Although England qualified for the final of the European Championship on Wednesday evening, the team is not full of quality, according to Marciano Vink. In the program European Football Talk from ESPN the analyst criticizes the players England has in the ashes of the field. According to Vink, the two central defenders and the two controlling midfielders would have difficulty getting into the starting line-up at clubs such as Ajax or PSV.
John Stones and Harry Maguire at the heart of the defense; Kalvin Phillips and Declan Rice stand as a controlling bloc. Maguire scored in the quarter-final against Ukraine (0-4 win), while Phillips prepared for Raheem Sterling’s goal in the opening game of the group stage (1-0 win) against Croatia. “I thought Phillips could become quite a revelation, after his nice through pass in the first game (assist against Croatia, ed.), but I came back a bit from that,” says Vink.
“I just think it’s such a shame, such a shame that you have a block of four with Stones, Maguire, Rice and Phillips, who, I think, and then I’m not haughty, all four would have a hard time getting to Ajax or PSV to be in the starting lineup in the Dutch league,” continues the former defensive midfielder, who played for both Dutch top clubs in his career. Maguire was a regular player at Manchester United last season if he was fit. Stones switched between the base and the bench at Manchester City, while a fit Rice was a fixture at West Ham United and Phillips was a regular at Leeds United.
Journalist Willem Vissers and presenter Vincent Schildkamp do not agree with Vink, but the former football player stands by his point of view. “Would you exchange Rice for Gravenberch at Ajax? Do you know what I mean? They are in the English national team. And I think that is quite poor.” The analyst cheers for Italy in Sunday’s final. “I hope that a team will become champions of which we have seen beautiful matches and attacking football. Where Spinazzola thunders over it. Without it all being calculated on that one dribble of the great Sterling. I just hope football wins again. ”
Commentator Leo Driessen also wishes Italy the victory. “I have enjoyed every game of Italy so far. In the group stage because of the enormous energy, the joy and the work ethic. In games where they struggled, you saw enormous camaraderie on the pitch and cheered for a successful flying tackle “They took those difficult matches, such as against Spain, out of the fire. That is a tournament team. I have not yet seen any nice matches from England.”
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