England star who ‘won’t play again’ features in worst Euro 2024 XI with Arsenal daddy’s boy
A shock inclusion from France, an Arsenal daddyās boy and an England star who āwonāt play againā all feature in the worst XI of the Euro 2024 group stage.
Weāve limited it to players from teams that have qualified for the last 16 to avoid an XI of Scots and Czechs, and they must also have featured for at least 100 minutes. This is entirely based on WhoScored ratings, so direct your anger at them. Actually donāt, we love those guys.
Hereās our team of the tournament so far if youāre feeling more positive.
GK: Diogo Costa (Portugal)
Protected by a Ā£63m release clause but thatās not stopped multiple Premier League clubs, including Newcastle, Chelsea and Manchester United, from being linked with the error-prone Porto goalkeeper. No huge mistakes in Germany, but heās conceded from three of the seven shots on target heās faced and hasnāt stopped any of the 23 crosses to have come into his box.
RB: Silvan Widmer (Switzerland)
The Mainz captain started all three group games and now has 46 games for his country, but is out of their last-16 clash with Italy having picked up yellow cards against Hungary and Germany, which also cost him in the WhoScored ratings.
CB: Max Wober (Austria)
Took his own goal beautifully, stooping to head into his own net to give France their 1-0 win, was dropped for the victory over Poland, then returned to the starting line-up as Austria conceded two against the Dutch. Austria have been brilliant, but they may well miss David Alaba in the knockouts.
CB: Abdulkerim Bardakci (Turkey)
Suspended for the last group game but will come back in for Austria as fellow centre-back Samet Akaydin picked up his second caution of the tournament in the mass brawl against Czechia that saw the referee brandish a ludicrous 16 yellows and two reds. Hakan Calhanogluās absence from the last-16 clash will likely prove more detrimental.
LB: Victor Kristiansen (Denmark)
Very much in the running for most assists at Euro 2024 on one ā with Orkun Kokcu, Dennis Man and Remo Freuler leading the way on two ā after his five-yard pass to Morten Hjulmand for his screamer against England. But the Bologna wing-back was dropped after that game following his comical lack of awareness of Kyle Walker in the lead up to Harry Kaneās opener.
CM: Conor Gallagher (England)
The Chelsea man has every right to be thoroughly peeved with Gareth Southgate, who hung him out to dry against Slovenia, playing him in an ill-suited role no-one believed he would succeed in before taking him off at half-time. He was terrible though and āwonāt play againā.
CM: Davide Frattesi (Italy)
The worst of the lot with a score of 6.05, the Inter midfielder was particularly ineffective off the bench against Croatia, completing just 17 passes in 45 minutes as Luciano Spalletti struggles to find a suitable third midfielder along with Nicolo Barella and Jorginho.
AM: Antoine Griezmann (France)
The man widely considered to be Franceās most important player, an undisputed legend who is usually the best on the pitch whether heās playing in central midfield or as a striker has been a bit pants so far, which goes a long way to explaining why France have been a bit pants too. Wisely rested from the start against Poland by Didier Deschamps, we fully expect Griezmann to hit his stride with his compatriots in the knockouts.
MORE EURO 2024 COVERAGE ON F365
š Englandās defence, France being good, Georgia ā five things we got wrong about Euro 2024
š Ranking Premier League teams by player performance in Euro 2024 group stage
š Why Spain cannot hope to win Euro 2024 as England wisely stumble through their group
RW: Leandro Trossard (Belgium)
Daddy wasnāt happy after his lad was dropped for Belgiumās clash with Romania, insistingĀ Domenico Tedesco is ānot a good coachā before the Belgium boss reinstated Trossard to the starting line-up against Ukraine. The Arsenal star repaid the faith shown in him by being almost entirely anonymous.
LW: Rafael Leao (Portugal)
Linked with Ā£100m moves to the Premier League and elsewhere for at least the last couple of seasons, and for good reason on the back of his performances for AC Milan. Leaoās never quite replicated his club form for his country though and is yet to come to the party at Euro 2024, registering two shots with neither on target, making one key pass and completing just one of his seven dribbles.
ST: Mateo Retegui (Italy)
Hardly a prolific striker but then thatās a problem for Italy in general. Heās had three shots, all of them blocked.
