What was sexy, and what wasn’t, in the the European Championship quarter-finals…
HOT
Sam Vokes
Every member of the Wales team that vanquished Belgium
could be singled out for praise, but few players sum up the
ridiculousness of the Dragons’ success better than the Burnley man. A
prolific Championship-level centre-forward, Vokes is a player who has
been perennially damned by his inability to cut it at the top level. A
striker with a strike rate of 1 in 7 for his country, a man who has
played 26 Premier League games without ever scoring a goal. But there
was nothing second-rate about his majestic match-sealing header in
Lille, as he outjumped Toby Alderweireld and nodded past Thibaut Courtois to send Chris Coleman’s side into the semi-finals.
Crystal Palace
Few
could have predicted that the Premier League team with the most players
left at the semi-final stage of Euro 2016 would be the Eagles, who have
five men still standing in France. Admittedly, one of them has barely played for France (Yohan Cabaye), another one has never played for Crystal Palace (Steve Mandanda)
and the other three are Welsh (Hennessey, Ledley, Williams). But it’s
still a great achievement for the south London club, although we’re not
sure if it says more about the brilliance of Palace, the failings of the
so-called “best league in the world” or the weirdness of these Euros.
Renato Sanches
Most major tournaments mark the arrival of a young player who will go on to become a major star, although the 18-year-old Portugal midfielder had already spoiled that surprise somewhat when he signed for Bayern Munich
for a potential £67m before the Euros had even started. Nevertheless,
the Germans will be feeling pleased with their investment so far,
because the teenager has been his country’s best player in France.
Meanwhile, Cristiano Ronaldo has spent most of his time missing penalties, hitting air-shots and throwing up his arms in frustration whenever Nani doesn’t pass to him.
NOT
Simone Zaza
If the Italy
striker thought we may have forgotten about his atrocious spot-kick
amid all the other atrocious spot-kicks that were taken during his
side’s hilariously incompetent shootout with Germany,
he thought wrong. Because of all the penalties taken, and despite some
incredibly stiff competition, Zaza’s was the worst. This is partly
because the tattooed 24-year-old was only on the pitch for his
penalty-taking prowess, having replaced Giorgio Chiellini
two seconds before the end of extra time so that he could help the
Azzuri win the shootout. He literally had one job. “I did send Manuel Neuer
the wrong way, but unfortunately the ball went too high,” Zaza
summarised afterwards with a commendable sense of understatement.
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