– An unforgettable EC battle! exclaimed TV 2 expert Brede Hangeland after the match. It was a real nervous drama between Germany and Spain in Stuttgart. It was Mikel Merino who pushed Spain into the semi-finals deep into extra time. With that, Toni Kroos has played his last game as a footballer as he retires from the championship. After the match, Kroos just sat on the grass and stared blankly into the air. before he was eventually pulled up by his teammates. Now a life as a football pensioner awaits the popular midfielder. It happened after a dramatic match with several controversial incidents. OUT: Germany is out of the football European Championship. Photo: KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP Strong reactions to a possible hand One of the incidents that received the most attention was when the ball hit the arm of Marc Cucurella in extra time. The Germans were in Hungarian and called for a penalty kick. But they were not heard by Judge Anthony Taylor. – That is the sickest thing I have ever seen. VAR loses all credibility, says Vålerenga’s sporting manager Joacim Jonsson on VGTV. Former top judge Per Ivar Staberg is also clear in his speech. – It should have been a penalty kick, he says to news. – Why do you think that? – The hand is out from the body and it is expected that a ball may come there. Ståle Solbakken believes in TV 2’s studio that it is right that Cucurella was acquitted. – He tries to pull his arm towards him and the arm points downwards. I am of the old school and believe that here the ball seeks the hand and not the hand ball, says the national team manager. Solveig Gulbrandsen disagrees with Solbakken and believes that it is a penalty considering the way the rules have been practiced. – Here it was actually a shot on its way to the goal that was stopped by hand, says Gulbrandsen. DESPAIRS: Florian Wirtz hides his face after crashing out of the EC. Photo: Matthias Schrader / AP Nightmare start for Spain Early on Spain suffered great adversity when Barcelona profile Pedri had to leave with an injury after a tough duel with Toni Kroos. Seconds later, Kroos would also stamp the prodigy Lamine Yamal. Even after that situation, no cards were handed out. – Taylor does not give a yellow card and loses a bit of the match. He could get his second yellow there, said Ståle Solbakken about the Yamal situation. Toni Kroos was involved in two ugly tackles early in the match against Spain. Many thought they should have been handed out cards, see the situations here. However, he believes that the tackle that sent Pedri off the pitch is a clear yellow card. – It is crystal clear and Kroos should not get away with it, said the Norwegian national team manager. His former teammate Kjetil Rekdal also reacted strongly to the referee’s handling of the early Kroos tackles. – He should have been expelled after six minutes, said Kjetil Rekdal in the VG studio. – The chance to judge the final was lost in the first minutes, because there should have been two yellows and out, continued the new Aalesund manager. Photo: Manu Fernandez / AP Only after 66 minutes did Kroos receive a yellow card. It is reported that Pedri has sprained his left knee and that they will do more tests to see the severity and other possible injuries. The Spaniard is declared finished in the championship. The substitute provided cheers Then perhaps it was fate that it was precisely Pedri substitute Dani Olmo who was to score the first goal of the match. There was a brilliant pass from Yamal which enabled Olmo to put the ball safely in the net. With that, Yamal became the first teenager to record three assists in a championship. He is 16 years old and can thus improve his statistics also at the next championship when the World Cup starts in North America. The hosts, Germany, naturally characterized the match in the stands along the way, and it was noticeable later in the match that the impatience of the home supporters began to rise. When Spain’s Ferrán Torres brought down an onrushing Jamal Musiala 20 minutes from time and cynically thwarted a German counterattack, the stadium in Stuttgart reached a provisional peak. When Niclas Füllkrug hit the post a few minutes later, the decibel level peaked for the second time in a short time. The Germans did everything to help their team advance from the stands. And the black spectators. Joshua Kimmich went highest in a header duel and nodded the ball to 21-year-old Florian Wirtz. He put the ball in the net with only two minutes left in normal time. – What a shock for Spain. It lasted 88 minutes, commented TV 2’s Øyvind Alsaker. Dramatic extra time It completely took off on the Germans’ substitutes’ bench after the goal. Several of them couldn’t help themselves and rushed onto the field to celebrate with their teammates who played the game, many ran as far as 20-30 meters before they realized that this was hardly all in and turned back towards the substitutes’ bench. This meant that the teams had to go into extra time. That with a very offensive Germany, which replaced several defensive fibers. Spain, on the other hand, had replaced all their attacking players in Nico Williams, Álvaro Morata and Lamine Yamal. It was Germany that was closest and Wirtz probably should have set his second for the evening. Later, all German players had to react to a ball that hit the hand of Marc Cucurella in the penalty area. They called for a penalty, but referee Anthony Taylor kept the whistle away from his mouth. – I know he (Cucurella) is trying to pull his arm in, but I feel Spain are very lucky there, wrote The Independent journalist Miguel Delaney on X/Twitter. On the eve, Mikel Merino was to score deep into extra time, to the full cheers of the Spaniards. Several Germans in the stands moved to tears after the disappointing score. This means that the Spanish will face either France or Portugal in the semi-finals. Published 05.07.2024, at 20.37 Updated 05.07.2024, at 20.55
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Germany’s EC dream shattered after crazy thriller – Football EC 2024
