Euro 2024 knows the four best teams of the tournament after the quarter-final round. The semi-final pairings are as follows: Spain vs. France and Netherlands vs. England. The first of these will take place on Tuesday 9 July, while the second will be the following day, Wednesday 10 July.

The European Championship is in its final stages and the final in Berlin on 14 July is drawing ever closer. After a thrilling quarter-final, where it took up to three overtime of the four matches to decide the winners, we now know the names of the four teams that have qualified for the semi-finals of the tournament: Spain, France, England, and the Netherlands.

The semi-finals kick off on Tuesday 9 July with Spain v France and will conclude the following day, Wednesday 10 July, with Netherlands v England. The two winners will meet in Berlin next Sunday in search of the European crown.

Spain vs. France (Tuesday 9 July – 9 p.m. at the Munich Arena)

The first semi-final will face the Spanish national team and the French national team. Two sides called to lead world football will be looking to qualify for the final.

Spain have been showing their good play and their candidacy for the title throughout the tournament. After finishing top of their group, with a clean sweep of wins, and finishing off Georgia in the last 16, ‘La Roja’ faced the hosts in the quarter-finals.

Germany did not make it easy for them and pushed Luis de la Fuente’s side to the limit. It took extra time to decide the winner of the match. An extra time that was turned upside down by Mikel Merino with his header in the 119th minute, avoiding a penalty shoot-out and taking Spain to a repeat of the semi-finals of the previous edition.

Up against them will be a weakened but always dangerous France. The French have made it into the top four of the tournament, with a poor showing and serious problems at goal. They have scored just three goals so far in the competition: two own goals and one from the penalty spot.

Despite this, they got rid of Belgium in the last 16 and knocked out one of the favourites in the quarter-finals, Portugal, in an agonising penalty shootout after a 0-0 draw during the 120 minutes. As if that were not enough, their defence can be considered the best in the tournament. Without a doubt, the challenge is there for the taking.

Netherlands vs. England (Wednesday 10 July – 9 p.m. at the Westfalenstadion in Dortmund)

On the other side of the draw, the second semi-final will be between the Netherlands and England. The English side will also be in the same round as in the previous edition, but this time things are different.

Southgate’s national team continues to fail to demonstrate the strengths to which we have become accustomed. Despite topping their group, both in the last 16, where they eliminated Slovakia in extra time and in the quarter-finals against Switzerland, where they also needed extra time and even a penalty shoot-out, the English are still showing too many doubts, especially in defence.

There has been a slight improvement in play and in midfield, although against the Swiss there were again stretches of the game where the attacks were flat and without apparent danger. Their opponent for a place in the final will be the Netherlands. After the fiasco of the group stage, where the national team coached by Ronald Koeman could only finish third and showed many doubts, in the round of 16 they gave a blow to the table after resoundingly defeating Romania.

However, in the quarter-finals, the Dutch had to dig deep and turn the score around, as they started from behind against a Turkey side that came out of the blocks and were ready to put up a fight. However, Turkey’s sluggish defence made it possible for the Oranje to come from behind and reach the semi-finals for the sixth time in their history.

.

READ ALSO:

Bayern Munich to join race to sign Athletic star Nico Williams and here is why

.

SKB Journal appreciate you a lot for reading!  If you enjoyed this piece by Samuel Kwame Boadu, kindly hit the share button and help others to also see it. You can also like our Facebook page, so you know when we make new posts or Click to JOIN our Telegram Channel where we post JOBS + TIPS