the
15:04whole tournament so that's that shows you that shows you how much that side of the draw has
15:09impacted the how people regard the progress yeah it's it's refreshing to see an english goalkeeper
15:17doing well for for the country right because we we don't usually see that so we have to give credit
15:22to jordan pickford but apart from that i have to mention one boy from germany who had a great game
15:27it was skye howards the chelsea player he was brilliant he was the only one who could chin up
15:33and head up and leave back to germany because he gave it all the the two passes one for timo
15:40werner and one for muller you know both could have won the game for them and and his shot himself and
15:45it was absolutely incredible volley was only for pickford to take a world-class save so i think
15:50only hands flick when he takes over that job he can build the team around kai howards yeah he's
15:57got uh he's got plenty of good youngsters there to uh to get them going again like we've mentioned
16:03they hadn't been that good during the tournament not much was expected from them either
16:07but uh yeah joachim low leaves on a bit of a low uh so let's move on to the other game of yesterday
16:13emre and emre and we had in our preview you know we had predicted this anyway you know because joachim
16:18low would be the hero and villain and he became he turned out to be the villain because he was
16:22simply not good enough yeah did you see at the end of the game actually right at full time muller
16:27went over to low and he said i'm sorry he could actually he said and low shook everybody's hands
16:33it's quite sad actually you know he went past you know assistant managers some of the players
16:37and coaches there technical staff everybody maybe five six people after he shook southgate's hand
16:41he done all that and he just quietly walked away to the tunnel so well that's the end of low he's
16:46been good for germany but they're gonna have to rebuild his job he's won the world cup he's done
16:50his job yeah yeah he has absolutely yeah i think you're bang on when you said that he uh he
16:56definitely um uh he he had a place of legacy he deserves a statue all that jazz but uh yeah maybe
17:04he just hung on to the job too long he he did offer he did offer to resign when they didn't
17:09make it to the last world cup um um and uh the the german fa said no we want you to continue
17:17sorry not after that after they got the early exit from the world cup that's what it was yeah
17:21um and uh he offered to resign and then they said no we want you to continue i think maybe
17:28they should have had a different decision back then and giving someone else an opportunity if
17:32you look at you could have been a whole different story had clock got the job back then you know
17:37um and then the whole of the whole of european football would have a different landscape right
17:41now um and uh just one final word on pickford was that he he was really really good at club football
17:48last season because he uh he was man said he's man of the match for that injury he did on virgil
17:53van dyke um but that's uh oh wishing virtual of a speedy recovery as well he's apparently
18:01matched it again so one more thing like one more thing you know like now joaquim lowe is available
18:10so tottenham hotspur can tottenham hotspur can can look for their 150th manager appointment maybe
18:19in the past 10 years i still feel i still think they're waiting for belgium to to win it or get
18:23knocked out i think martinez i've got a feeling he knows it probably probably anyway england go
18:29marching on there was another game last night ukraine reached the quarterfinals thanks to a
18:34late late late winner an extra time against sweden zinchenko had smashed ukraine in front uh but then
18:40a deflected fordsburg shot put sweden uh back on level terms he was unlucky last night he hit
18:46the post he hit the crossbar um sweden had danielson sent off and then an extra time uh
18:52dove big headed in from close range uh you know it was 121st minute by then we were all just
18:58waiting for penalties weren't we it's quite disappointing in the end yeah we were all
19:03settling down getting the kettle on ready for an extramatic penalty shootout and uh then boom you
19:08know you turn around and you're like oh it's all over you know it was almost like it was almost
19:12like a golden goal because it was almost the last kick of the ball um and uh the the yeah again
19:18it was a thrilling match as i said fosberg's unlucky he'd been he'd been hit in great form
19:23in the past couple of games as well um but another day he would be england versus sweden you know
19:29just for the ball broke a little bit differently but zinchenko was just he's really really matured
19:34over the past year and he really showed his class on the international level which he hasn't done
19:39really today um he's sean for man city but he's not actually um a let the international stage
19:46alike um but that goal brilliant goal and he's not he's not known for scoring that many goals
19:51that um and then he he put the assist on for the second goal as well the vital one
19:56um and that that'll be very interesting going into the um the england match because if there's
20:02one boy in that team that knows how england play it says and chenko because he faces all these guys
20:08every week um and he's obviously sterling ford and if he plays two of these teammates are there
20:14um walker and stones at the back um and uh and possibly two new two new teammates and harry
20:22kane and jack realish um but uh will uh he'll be here the manager will be getting lots of notes
20:30of cinchenko as i would go about this game um against the english and uh i think that yeah
20:36they would they're probably the team more likely to give england a tough game than sweden because
20:41um sweden are very very they're like england team b in the way they play uh they're very similar in
20:47the styles um whereas the ukraine is a bit more of an unknown and a lot of these guys they won't
20:53know as much about um the guys will be desperately doing their homework on a lot of these ukrainian
20:59boys um and i think yeah they yeah it looks like he's going to penalties but maybe i'm on the night
21:05and overall performance ukraine just about deserved that win without penalty shootout um
21:11but then that's just my opinion um as i said the the woodwork came to the rescue a couple of times
21:17and uh and on another day sweden may have won it um but uh it's yeah it's uh i said it's going to
21:24be a tasty one that's quite looking forward to this england ukraine game because we just don't
21:28know what's going to happen you know it's not like it's going to be uh uh if they were facing italy
21:33we could know what we're in store for but if we're coming up against ukraine it could be
21:37it could be five mil it could be two mil ukraine you don't know it's a bit crazy oh and by the way
21:41i i predicted two mil england just get that out there yeah you know uh it was a was a great
21:52open game but you know it clearly lacked quality uh that that was seen you know like yes uh
21:58forstberg hit the woodwork couple of times but the quality was not there i mean the game was
22:02brutal at times you know a lot of fouls a lot of injuries it wasn't it wasn't a great watch but
22:11yeah but you know but there's a there's a fun fact you know like ukraine got qualified only
22:17because sweden scored that last minute goal against poland if if spain would have topped that group
22:23uh ukraine would have qualified and now ukraine went into the round of 16 and defeated sweden
22:29it's absolutely incredible that's the beauty of football you know and now uh ukraine yeah like
22:34like matty mentioned zinchenko had an incredible game he that that that goal was an absolute pile
22:40driver man that two on a volley that was incredible goal to score and he was instrumental i like that
22:45man you know he he always plays uh football with the heart on his sleeve you know he's
22:49pretty emotional he's very passionate footballer i like the one player i like from manchester city
22:55actually so uh he had a good game and i'm happy for him look at matty and yeah but even even the
23:04even the pass from the trivela pass from uh yar melenko for that uh zinchenko pile driver was
23:10absolutely incredible but now look at look at andre shevchenko's record man i in 2004 2006
23:16he took ukraine to the to their first ever quarterfinals in the world cup and now
23:21being a manager he kept him that side at that time and now he's being the manager he has taken
23:25them the to the round of uh the quarterfinals in the euro 2020 which is absolutely incredible for
23:31the nation but you know when you look forward i think uh it's it's become easier for england
23:38because ukraine i don't think uh they possess enough quality to go through but you never know
23:44in football but you have to give them credit to to do for doing the job you know like especially
23:49that was his first first international goal and what a time to get it like 121st minute
23:55unbelievable you know the only thing that's uh probably concerning is this is going to be the
24:00first time that england plays away from wembley they're going to be playing in rome in the court
24:05against ukraine and if they get through then the semi-final and finals back at wembley so they'll
24:09be playing away without any fans for the first time that might help ukraine a little bit uh but
24:15what did you think of the game yesterday first of all i think england should be fine come on
24:19they're playing in a different stadium only they should be fine in that particular aspect
24:25but for sweden i expected sweden i expected sweden to beat ukraine you know i thought
24:31sweden had better players in the squad either the likes of kulachevsky and izak's and been in good
24:37form the euros but kulachevsky he missed a lot of chances i felt you know his touches were poor in
24:42the box and izak you know you thought that he'll be the one to influence the game but it's just
24:47sweden did not turn up and i felt sorry for forzberg the guy hit the bar and twice so you know
24:52you got to feel sorry for him good shots also it was an equal game you know ukraine played well
24:57played well you know as mancity manzinchenko who i'm not a big fan of he scored a very good goal
25:04and you know credit to ukraine and their fighters you know they they beat they also they were decent
25:10in the group stage you know they they lost netherlands but now netherlands are not there
25:13and they're in the quarterfinals so you know you gotta give credit to them and let's see now what
25:19england do against them you know they're gonna play very very deep let's be honest here i i have
25:25to say one thing there is this kind of a voodoo happening in the euro it seems like you know
25:29whoever scores four goals is just getting uh knocked out maybe the voodoo of ronaldo is there
25:34because he's the only one who scored five goals like forzberg scored four benzema scored four
25:39both got knocked out now only patrick schick is back there he might get knocked out in the
25:43next game without scoring the fifth goal there is some kind of voodoo happening man
25:52three is fine four when you reach four you're getting knocked out
25:56the sterling scores in the first half against ukraine and then england go out is that what
26:01you're saying so harry kane gets a hat trick in the loose four three
26:08no chance no chance of that happening
26:12we'll meet england in the quarterfinal on saturday the other one on saturday is
26:16denmark against republic the other two on friday are italy against belgium and switzerland against
26:21spain uh we'll be back to preview them all in the meantime head to gulfnews.com for all the
26:26latest news and we'll catch you again soon