GERMANY 2-1 CROATIA CZECH REPUBLIC 1-0 PORTUGAL
STORY OF THE DAY Berti Vogts’ Germany reach the semi-finals by dispatching Croatia, who can only blame themselves. First, Nikola Jerkan stops a Matthias Sammer surge with a gormless handball, which enables Jurgen Klinsmann to gleefully gobble up the penalty. Then, after some Davor Suker magic draws Croatia level, Igor Stimac gives himself first go of the soap and, three minutes later, Sammer slams Germany into a lead they never lose.
Villa Park hosts the tournament’s remaining outsiders in a tense teatime tete-a-tete. It isn’t a thriller, despite – or because of – eight yellow cards and a red, but it is decided by a goal of exquisite beauty. Karel Poborsky spends the rest of his life answering questions about his scoop: taken from 17 yards out, its parabola reaching a zenith of roughly 17 feet. On their tournament debut, the Czechs are through to a semi-final against France, although that’s not the one the English media is fixated upon. THE GOOD The goals. Poborsky’s is a clip-reel staple, and deservedly so, but in its own way Suker’s effort is just as good. Bearing down on Andreas Kopke, the striker caresses the ball left of Germany’s goalkeeper with the insouciance of a festival-goer licking a suspicious roll-up. While Kopke is left skidding on his arse across the Old Trafford pitch, knowing he’s about to concede his first goal of the finals, Suker tucks the ball home with a right foot he usually uses just for standing on.
THE BAD Croatia’s crudeness makes for an entertainingly narky game, but it overshadows their talent. Slaven Bilic gets away with kicking out at a prone Christian Ziege, Stimac’s second yellow card is for a daft challenge on Mehmet Scholl, and by full-time there are more hacks than a lunchtime Fleet Street boozer. All of this devilish indiscipline overpowers their angelic ability: across the entire tournament, Zvonimir Boban and Robert Prosinecki (dropped for this encounter, as is Alen Boksic) are disappointing. THEY SAID WHAT?! “Thom Yorke looks like he could play for the Czech Republic. You can imagine the team photo – he’d be at the back on the right, and you wouldn’t be able to work out where he was looking” – Robert Smith of The Cure, a QPR fan, likens Radiohead’s singer to a Bohemian winger.
THE MEDIA “Our football team finally gets the chance to do what our politicians are too scared to: stuff it right up Europe!” – The Sun.
“Why are the English the only people in the world who still claim that the ball crossed the line in the 1966 final?” – German tabloid Bild. IN OTHER NEWS... It’s ta-ta to Tutu as the anti-apartheid activist archbishop, Desmond, retires to focus on chairing South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.