This past Sunday drew to a close of Euro 2024; Wimbledon and Copa America. Considering the teams and player that won the tournaments; it's not really a surprise. Spain, Carlos Alcaraz and Argentina all put in dominant performances in their path to glory.
Spain went through the whole tournament unbeaten. In the group stage, they were up against Croatia; Italy and Albania. They beat Croatia 3-0 and defeated both Italy and Albania by one goal margins (both 1-0 results). However, it wasn't on easy street for them. The Knockout stages was more of a bumpy ride.
Their Round of 16 tie was against Georgia. They came back from a 1-0 deficit to win 4-1. They were taken to the limit of extra time against the hosts in the quater-final. It was 1-1 at full-time. It took until the very last minute of regular extra time (119) for Mikel Merino to header home the winner. The end result was 2-1 to knock out Germany. With this result, it marked the end of Toni Kroos' career as he would retire from all football at the conclusion of the tournament.
It was another come-from-behind victory when they faced France in the semi-final. They fell behind due to a Randal Kolo Muani goal in the 9th minute. France held the lead for 12 minutes before Lamine Yamal scored the equaliser. The scores were level for a further 4 minutes when Dani Olmo scored what would be the winner. Spain held their nerve for another 65 minutes to win 2-1.
They went up against England in the final. England were in the Euro final for a second straight time. England fans were optimistic about the trophy finally, 'coming home.' It was all square at half-time - 0-0. Nico Williams would score the first goal two minutes into the second half. Cole Palmer would come off the bench to score the equaliser (73'). However, Mikel Oyarzabal would break English hearts by scoring the winner in the 86th minute. Spain would win 2-1.
Spain won a record 4th Euros tournament (1964; 2008; 2012 & 2024).
Team of the tournament
Mike Maignan
Kyle Walker
Manuel Akanji
William Saliba
Marc Cucurella
Dani Olmo
Rodri
Fabián Ruiz
Lamine Yamal
Jamal Musiala
Nico Williams
Awards
Player of the Tournament: Rodri
Top Goalscorer: Dani Olmo (3 goals & 2 assists)
Top assist provider: Lamine Yamal (4 assists)
Young Player of the Tournament: Lamine Yamal
Goal of the Tournament: Lamine Yamal
As of this writing (16 July), the only consequence of England losing is the resignation of manager, Gareth Southgate.
This was the tournament's third edition with a scheduled order of play on the first Sunday during the event, dubbed "Middle Sunday". Prior to the 2022 edition, the tournament had seen only four exceptions to the tradition of withholding competition on Middle Sunday to accommodate delayed matches during championships that were heavily disrupted by rain.
This was the first time since 1996 that neither of the Williams sisters appeared in this tournament.
The Gentlemen's singles event began on 1 July with the first of seven total rounds. Thirty-two players were seeded. Of those seeded players, eight were defeated in the first round, notably: no. 6 Andrey Rublev; no. 17, Félix Auger-Aliassime and no. 18, Sebastián Báez.
Hubert Hurkacz, Casper Ruud and Stefanos Tsitsipas were the highest of the eight seeded players to exit in the second round and a further three seeded players were defeated in the third round with them being no. 22 Alexander Bublik, no. 23, Alejandro Tabilo and no. 29, Frances Tiafoe. Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard became the first lucky loser* to reach the fourth round at Wimbledon since Dick Norman in 1995. Alexander Zverev, Grigor Dimitrov, Ben Shelton were the highest of the five seeded players who were defeated in the Round of 16.
Lucky loser: a player who is beaten in the qualifying rounds but who gets handed a lifeline into the main draw following the withdrawal of another player, typically due to illness or injury
In the quarter-finals, Fifth seed, Daniil Medvedev, defeated Number 1 seed, Jannik Sinner, in five sets to snap his five match losing streak against Sinner. Defending champion, Carlos Alcaraz, won his match against no. 12, Tommy Pauln in four sets after losing the opening set. Alex de Minaur withdrew from his quarterfinals match due to a hip injury. As a result of this, Novak Djokovic received a walkover into the semifinals. 25th seed Lorenzo Musetti reached his first ever career major semi-finals after winning against 13th seed Taylor Fritz. Their match marked the 37th five-set match at the tournament, the most at any edition of a major in the Open Era.
The first semi-final was played between fifth seed, Medvedev and third seed, Alcaraz. Medvedev won the first set in a tie-breaker but the Spaniard fought back and won the match in four sets and reached his second consecutive Wimbledon final. In the second semi-final, Djokovic defeated Musetti in straight sets to guarantee a rematch of the previous year's final.
In the final match, Alcaraz broke Djokovic’s serve twice (in the very first game of the match and in the 5th game), to take the set, 6–2, in his favour. The Third seed again broke Second seed's serve in the 1st and 7th game of the second set to win this too with the score line of 6–2. Djokovic made some recovery and continued to hold his serve until the 9th game of the third set when the Spaniard broke his serve and had the opportunity to serve for the match.
In the 10th game, Alcaraz at one point had three championship points, however, Djokovic saved all of them and ending up breaking the third seed's serve for the first time in the match. Both players held their next service games and forced the set to go to a tie-break. In the end, Carlos Alcaraz won the tie-breaker, 7–4 and won the set, match and the championship. It was his second Wimbledon title and fourth major title overall. He also became the sixth (and youngest) man in the Open Era to complete the Channel Slam.
While it's true that Argentina aren't Spain, their national language is Spanish. Thus, I believe that they belong in this post.
Just like Spain, Argentina had a dominant campaign. They went through the competition unbeaten. They were grouped with: Canada; Chile & Peru. They defeated Canada 2-0; Peru 2-0 and Chile 1-0.
Their road post the group stage wasn't as simple as the group stage. In the quater-final, Argentina had to go to penalties to beat Ecuador. The score after extra-time was 1-1. Argentina won 4-2 on penalties. Shockingly, Lionel Messi MISSED his one.
There was a group stage rematch with Canada in the semi-final. There wasn't a difference in result. It was an identical 2-0 victory. The only difference were the scorers. Julian Álvarez scored in both games while Lautaro Martinez scored in the group game while Messi scored in the semi-final.
Argentina faced Colombia in the final. It ended 0-0 at regulation time. It took a 112th minute goal by Lautaro Martinez to secure a back-to-back Copa Amerca title. This was Argentina's 4th straight title win.
Awards
Best Player Award: James Rodríguez
Golden Boot Award: Lautaro Martínez
Best Goalkeeper Award: Emiliano Martínez
Fair Play Award: Colombia
Everything went in Spain's favour on the 14th. It seems like the sporting Gods fancied Spain over England; Serbia and Colombia, respectively. I feel like all I can say is:
Felicidades! Spain & Argentina!