Latest / Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football / 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 ENGLAND SURVIVES | Sweden Devastated | WOMEN'S EURO 2025 QUARTERFINAL RECAP | EPISODE 151

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🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 ENGLAND SURVIVES | Sweden Devastated | WOMEN'S EURO 2025 QUARTERFINAL RECAP | EPISODE 151 · Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football

0:03
OK, welcome to Into the Channel podcast primarily by women's
0:08
football. I'm your host Dino de Suspitas
0:10
and as always I'm joined by my Co host Mr. Grant Engel.
0:14
What is up man? I'm feeling fantastic buddy.
0:17
Feels good to be back on the winning side of things.
0:20
Very excited about that. Just a great match of football
0:25
in a lot of ways and in some ways it was a lot of what the
0:28
heck is going on here. So I'm excited to talk to you
0:31
about it. A a defensive battle outside of
0:33
a couple you know well, the 1-2 minute stretch and 1 roughly 15
0:37
minute stretch. But just a ton to get into so
0:40
many twists and turns to this match.
0:42
I think, I don't know, emotionally, I can't imagine
0:45
being you in this situation, you know, with, with, with your
0:48
England roots, your Sweden picks.
0:50
I mean, what I want to start there actually, What was what
0:54
was the roller coaster of today like for you?
0:56
Well, let's let's get it started.
0:58
England to Sweden to let's. Do it.
1:02
England win the match and move forward on penalty kicks.
1:07
Congrats. Thank you, Lionesses.
1:10
Thank you. Cheers.
1:12
Yeah, I'm going to take, I'm going to take some credit.
1:14
You did it. Yeah, I appreciate it.
1:17
It was a lot. Put in a lot of sweat equity.
1:20
It was I just found myself like after, after the crushing Norway
1:25
loss and Sweden scores in the 1st 2 minutes on like a
1:30
terrible, broken, disastrous play where Jess Carter didn't
1:35
exactly set up Kyra Walsh for success, but Kyra Walsh made a
1:40
somewhat baffling decision to try to like one time the pass.
1:44
I was just like, man, both of these are going to go this way
1:47
and like, the only thing I'd be left, I'm going to be left
1:50
holding is I can say what pick Sweden for the final four and
1:54
the final. So I guess I have that.
1:56
But alas, not to be. And the Lioness has put in a a
2:00
gutsy performance, particularly in the second-half, I felt.
2:03
Yeah, no doubt that first half very nervy.
2:07
And so many thoughts ran through my head in that first half.
2:10
So obviously there's the Jess Carter situation, the, the, the
2:14
past, you know, the the positioning, you know, Greenwood
2:17
and Williamson, like figuring out who's who's going where.
2:20
Hannah Hampton had a little hand in in, in that, that early
2:24
nerviness. Kyra Walsh as well.
2:27
And then I just kind of was like, man, I'm like, did England
2:29
mess up? You know, obviously, like you're
2:30
missing that veteran presence of like a Millie Bright and a Mary
2:33
Earps and, you know, and, and like I, I, my head just went
2:37
there. So I couldn't imagine.
2:39
And I'm not you when you're a player, you're playing, you
2:41
know, but I'm, I'm sure maybe in a fraction of a second, you
2:45
might have some of these thoughts.
2:46
I was like, are we, is, is this going to be it?
2:48
Because it happened really, really quickly and it wasn't
2:51
just that mistake. I I mean, it looked like, it
2:54
looked like England was playing, you know, on an ice skating rink
2:57
without ice skates, Like they were just, they were just really
2:59
having a hard time early. Yeah, and Sweden was moving the
3:02
ball. And even like the story of these
3:05
two halves, like England still had like roughly 58% of the
3:09
possession in the first half, but everything Sweden was doing
3:14
was like perfect Sweden ball. They're like, we don't care if
3:18
you have the ball, we'll just hit you on the counter.
3:20
And then a lot of your chances, like a lot of England's chances
3:23
in those first half were just like kind of angles off to the
3:28
side, like not too not too troublesome for Falk where
3:31
defenders were getting in the way and getting blocks.
3:34
And so they were limiting everything England was able to
3:36
do, especially in the in the center in the central channel.
3:39
And then they were they were like striking fast on the
3:42
counter, trying to get the ball up up the field.
3:45
And, you know, did so successfully for the for the
3:48
second goal. I'm glad you mentioned Hannah
3:50
Hampton because I, I just want to get right to it because I
3:53
think it was such a massive part of the game right at the death
3:56
of the first half. I think it was 45 + 1.
3:59
She gets that save on the Fritolina Rolfo shot.
4:02
I think the match is lost if Rolfo scores there.
4:06
We've seen plenty of teams come back from 2 NIL and we've seen
4:09
teams come back from three NIL, but it's so much harder.
4:12
And we always talk about if a team lands a shot right before
4:16
going into halftime, if that shot takes you to down three
4:21
goals, I just don't see a way they could have climbed back.
4:25
So I just felt like Hampton saved the match.
4:27
I totally agree with you and I'm glad you put it that way because
4:31
I, I actually went through and I had the same thought exercise.
4:34
I was like, this is as close as a team can come to losing like
4:41
psychologically, you know, like, 'cause you could lose it to
4:43
death when the ball just, you know, trickles in or whatever,
4:46
or like whatever right before the whistle and you lose, right?
4:49
You know, but you also can lose a game in the 40th minute or the
4:52
50th minute or I mean, we see it all the time.
4:54
And I think like I wrote down 123456 different times and we'll
4:59
get to it. Obviously, you know, we, we, we
5:00
know the result. 22 England takes in PKS.
5:03
But that potential, I've wrote down 6 potential daggers and
5:07
that Rolfo 1 before halftime was the first one breakaway, great
5:11
save by Hampton. Then 55th minute, Cena
5:14
Blacksteinius goes 1V2 versus Carter and Greenwood makes great
5:18
contact. Hannah Hampton going one way,
5:20
he's got to go back the other way to make a save like across
5:22
her body. You know he has a chance at 88th
5:25
minute. Then piquets, 3 separate
5:28
piquets. 2 of them would have ended it outright.
5:31
One of them would have sort of almost mathematically ended it
5:34
six different times. Sweden had England like one kick
5:39
away from this just being over. And it, it just kind of reminded
5:42
me of the old adage like when you fight the champ, you know,
5:45
you got to beat the champ. And it's like, I think what
5:47
Sweden proved today is like, they're every bit as good as
5:49
England, But in those moments when they when they had the
5:52
chance to beat them and actually like, you know, complete the
5:56
mission of beating them, that was one step too far for them
5:59
today. Yeah, I think that's totally
6:01
right. And it was a combination of
6:03
things like, you know, the the Rolfo shot at the end of the
6:06
first half, that's just a great save by Hampton.
6:08
Like there wasn't like a ton more really like you would
6:11
expect from Rolfo. Like, yeah, she could have put
6:13
it like, you know, dead Upper 90 or whatever, but like you're not
6:16
going to hit those every single time.
6:18
Hampton made a great save. Some of the PKSI have notes on
6:22
every single one. Some of them were absolutely
6:25
brutal, but there were other times where you could see that
6:28
on both sides. Both both Jennifer Faulk and
6:31
Hannah Hampton had read The Taker like a book and knew
6:35
exactly where it was going to go.
6:36
And the dive was super early and they were all over it.
6:39
So it's like, to your point about like, you got to beat the
6:42
champ. And we always talk about margin
6:45
for error in these kind of things.
6:46
The champ can operate in those in those margins and they they
6:51
know how to win. They have the muscle memory.
6:53
So it's it's a good point you make about like, you know,
6:56
there's no Millie Bright and obviously Hannah Hampton is
6:58
starting instead of Mary Earp's. But you know, there's also the
7:02
point where you're kind of buoyed by the confidence of the
7:04
rest of your team, especially when you have Lucy big game
7:09
bronze on your team. Lucy biggest game bronze.
7:12
We have to update them. I mean, what a massive, massive
7:16
game. The first, the first thing I'll
7:19
say, obviously. So bronze gets the the goal, the
7:22
first goal to kind of crack the seal.
7:23
And I want to rewind actually a couple minutes before we get to
7:25
that because Kosovari Aslani, who scores the first goal and
7:30
it's been probably Sweden's MVP through probably through the
7:33
whole tournament. Probably.
7:34
Let's say I got a freaking chill down my spine in the 78th minute
7:40
when she's coming out the game and the camera zooms in right to
7:43
her face and she looks kind of happy, but also kind of
7:47
relieved, but also kind of like the job's not done.
7:51
And it just it just gave me a chill.
7:53
And then obviously, you know, I watched the whole rest of the
7:55
match all the way through the PKS.
7:57
And then I went back and checked and I'm like, what was the
7:59
timing on the sub? Aslani coming out of the game
8:04
and Lucy Braun's scoring. And the difference was about two
8:09
minutes. And, and I think like it, it, it
8:12
just set in motion like a domino effect that I like.
8:16
It's hard to, you know, you never really like know exactly
8:19
what what is at play there, but hard to untangle those two Asani
8:23
coming out of the game, such a huge figure for Sweden.
8:26
And then right away, you know, and then it's tough because
8:28
like, you know, he comes in, she's a little bit lost.
8:31
And being just one or 2% lost that deep in the match against
8:35
that team with those stakes is enough to just concede a goal
8:39
and and have the game start to tilt, tilt back the other way.
8:41
Yep. I mean, that's, it's Aslani off
8:45
Chloe Kelly in two goals in the matter of like 3 minutes.
8:50
And I mean, Chloe Kelly comes on as just an instant spark plug.
8:54
Now Michelle Ajamang came on and in the 70th, I thought, I
8:58
thought she looks fantastic when she's 19 years old and just came
9:02
in there just full of confidence.
9:05
Serena Vikman did an interesting thing where like Russo started
9:08
to operate a little more like on the wing when Ajamang comes,
9:11
comes in. So I mean, it was building and
9:14
you're totally right. When I saw Aslani go off, I I
9:17
put in my notes. She looks hurt.
9:20
And that's devastating for Sweden because because you're
9:23
right, I mean, on balance, certainly she's been there.
9:26
She's been their best player. So you hate to see that for her,
9:30
especially because now she kind of has to like just to live with
9:33
that for the next few months, right?
9:35
Where it's just like. My ankle.
9:38
Well, yeah, probably, you know, for a long time, right.
9:39
But you know, I, I feel like it, it kind of dissipates a little
9:42
bit, but it's just like your ankle gives out and then just
9:46
absolute disaster strikes for your squad.
9:48
Yeah, brutal. Yeah.
9:49
But you know, back, back to your original question, Lucy, Big
9:52
game Bronze How about leads the match in touches, 113 touches in
9:57
the match, plays 120 plus minutes.
10:00
That penalty kick though, I mean, come on, man.
10:05
Now what'd you expect? It was it was exactly what I
10:08
expected and exactly a, a, a massive just knocked me back on
10:12
my chair. The, the, the force that she
10:14
crushed that with. Now I'm not sure why she was
10:17
taking the kick after Grace Clinton, who just rolled 1
10:20
rolled, rolled 1 very gently to Jennifer Falk.
10:23
But bronze, I mean, did everything in this match.
10:27
And I think the the most special part about Lucy bronze, you
10:29
know, we kind of joke that, you know, we don't joke.
10:31
We we actually do call her Lucy big game bronze for a reason.
10:34
And in this match, when you know, we're 70 plus minutes in,
10:38
you got everybody, you throw everybody at Sweden, Russo Hemp
10:42
Mead LJ, like whatever you can do and it's not happening.
10:48
And then how do you end up beating Sweden?
10:50
It's Chloe Kelly super wide all the way out on the left and a
10:54
pass all the way across crosses pretty much every player in the
10:57
field deep right. Lucy bronze just kind of sneaks
11:00
in through the side door and that's what a veteran superstar,
11:05
you know, just all the experience you could ever want.
11:08
That's what you needed in that moment when your forward
11:11
attacking room wasn't able to kind of breakthrough.
11:14
What a great player to kind of have in that position to be able
11:17
to make that happen. And it's so wild because in this
11:19
tournament, that wingback spot so problematic for so many
11:23
teams. Norway, you know, with the Marin
11:25
Lewand, Julia Gavin Carlota Vamser for Germany.
11:28
And like then you get like bronze, a super foundational
11:32
piece who's just impacting the match all over the all over the
11:36
place defensively early, gets the goal in the second-half,
11:39
smashes the PK when nobody could make APK.
11:42
What a what a massive showing today for Lucy Bronze.
11:46
I want to, I want to shout out the celly too, when she gets the
11:49
goal, you know, she, she smashes in the header and then she just
11:53
runs and, and like, her momentum takes her to the advertising
11:56
board and she just kicks it and then and then turns around and,
12:00
and runs back to get set up for the kick off.
12:02
I just thought that was like, I, I laughed in real time watching
12:06
that, how hilarious it was. I want to quote England manager
12:09
Serena Wiegmann here discussing the aforementioned Lucy Bronze.
12:13
Wiegmann said. Quote, Lucy Bronze is just
12:16
one-of-a-kind. I have never, ever seen this
12:18
before in my life. I'm a very lucky person that
12:21
I've worked with so many incredible people and incredible
12:24
football players, and there are so, so many.
12:27
But what she does and her mentality and how she did that
12:30
penalty in the goal at the far post, she gets it in the net.
12:33
But that's not what defines her. What defines her is that
12:36
resilience, that fight. I think the only way to get her
12:39
off the pitch is in a wheelchair.
12:41
End Quote. And I mean, that's outstanding.
12:45
And Serena Vigman's not talking about like the fake wheelchair
12:47
incident with Paul Pierce. She's talking about literally
12:49
Lucy Bronze will give everything on the pitch and we'll need to
12:53
go off like that. And for what it's worth, those
12:55
quotes were from the great Tom Gehry's article in the Guardian
12:59
from the post match presser. That's just who she is, Man 5
13:02
Champions League. So the three with Leon, 2 with
13:04
Barsa. Look at the Wikipedia to try to
13:08
tell you all the league titles she's won.
13:10
But you know, she's one of the greatest players in the history
13:14
of that country. And it's a it's a pretty good
13:16
country for football. Yep, and I think I'm going to
13:19
add one more accolade to a Lucy Big Game Bronze's very beefy
13:24
resume. I want to, I want to induct Lucy
13:27
Big Game Bronze into the ITC Hall of Fame.
13:29
I don't know that we have a 2025 inductee.
13:32
Who do we have? So far we've got Aitana Bomati,
13:34
Aaron Cuthbert, Orlando Pride's Corey Dyke, Lioness legend Carol
13:39
Thomas. Emily Sonnet.
13:41
Emily Sonnet. And that's my bad.
13:42
Yeah. Emily Sonnet.
13:43
How can I forget the the legend? And then, yeah, I think that's
13:47
bronze welcome. Yeah, I mean, now there you go.
13:50
Cherry on top, five Champions League.
13:52
She's already got a euro. Now finally, the ITC Hall of
13:56
Fame. It's about time.
13:57
Somebody go ask Serena Wiegmann to upgrade.
13:58
Update that quote with Now that one more, one more little
14:02
cherry. Exactly.
14:04
Congratulations Lucy Bronze. Of course, no doubt.
14:07
I mean, you know, just the unequivocal leader of the team.
14:11
You just see the way people treat her and you see the way
14:14
the opponents treat her too. It's just, I mean, she's, she's
14:17
one of the greats. And our pal Leon Sanderson has
14:20
said the same, has shared the pitch with her and it has talked
14:22
about her in the same glowing terms.
14:24
Like I just. Cannot get over how many
14:27
different ways she can affect a game.
14:30
And it's not like just in a moment, like she could have a
14:33
whole different type of game if it's needed.
14:36
Like she could have like, you know, like a game where like,
14:40
like today was like more craft. You know, she had a lot of
14:43
touches. She had to just do a lot of
14:44
distributing. She had to be in a lot of
14:46
different places. She had to do a lot of defending
14:49
and and other days she just got to do a lot of running up and
14:51
down and just kind of make make her presence felt that way.
14:54
But she just could. She can go to so many different
14:57
things. Today was just a perfect
14:59
microcosm of like so many, not even all her skills, but so many
15:02
of her skills impacting winning. Yeah, even tapes up her own leg
15:07
at one point while she was down on the field and the, and the
15:09
trainers came up. I mean, she could do it all.
15:11
There's there's nothing she can't do.
15:13
And I just on that service, on that pass you mentioned, Chloe
15:16
Kelly comes on and within like 90 seconds of her stepping on
15:20
the field, she makes an instant impact.
15:22
I mean, the we, we, I mean, especially me.
15:25
I was not thrilled with Gemma Granger's changes for Norway
15:30
yesterday. And I know it's it's like easier
15:33
to say when the team actually wins, but Serena Wiegmann's
15:37
changes, you actually saw them affect change on the pitch.
15:42
I mean, it was just, you know, they were masterstrokes.
15:44
Beth Mead looked great when when she got out there, you know, she
15:47
had the assist to Ajamang and they're like fighting for an
15:51
aerial pass. Beth Mead, not the tallest
15:53
player out there, but a ton of grit experience.
15:56
So what a ton of goals in the last Euro and was out there just
15:59
fighting and adding to the the, you know, total grit factor of
16:03
the team in the end. Yeah, no doubt it was.
16:06
I'm laughing because I, I was remembering Jackie Oatley
16:09
talking about England needs Subs, but who do you take off?
16:11
You know, they got all these players and Lori Lindsey's like,
16:13
well, you got Chloe Kelly out there.
16:14
He's like, yeah, but who do you take off?
16:16
You know, and then they were kind of going to get into it.
16:18
And then Lori Lindsey's like, well, they're not scoring, so
16:21
you could take off any of them. I thought that was an
16:23
interesting. Yeah, I thought that was an
16:25
interesting point from Lori Lindsey, who was just like,
16:28
like, I guess she didn't want to say it, but like, I don't know,
16:31
whoever pick like she wasn't above taking Lauren James off
16:35
the field at that point. Very clearly.
16:36
I think, you know, double L was was right there.
16:39
Just like, this isn't working. Make some changes.
16:43
And Serena Wiegmann did not disappoint.
16:46
Yeah, yeah. That's that's the baggage of you
16:48
know those closer to the to what's happening with the
16:50
Lionesses because like how could you take Lauren hip hop.
16:53
How could you take Lauren J? You could go through pretty much
16:55
all the names on the list. Chloe Kelly though I'm glad you
16:58
brought her up. Obviously involved in in almost
17:00
everything good scoring wise. Also smashes her penalty kick is
17:04
sent shock waves through the through the stadium with that
17:06
finish. Had a nice little skippity
17:09
before that was like I didn't see that one he.
17:11
Was like it was a big hop. Yeah, he was changing her, her,
17:15
her delivery angle. I mean, it really was
17:17
disorienting. Must have been.
17:18
But she crushes it. And then a nice Arsenal moment
17:21
with Ajamang, Beth Mead and Chloe Kelly connecting on that
17:25
second goal. So it was very, very pumped for
17:27
that as an Arsenal fan. But yeah.
17:30
And then I want to talk about the, the penalty shootout real
17:32
quick because, well, I mentioned up top the Mary Earp's Hannah
17:36
Hampton situation where first half I'm like, Oh my God, like,
17:40
is this going to be one of those where it's like, oh man, like
17:43
we, we kind of pulled the Merrier's Hannah Hampton switch
17:46
maybe one tournament too early. I was really concerned about
17:49
that. But I thought Hannah Hampton all
17:51
the way down the stretch to the bloody nose to like, you know,
17:54
just fighting the, the, the save before half time.
17:57
She was immense today. And then in the penalty
18:00
shootout, you know, FOC has been the the, the keeper of the
18:03
tournament and she was great today, too.
18:06
And I thought Hampton kind of elevated up to that.
18:09
And what a cool moment when Fock actually has a shot to end it,
18:13
that ends it if she finishes it and it's just the two keepers
18:16
staring each other down. I was like, Oh my God, like the
18:19
drama. The drama was like, I couldn't
18:22
take it. I, I let out three or four just
18:24
audible screams in my during that PK during that penalty
18:27
shootout. Yeah, I mean, we've talked about
18:28
Jennifer Faulk a lot and I think one of the things that we've
18:32
always agreed on is that any given week, any given match day,
18:35
she could be the best keeper in that tournament, whether it's a
18:38
Champions League or whether it's an international tournament like
18:41
this. And she was absolutely holding
18:44
up. I I thought it was, you know, I
18:45
did think it was strange, like I had to go back and like look at
18:49
the line up, like in real time. When she stepped up to take the
18:53
5th, I was just like, whoa, wait a minute, like who else is there
18:56
now? Like Sophia Jakobsen was there,
18:58
but then she got hers, you know, blocked by Hampton pretty
19:02
easily. But I was like kind of looking
19:03
through the field players, like, I guess we're going to the
19:06
keeper here. And it goes to show what Alyssa
19:10
Nair was able to do in like the She Believes Cup and and the
19:13
Women's Gold Cup. Not an easy feat.
19:16
Alyssa Nair made it look a hell of a lot easier than it really
19:19
is, apparently. Yeah, no doubt.
19:21
And I think, yeah, no, Sweden had two penalty kicks after Fox
19:25
kick missed both of those. So they didn't have anything
19:28
cooking after. And then, you know, you talked
19:30
about the Subs with Serena Wiegmann.
19:32
Hard not to look at pulling Cena Blaxenius in the 117th.
19:38
I mean, got to imagine that she might have been able to take a
19:41
crack at one of those penalty kicks.
19:43
If she could, she could have just laid on the grass for 3-4
19:45
more minutes. I don't think she would have
19:47
made a difference defensively. And nobody was scoring.
19:50
I, I just, I cannot wait until football just moves to 90
19:54
minutes and then we go to PKS. Don't get me started.
19:56
We'll talk about that one later. But I thought the right team won
19:58
only because, as mentioned, I thought Sweden had so many, so
20:02
many chances just end the game like they were so, so close.
20:07
But you know, that's the heart of a champion type stuff that
20:10
that people talk about. Yeah, I mean, England made it a
20:14
lot closer toward the end. I mean, there were some more
20:17
dicey moments to your point about Sweden having their
20:19
chances. There were some more dicey
20:21
moments in the extra time period where I was like, you know, in
20:23
my notes, I I just have Sweden is racking up a lot of set piece
20:28
opportunities here. And you know, once they brought
20:31
on Lena Hertig, which is a player, you probably could make
20:33
an argument, maybe should have taken that PK before Falk took
20:36
it. But you know, her Tig had some
20:39
had some opportunities in those extra time periods on set pieces
20:42
and just crosses into the box. I thought England was really
20:45
playing with fire, but in good position and and making sure
20:48
they were marked up with everybody.
20:49
So I don't know, I think you can make the I think you could also
20:53
make the argument that that Sweden, especially in over the
20:56
course of the 90, probably looks like the better side.
20:59
But I think it's it's fair that that the right team ended up
21:03
winning in the end. I think that's I think that's a
21:05
good, that's a good call about you.
21:07
Yeah, I mean, you know, you, you can look at the stats total coin
21:09
flip like, you know, the shots, 18 to 14 touches in the
21:12
opponent's box, 3532 shots on target.
21:15
Sweden actually has advantage 7 to 4 XG, 2.5 to 2.04.
21:19
So everything was kind of like within range.
21:21
But I thought England was a little bit better, definitely a
21:24
little bit deeper. They were able to bring in just
21:26
more experience and just more firepower.
21:28
You know, I think watching Sweden bring in Smila Homburg
21:32
late, she was just involved in a bunch of stuff, good and bad,
21:35
but it's like that's an 18 year old player, like, you know,
21:38
going right at Chloe Kelly and going right at some of these
21:41
like prime prime players and and trying to hold up.
21:46
And then England obviously able to bring in that, you know,
21:48
different, different level of contributor down the stretch.
21:52
But but Ajaman, obviously a young player too, but and
21:54
obviously comes through in a huge way.
21:56
But I want to shift gears a little bit.
21:59
We've got our first semi final match up, England versus Italia.
22:04
I know it's early. Do you have any, Do you have any
22:07
takes or do you are you carving out any real estate?
22:09
I think it's going to be very interesting to see what Wiegmann
22:12
does with the back four. My money is on going unchanged
22:16
because that seems to be her go to in these in these
22:21
tournaments. You know, like I always say
22:24
Wilso Twitter or worth Wilso blue sky at this point can be
22:28
pretty unforgiving sometimes and I think there were some calls
22:31
for hey, Esme Morgan looks pretty good out there and just
22:35
Carter was having a real rough go of it and in the in the first
22:38
half particularly. So I'll be interested to see
22:41
that. I think I think I'd place my my
22:43
bet on the lineup staying the same.
22:45
But if we're going to have these like kind of games where
22:51
England's midfield looks like world beaters versus Netherlands
22:56
and then doesn't look as good versus Sweden does does the
23:01
switch get flipped again? Because Italy has some good
23:03
midfielder midfielders as well. So I'll be really interested to
23:07
see how Stanway and Walsh play and if Carter gets gets written
23:12
in the line of card again. Yeah, I'd, I'd be surprised to
23:15
see Carter there just because those attackers have a little
23:19
speed and a little bit, you know, the footwork is a little
23:22
quicker I think than Sweden, Sweden a little bit more
23:24
straight ahead, you know, type with their approach.
23:26
But I think Carter would be the only change that I would expect
23:29
to see. And then maybe SMA Morgan maybe
23:32
getting some minutes. There was a little test run for
23:34
that, but should be a real banger.
23:36
Good clash of styles too, I think.
23:38
England, you know, defensively you, you know, not not the
23:42
juggernaut that that we've been waiting for, but offensively, I
23:44
think we they can turn it on and you know, obviously, you know,
23:47
play special football and and Italy, we'll see what that
23:50
midfield, like you mentioned, and that more defensive style
23:53
and whether they're willing to bring, you know, whether they're
23:55
willing and enthusiastic about breaking and, and taking their
23:58
their chances or if they want to kind of stay cagey and try to
24:01
stay, you know, lower scoring. I think either way it should be
24:04
a really compelling matchup. And then we get potentially, I
24:08
don't get ahead of myself, but we could get either England
24:11
versus Spain in a World Cup rematch or England versus France
24:16
in a group stage rematch with a look chance for a little bit of
24:19
get back with either of those two.
24:20
So I think some some exciting football still have to be played
24:24
for England for sure here. No doubt.
24:25
And you know, if Germany pulls off the upset with their injury
24:29
woes, we could still it's still on the board for your final
24:32
prediction to come true, which is would be a rematch of the
24:35
2022, pardon me, 20/21/2020, but a 2021 Euro that was played in
24:42
2022 that I always screw up a rematch of that final, a rematch
24:47
of the final of the last Euro. That's what I'm trying to say is
24:50
England, Germany. So, you know, a lot of a lot of
24:53
opportunities for compelling storylines here.
24:55
Absolutely can't wait. All right man, quick episode
24:58
calendar. So as everybody knows, Next up,
25:01
Spain, Switzerland. That one happens Friday.
25:04
We'll be back Friday as well to cover that one.
25:06
Talk about what how many goals Spain won by and then, you know,
25:10
have a little fun with that. Maybe, you know, bid Switzerland
25:12
to do and then Saturday France versus Germany and then some
25:16
point later in the weekend we'll have our little semi final
25:19
preview where we'll look at England, Italy and that second
25:22
semi final match up. Get you fully ready for those
25:26
two big final four affairs. All right, man, Congrats again
25:31
and sorry again that your pick didn't come through, but it
25:35
happens. Anything else you want to hit
25:36
before we get out? Of here.
25:37
Never a doubt. No, no, nothing else.
25:40
I want to hit. I, I, I was full of confidence
25:43
the whole way. I don't remember making that
25:45
pick. I'm not sure what you're
25:46
referring to. England won.
25:48
That's all I'm happy about. So yeah, I feel, I feel pretty
25:52
fantastic about the result and I do, I do feel the the the World
25:57
Cup final rematch coming, time for some comeuppance.
26:02
Let's go. Love, love, love.
26:03
A little ice cold dish of comeuppance.
26:06
All right, man, There's been an episode of this channel.
26:08
Thank you, thank you, thank you for hanging out.
26:10
If you enjoyed the show or love us all as much as your boys do,
26:12
make sure you're kicking with us each and every single week.
26:14
Like subscribe, follow YouTube, Spotify up a podcast, wherever
26:16
like to watch or listen? Leave us a review over your
26:19
favorite podcast app, links to all of our socials except one in
26:22
the showness of this episode. And a big thank in my coast as
26:25
well. Mr. Grand and go for we did it.
26:28
We didn't do it. We got through.
26:31
We got eliminated. We're in the semifinals 11 hell
26:35
of a tournament and I'm just glad on the roller coaster that
26:38
is the Euro 2025. You and me buddy, were sitting
26:41
in the very front row just having all the thrills of of
26:45
that of said roller coaster ride.
26:46
So I appreciate you bro. Likewise, buddy, you know, if
26:50
you just put a bunch, a few down on the roulette wheel,
26:53
something's going to hit and you know, maybe you don't win as
26:56
much, but you could still feel pretty good about it.
26:59
So yeah, did did possibly I pick Spain to win the entire
27:02
tournament and take integrity could still be a thorn in my
27:05
side. Not important right now.
27:07
England won on to the semi final.
27:10
I'm looking forward to it. Thank you everybody for dropping
27:12
knowledge in the comments. As as always, we really
27:15
appreciate it and we will see you all next time.