Author: RevSportz Comment

RevSportz Comment The holders’ curse may have struck again, but in every other respect, it’s business as usual as Euro 2024 reaches its climactic stages. Italy, the defending champions, are out, and there were famous upset victories for the likes of Georgia and Slovakia, but there are no huge surprises in the line-up for the last eight. Some may view Turkey as a shock quarterfinalist, especially after they endured a 6-1 thrashing in Vienna last March, but the same core of players had also beaten Germany 3-2 in Berlin last November. After the generation that put Turkish football on the…

RevSportz Comment The likes of Paul Van Himst and Eric Gerets could be forgiven a snigger or two as Belgium’s so-called ‘golden generation’ of footballers head home for the final time from a major tournament. It’s hard to think of a more overhyped bunch, whose achievements were so far removed from what was promised. When all is said and done, the record books will show a World Cup semi-final appearance (2018), a quarter-final in Brazil four years earlier, and two last-eight finishes at the Euros (2016 and 2020). If this was El Dorado, Belgium found mere slivers of gold rather…

Speaking about his wonder goal after the game, Jude Bellingham appeared to be pleasantly divorced from reality. “You’re 30 seconds from going home and having to listen to all the rubbish and feeling like you’ve let people down,” he said. “Playing for England should be the most proud moment of your career but often it’s quite difficult. There’s a really high intense pressure. The fans expect a lot from us regardless of what happened in recent tournaments.” Presumably, by ‘rubbish’, he meant the avalanche of criticism that has greeted England’s displays in Germany. If the opening-round games were poor, the…

A controversial handball call was the pivotal moment in an engrossing Germany-Denmark encounter in the round of 16 at Euro 2024. In what was a rematch of the 1992 final that the Danes – last-minute replacements for the banned Yugoslavia – famously won 2-0, the result was reversed, with the hosts progressing to a quarter-final against either Spain or Georgia. But Joachim Anderson, in particular, will argue long and hard about the VAR-influenced decision that helped give Germany the lead. The other main talking point was a massive storm that stopped play for nearly half an hour with 35 minutes…

It was a freeze frame that said more than a thousand words ever could. As a teary-eyed Virat Kohli embraced Rahul Dravid and buried his face on the coach’s shoulder, you could glimpse Yashasvi Jaiswal looking on in the background. Jaiswal, touted as Indian cricket’s future just a few months ago, didn’t play a game in this tournament. Yet, he wasn’t glowering or sulking. Instead, he was beaming as he looked at the picture in front of him. It was the expression of a young man soaking in the moment, fully aware that his time would come. This is the…

English football has undoubtedly seen darker days – from the hooligan menace in the 1980s to Iceland beating them 2-1 at Euro 2016. The only consolation was that defeat, with Roy Hodgson as coach, did inspire the most iconic bit of 21st century sports commentary. “We’re never going home!” yelled Guðmundur Benediktsson. “Just look at this! Such things have never been seen! I can’t believe my own eyes! This is … Never wake me up! Never wake me up from this insane dream!” After eight largely successful years under Gareth Southgate, it’s now England that are finding dreams turning into…

RevSportz Comment On the surface, Euro 2024 has been far removed from seismic shocks. With the exception of Croatia, whose golden generation has been in slow decline for a while now, all the heavyweight sides have negotiated a safe passage into the round of 16. Germany, Spain, England and Portugal topped their groups as expected. France were second in theirs without losing a game, and Belgium missed out on top spot to Romania only on goals scored. Scratch beneath the surface, though, and things were nothing like as straightforward. Without an injury-time goal from Niclas Fullkrug, Germany would have finished…

In a tournament that has seen some sparkling, attacking football from the likes of Germany, Spain and Portugal, Group C was a bit of an eyesore. The dour 0-0 draw between Denmark and Serbia that sent the Danes through to a second-round clash with Germany was in keeping with previous offerings in a group that saw five draws in six games. Serbia, with Novak Djokovic watching from the stands, huffed and puffed and are now on their way home. An incident in the 83rd minute encapsulated their tournament. After Denmark failed to clear their lines, Dusan Tadic, the veteran who…

RevSportz Comment It’s 278km due north, as the crow flies, from the Queens Park Oval in Port of Spain to the Daren Sammy Stadium in Arnos Vale in St Lucia. A generation ago, in a rain-affected match in Trinidad’s capital, Bangladesh served notice that they could be cricket’s new force by knocking India out of the 2007 World Cup. But 17 years later, it was Afghanistan in the spotlight, with a thrilling win over Bangladesh that eliminated Australia and sent them into the ICC T20 World Cup semi-finals. There was a certain pathos in seeing Shakib Al Hasan dismissed first…

RevSportz Comment While he continues to have a legion of admirers, there are many, even within the confines of the Lord’s Long Room, who consider that Mike Brearley was exceedingly lucky to have played 39 Tests and 25 ODIs for England. Brearley averaged less than 23 in Tests, and his ODI strike-rate was 45.53. It’s safe to say that if not for his ‘degree in people’, which allowed him to lead in all but eight of those Tests, someone of such modest ability wouldn’t have played for England more than half a decade. But if the Brearley phenomenon can be…