Madness 🤪 in the FA Cup (and Turkiye👮) + Euro Friendlies ❤️ | GOAT Report

Hey there MVP,

We can’t start anywhere but Manchester. What a game that was. 🤯 

Another 7 goals in a Man United-Liverpool game, but this time the goals were shared between both teams and it was United who took the win in an FA Cup ¼ final that will go down in the history books. 💥 

The 4-3 win means United have ended Liverpool’s hopes of winning a quadruple in Klopp’s final season🥹. If United get past Coventry City in the semis, they will play either Chelsea or Man City —it could be a repeat of last year’s FA Cup final with United playing to stop City winning a treble. Let’s see. 🫢 

This week there’s an international break so most league competitions are on hold. ⛱️ Usually we don’t pay much attention to international friendlies but with the Euros kicking off in June, we’re previewing two of the more interesting games - at least, they should be interesting. 

We’ve also got the big stories from around the world of football, some random football nostalgia, and our goal of the week.

–Don’t miss these games

Netherlands vs Scotland | Friday | 19:45 GMT

If you think of countries that punch well above their weight at international competitions, the Netherlands have always been up there. Croatia is another one.

Despite having a much smaller population than other European rivals, the Dutch always seem to churn out large numbers of technical attacking players as well as tough and quick defenders. ✨ 

Add in some smart coaching that’s based in an attacking football philosophy, and the result is a national team that always puts up a good fight on the big stage —the ¼ final match against Argentina in the 2022 World Cup being the most recent example. 

Scotland is also a small nation in terms of population, but the culture is definitely football daft. Despite producing some of the biggest names in British football — Ferguson, Dalglish, Law, Strachan, Souness, Bremner, Johnstone, McNiell — Scotland don’t have much of a pedigree in international competitions.

For Scotland, qualifying for international tournaments has become the achievement, let-alone progressing out of the group stage. With Scotland drawn in the same group as host nation Germany, the tartan army certainly have some serious partying to look forward to.

Form

After taking over from Louis van Gaal in 2023, Ronald Koeman has led the Netherlands through a pretty solid Euro 2024 qualification stage. The Oranje won 6 of their 8 qualifiers, including home and away wins over Ireland, to finish 2nd in Group B behind France.

Whilst the games against Ireland were tight affairs, the Dutch cruised in the games against Greece and Gibraltar. The games against France went differently, with the Dutch losing 4-0 away, and 2-1 at home.  

In  amongst their Euros qualifiers the Netherlands came 4th in the Nations League. They lost 4-2 against Croatia in the semis, and then lost 3-2 against Italy in the 3rd-place playoff. 

Scotland have experienced a resurgence under the management of Steve Clark. After a barren period, Clarke’s Scotland qualified for Euro 2020, marking the first time Scotland had qualified for an international tournament since the 1998 World Cup. 

Clarke prioritises strong defensive cohesion and work rate with the attacking focus coming from quick transitions and well thought-out set pieces. After failing to qualify for the 2022 World Cup, some good performances in the Nations League, including a 2-1 win over Ireland, helped this Scotland squad rebuild a sense of belief and unity. 

In qualifying for Euro 2024, Scotland won their first five qualifiers, including an unexpected 2-0 home win over Spain and a 2-1 away win over Norway. With qualification all but secured, nerves seemed to set in and the team went on to lose 2-0 to Spain before drawing their final qualifiers against Georgia and Norway.  

Team News

Club teams are never keen on star players going away for international friendlies mid-season, but both managers have named reasonably strong squads for these friendlies. After all, these games are the last time that national teams have the chance to play together before the tournament kicks off in June.

With Ajax struggling in the Eredivisie, Koeman is missing wingers Berghuis and Bergwijn. Al Ettifaq midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum has been brought back into the squad after 12 months out. Atletico Madrid forward Memphis Depay is also due to play. With 44 international goals, Depay is the Netherlands’ 2nd top goalscorer and will likely be selfish in front of goal as he chases down Robin van Persie’s tally of 50 goals. Keep an eye out for Feyenoord midfielder, Quinten Timber, who could make his debut for the national team. 

Other than the injured Celtic captain Callum McGregor and Rangers midfielder Ryan Jack, Steve Clarke has most of his starters to choose from. Experienced defenders, Kieran Tierney and Andy Robertson, are back from injury and goalscoring midfielders John McGinn and Scott McTominay are both fit. 

France vs Germany | Saturday | 20:00 GMT

Europe’s historic rivals both on and off the football pitch, France versus Germany is always worth a watch. 

The current World and European champions are once again favourites to win this year’s Euros whilst Germany have been going through a bit of a rocky period.  Germany’s failure to make it out of their World Cup group —they finished 3rd behind Japan and Spain— led to the sacking of Hansi Flick and appointment of Julian Nagelsmann as manager. 

France on the other hand are making the most of their golden era. Manager Didier Deschamps has a ridiculous squad to choose from. It’s been said many times before, but France have at least two top players for each position on the pitch. In front of a powerful midfield, France have a superstar in Kylian Mbappe, who has proved with his performances in the Champions League and World Cup that he is a big-game player. 

Form

France finished top of their group with 22 points from a possible 24, with the only hiccup being a 2-2 draw against Greece.

They won home and away against Ireland and the Netherlands and scored 17 goals over two games against Gibraltar. 

Interestingly, whilst their performances in the qualifiers were flawless, France were beaten 2-1 by Germany in a friendly in September 2023. The game took place in the wake of Germany’s disastrous World Cup campaign and not long after Hansi Flick was sacked. As such, the German team were playing as if they had a point to prove to the fans and any new manager. 

As hosts of the tournament, Germany earned automatic qualification for Euro 2024 so didn;t play any qualifying games. However, since that victory over France back in September 2023,  Germany have played four games resulting in; one win, one draw and two losses. The win came against the USA, whilst the draw was against Mexico. Although the losses didn’t really mean anything on paper, they came against rivals Austria (2-0) and Turkiye (3-2), so these games definitely meant something to the players and fans.  

Team News

Other than Kingsley Coman and Christopher Nkunku who are both nursing muscle injuries, Didier Deschamps’ squad is at full strength. Paris Saint-Germain youngster Warren Zaïre-Emery is expected to get a start in midfield for France. All of France’s forwards are fit,  and whoever starts out of Griezmann, Mbappe, or Giroud will be confident of scoring against a Germany team that hasn’t kept a clean sheet in 10 games.

Having overseen a mixed bag of results, it seems that Germany manager Julian Nagelsmann is still trying to figure out his best eleven. Stuttgart striker Deniz Undav and Bayern Munich midfielder Aleksandar Pavlović have both been called up and, although he retired from international football back in 2021, Nagelsmann has persuaded Toni Kroos to come back into the national team setup. Bayern’s star youngster Jamal Musiala is in the squad as is goalkeeper Manuel Neuer who is back from injury. The only notable absence is Leroy Sané who is suspended.

–This week’s shocker 🙀  

Amad Diallo was sent off, 🟥 , for a 2nd ‘bookable‘ offence after taking his shirt off in celebration of his 121st minute winner against Liverpool. 

What even is the point of the yellow card for taking a shirt off in celebration?

Most of us at Goat Report HQ think the rule exists because of the influence of sponsors, i.e. removing the shirt reduces the exposure that club sponsors get at the crucial moment when all eyes and the cameras are on the scorer. 

Unsurprisingly this depressing rule comes from FIFA, and has been adopted by most major football associations including the English FA. 

According to the FA Rules and Laws of the Game ⚽️ 

A player must be cautioned, 🟨, even if the goal is disallowed, for:

• climbing onto a perimeter fence and/or approaching the spectators in a manner which causes safety and/or security issues

• gesturing or acting in a provocative, derisory or inflammatory way

• covering the head or face with a mask or other similar item

• removing the shirt or covering the head with the shirt

–Around the world 

🇫🇷 Kylian Mbappe scored a hat trick in PSG’s 6-2 win over Montpellier. The second goal was a peach, and this was Mbappe’s 9th Ligue 1 hat trick and his 37th goal in 38 appearances this season. 🤯 

🇹🇷 Crazy scenes in Turkiye when Trabzonspor fans ran onto the pitch and attacked Fenerbahçe players. Trabzonspor fans were engaged after their team lost to an 88th minute goal from Michy Batshuayi. 🚨 

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Spurs lost 3-0 at Fulham and dented their hopes of finishing in the top 4. The result made good reading for Manchester United fans, who were also be pleased to see that Aston Villa drew with West Ham. 🥹 

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Celtic went top of the Scottish Premiership after a 3-1 win over St Johnstone. Second-place Rangers are 1 point behind with a game in hand. 🫡 

🇩🇪 Harry Kane scored his 31st goal and broke Uwe Seeler's record for most goals scored in a debut season. The record had stood since the 1963/64 Bundesliga season. It’s not all good for Kane though, he went off injured after twisting his ankle, plus, Leverkusen are 10 points clear. 🏅 

🇪🇸Barcelona beat Atletico Madrid 3-0, with a goal from Jaoa Felix who is on-loan at Barca from Atletico. The other goals came from Lewandowski and youngster Fermín López. 😆 

🇪🇺 Nike have followed Adidas by releasing the national team shirt designs for the Euros. Home and away shirts have been released for England, Wales, Scotland, Germany, Spain, and Belgium among others. 👕 

🇸🇦Jordan Henderson has broken his silence on quitting Al-Ettifaq after just 6 months, saying the move to the Saudi Pro League was a ‘mistake’.  

–Other games to keep an eye on

Wales vs Finland | Thursday | 19:45 GMT

Wales still have a chance of qualifying for Euro 2024, if they can beat Finland in this play-off semi-final.

Poland vs Estonia | Thursday | 19:45 GMT

Robert Lewandowski is a striker that we always have time for and this play-off semi-final game against Estonia is made for him. The winners of this one will play either Wales or Finland.  

Portugal vs Sweden | Thursday | 19:45 GMT

In days gone by this game has been the Ronaldo vs Ibrahimovic show. This friendly will be a chance to assess just how good Portugal are after they qualified for Euro 2024 with a perfect record , 8 wins from 8 games.

Romania vs N. Ireland | Friday | 19:45 GMT

Romania are in good form having won 4 out of their last 5 on their way to securing qualification for Euro 2024. Northern Ireland beat Denmark last time out, but had a miserable Euro 2024 qualifying campaign that included a 1-0 loss to Kazakhstan, a team ranked 100th in the world.

Argentina vs El Salvador | Saturday | 00:30 GMT

The current South American and world champions are playing their international friendlies in the US after their China tour was cancelled over Messi pulling out of an exhibition game in Hong Kong back in February. Messi might the match  against El Salvador due to a hamstring strain.   

Ireland vs Belgium | Saturday | 17:00 GMT

The less we speak about Ireland’s Euro 2024 qualification campaign the better, but the game against Belgium is a chance to put on a display at the Aviva Stadium. 

England vs Brazil | Saturday | 19:00 GMT

After reaching the final of the Euros in 2020 and then the ¼ finals of the World Cup in 2022, England are joint favourites to win this year's Euros. 

Ecuador vs Italy | Sunday | 20:00 GMT

Ecuador and Italy will play their friendly in the USA. After winning the Euro 2020 on penalties, an inconsistent Italy qualified for the Euro 2024 on goal difference.

–GOAT Trivia

Say congrats to….

Diogo Dalot [@DalotDiogo]. The Portuguese right back turns 25 today. 🎂 🥳 

On this day in football…

On 18th March 1900, AFC Ajax was founded. 🎂 The Amsterdam club have produced legends of the game like Johan Cruyff ⭐️ and are one of only three clubs that have won the European Cup/Champions League three times in a row. 

Goal of the week

Check out Mbappe’s technique for this goal. This was his 2nd of a hat trick of goals he scored against Montpellier. 💯 💫 🔥 

Classic game

With France and Germany playing this week, we’re looking back to a classic game from the 1982 World Cup. 

The semi-final between France and West Germany is known as ‘the Seville Thriller’. And for good reason. This match had it all: Goals, iconic/crazy fouls (Schumacher on Battiston) and an epic penalty shootout.

Enjoy these classic highlights!