Slovenia v Serbia: Euro 2024 – live | Euro 2024

78 min If this match stays like this, Slovenia will be pretty much through. They’re ranked 57 in the world, and I daresay those us not Slovenian will be missing one helluva par-eh.

76 min Further Slovenia changes, Verbic and Vipotnik for Sesko and Stojanovic.

75 min Tadic, a look of desperation in his eyes, drives towards the box and, 25 yards from goal, right of centre, Cerin hauls him down. Free-kick Serbia, Tadic looking for the back post but Milinkovic-Savic is up in the middle, his flick going behind off Stankovic. Goalkick says the ref, and this is a much better game now.

72 min Zivkovic crosses from the right and Mitrovic’s eyes bulge; he’s in front of his man and sweeps with the flight of the ball to arrange an equaliser. But Karnicnik is that man, and for these few minutes at least, he’s also him, extending a leg to divert the ball against the angle! This is what it’s all about, players experiencing the moments of their life, for better or for worse – for our delectation.

71 min A few seconds earlier Pien Meulensteen noted this game is now the tournament-leader for minutes spent at 0-0; not no more, and the Slovenia fans are absolutely avin it!

GOAL! Slovenia 1-0 Serbia (Karnicnik 69)

67 min Stojanovic breaks down the right but, like Ji-sung Park, he reminds me of a Kick Off 2 player, unable to change direction once running in a straight line. Meanwhile, Pavlovic leans on him just enough to send him flying, and the ref has no interest in the eventuating penalty howls.

65 min Breaking news! Here’s Accra legend DJ Knobs with the sounds of your summer/rainy season.

63 min Ch ch ch changes: for Slovenia, it’s Jon Gorenc Stankovic for Jan Mlakar and for Serbia, it’s Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Luka Jovic for Dusan Vlahovic and a less then gruntled Ssaa Lukic, who teaches the Allianz turf a lesson it’ll never forget.

61 min “Your argument that ‘the crucial difference now is that the big lads have feet” is spot on,” reckons Martin Wright. “Because talented kids are now swept up into high quality academies at a young age – crucially before they become ‘big lads’ – they are technically superior to the big lads of yesteryear who were used as battering rams at centre-back or centre-forward.”

I also think there’s just a greater emphasis on skills – I’d argue that, over the last two decades, the most influential men’s footballer isn’t him, or him, rather Ronaldinho. The game changed with him, though i meant to note in my earlier response that even in the 50s, it was the case that a good big lad was better than a good small lad, and if you don’t believe me, watch Duncan Edwards vids on YouTube. In fact do that anyway.

59 min The corner comes to nowt.

58 min Slovenia are sitting back now – maybe they’re asking for it, maybe they’re being smart. Meantime, a passage of play that shows this perfectly, Tadic skirting around the outside regardless of any defensive structure and cutting back … but missing Mitrovic, just. So Slovenia counter with Sesko who, from distance, tries the kind of outswinger that’s been so successful so far in this tournament, but Rajokovic tips it behind easily enough.

57 min Serbia win another corner and again, Tadic will swing in; this time, Oblak comes and just about flicks the ball clear.

56 min “I reckon the raising of the standard of national teams can be largely put down to the Nations League,” writes Jonny Bull. “There are plenty of other factors too, but teams of equal quality playing each other more frequently has resulted in more confident and better organised teams playing to win. It’s also meant teams have a better idea of where they stand, rather than major tournament qualification or the dubious Fifa rankings being the only available metrics.”

Hmmm, I wonder if we’d be seeing the results of that so soon. My guess would be that there are more brilliant players in the world than ever before – loads more.

54 min Stojaniovic megs Lukic, who stands his ground, the ref appraising a bodycheck not an innocent coming together; out comes the yellow card.

52 min The more Serbia attack, the more likely they are to leave gaps at the back for Sesko, and when Sporar wins possession, a slotted pass might’ve sent him through. But the defender, Cerin I think, does enough to hold him up and the ref calls back the play dfor a Slovenian free-kick which comes to nowt.

50 min This is good from Serbia now, the initial corner cleared before Tadic slings over another cross, and this time Mitrovic is there! But again, he contorts into a diving, glancing effort but can’t make it do what he wants, this time the header going wide.

48 min First flash of Gacinovic, who swings in a nasty cross – one of those that needs on touch to go in but might also go in of its own accord … so Bijol takes a swipe and will be relived to see it slice wide.

48 min “Football goes through periods of valuing physicality above all else, says Kári Tulinius, “until some team figures out a different way to play. When Manchester United faced Guardiola’s Barcelona in 2009, the expectation was that the physically powerful English team would blow away the dainty Catalan side. The great Swedish team of the late 50s thought they could bully Brazil off the park in the World Cup final. The strapping Englishmen thought they could rush the Scottish professors of passing in the late 19th century. There are countless examples of this. Bigger is different, not better.”

I’m not sure about that – I was there in the United in 09 and I know I didn’t think that. Also, Guardiola, the high priest of the little lads, has recently realised athleticism helps – I doubt he reneges – and the crucial difference now is the big lads – your Bellinghams, your Rodris – have feet.

47 min Mitrovic wins a header and exchanges passes with Tadic! He’s in! But on the right side of the box, he doesn’t have many options to play with, and Oblak is on him so quickly all he can do is shoot into the keeper’s midriff. Serbia, though, remain in the ascendancy.

46 min We go again, Serbia bringing on Gacinovic for Mladenovic.

Back come wa teams.

Half-time email: “In defence of basketball,” says Des Stewart, “small people can play too. I know Spud Webb is unusual at 5ft 7ins in his bare feet but wow…”

Goodness me!

Half-time reading:

HALF-TIME: Slovenia 0-0 Serbia

45 min We’ll have one additional minute and Serbia have a corner, which they take short; Zivkovic then crosses, but at the back post, Mitrovic can’t get a head on it.

43 min Again, it’s take Srrbia half an hour to get going, but they’re starting to hum now, Lukic beating one man then swiping a shot from the edge, Oblak fisting clear easily enough.

42 min Here come Serbia down the right, Zivkovic crossing and Drkusic doing just enough to keep Vlahovic away from it in the middle then, at the back post, Mitrovic outmuscles Karncic but Oblak, right on top of him, smothers his shot

39 min “The longer this game goes on,” reckons Dean Kinsella, “the better England’s win over Serbia looks. And the tougher their up-coming game against Slovenia appears. Two very competent organised teams.”

Yup – I wonder if they less fancied teams are peaking now, whereas players who play in the “big” leagues and competed in the European knockouts are hanging on. I do, though, think England can be much better than they were because there’s a better team in that squad than the one Southgate’s found.

37 min But here come Slovenia! Elsnik plays an inadvertent one-two off a defender, collects the return-pass and sashays into the box. But the ball is running slightly across him, such that when he leathers it, though his connection is true, the touch of fade takes it crashing against the post! But it breaks to Sesko, who sets himself to curl into the top corner from 10 yards … but he can’t find sufficient draw, the effort flying wide! Those were two extremely presentable chances in the context of what we’ve seen so far.

36 min This is not a good game, but it’s not a terrible one either.

34 min That is, of course, a reflection on the miserable effort they made of rebuilding Wembley. what’s sad about the England portion of the tournament, though, is that St James’ Park aside, the grounds they’ve chosen are all new-builds, presumably because the authorities don’t realise people come to the game to experience intensity, not wifi.

33 min “With regard to travelling fans at Euros,” says John Brennan, “For the next one if (big IF) Ireland qualify, I’d like to see at least one of their games played in Manchester or Liverpool instead of all the games being played in Dublin. I think the novelty of being at a different venue increases the atmosphere whereas if all games are in Dublin, it becomes not that much different from a qualifier (epecially as Dublin will be pretty much an outpost and will likely see travelling fans just coming in for a day around games). It was much commented in Ireland how the Irish fans at Rugby World Cup in France made for a much different atmosphere than you would normally get at home games in Dublin.”

I agree. In 1966 they fiddled it so England played every game at Wembley and I’d not be surprised to see that happen again. But it’s not a ground conducive to atmosphere, and if they were to play elsewhere, we’d see something very different and a whole lot better.

31 min And his ball in’s a belter, spitting and curling into the danger zone and bouncing with Mitrovic peeling away from his wrestling match with Bijol to wave a head at it. but he can’t impart proper contact and the ball goes behind for a goalkick.

31 min Vlahovic is beginning to influence proceedings and helps Serbia win a corner down the right, Tadic to take will plenty of scuffling inside the box.

29 min ““Bug swutches’?” wonders Paul in Glesga. “I didn’t know Ally McCoist was from New Zealand…”

Trudat, they do like their chups there. I wonder if there’s a connection.

27 min Bit of Serbia possession, a nice ball into Vlahovic, well controlled, allowing them to build – again down the left. And they eventually work a crossing opportunity, wasted by Tadic, but when they go again, Mladenovic crosses towards the near-post area and Vlahovic, on the dive, acquaints brow with ball … but directs his header more or less straight at Oblak.

25 min Stojanovic stretches down the right, so Mladenovic trims his legs for him. Yellow card.

24 min “Although footballers (especially keepers and central defenders) are bigger than they were,” says Simon Sweetman, “most of this is in line with increases in height generally. What with that and the increased speed you might argue that the pitches are too small.”

I can buy that, but I also think we’re seeing improved technical ability in the big lads, which makes a difference. And while I don’t think pitches are too small, I remember watching Man City take Madrid apart last season – or is it the season before last now? – and with Rodri and Stones station on the edge of the box, I just couldn’t see a space through which Real could get out.

23 min The corner is again dreadful, and Rajkovic collects then clears.

22 min Slovenia move down the left but as soon as they attempt a difficult pass they give it away. No matter: Sesko regains possession almost immediately, forcing Pavlovic to scurry back and concede a corner.

20 min “I do hope that football isn’t going the way of other sports,” writes Richard O’Hagan. “At 6’”5 I’ve never had any interest in basketball, because there must be something fundamentally wrong with a game where I would be the short guy. It’ll be a very dull world if every contact sport only involves those who are a foot over average height and 50kgs over average weight.”

I dunno about that – sport is about the unequal distribution of physical resources, and the athleticism and skill we see in, say, basketball is amazing. But I do think a beauty of football is that is is less discriminatory in that aspect.

18 min Serbia’s build-up has, so far, been focused down the left. But to create space, they might try hutting bug swutches, as Ally McCoist might say, because so far they’re not managing to stretch their opponents.

17 min Serbia progress down the left, Tadic making a cunning run inside to accept possession in space. But when the ball comes into the box, Zivkovic is crowded out, and this has been pretty low-quality fare thus far.

15 min Hey, Daddy, I want an early goal. I want you to get me an early goal right away.

13 min So far, it’s Serbia who’ve had more of the ball but Slovenia who’ve threatened more, and a long ball pumped over the top causes further consternation Valjojovic just about seeing it back to Rajkovic, whose indecisiveness will not have gone unnoticed.