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      Euro 2020: Chiellini, Bonucci and the Joy of Pushing Back

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      The veteran defenders Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci have given Italy the freedom to push forward at Euro 2020, right to the brink of a title.LONDON — There are plenty of stories. Some of them are so far-fetched that, if it were not for the eyewitness testimony or the video footage, the natural instinct would be to assume they are apocryphal. The best of them, though, the most illustrative, is the one about the garlic tablets.In 2014, before Juventus was scheduled to play Roma in a crucial game at the summit of Serie A, Leonardo Bonucci ate a handful of garlic tablets. His motivational coach, Alberto Ferrarini, had given them to him, later explaining that “hundreds of years ago, soldiers ate garlic to keep them strong, healthy and alert.” The tablets were intended to give Bonucci the same traits.There was, of course, another benefit. Ferrarini also told Bonucci to “breathe in the faces of Gervinho and Francesco Totti,” Roma’s star attackers. The ploy worked — Juventus won, 3-2, Bonucci scored the winning goal — and the myth crystallized just a little more. There was nothing Bonucci, like his Juventus and Italy teammate Giorgio Chiellini, would not do in service of victory.Italy’s run to the final of Euro 2020 has, in many ways, highlighted a drastic shift in the country’s soccer culture. Roberto Mancini’s team is young, vibrant and adventurous, designed around a slick and technical midfield and imbued with a bright, attacking style.If it was that vision of Italy that carried the team through the group stage and helped it sweep aside first Austria and then Belgium in the knockout rounds, the team’s semifinal victory against Spain was built on a more familiar iteration: ruthless and redoubtable, cast not in the porcelain image of Lorenzo Insigne and Marco Verratti but the unyielding concrete of Bonucci and Chiellini.It is that Italy that England must overcome, on Sunday evening, if it is to lift the European Championship trophy: the Italy that not only finds pride in its defending but treats it with genuine relish. As Bonucci has previously said, “As a defender, you always like winning, 1-0.”In the tournament’s opening game, with Mancini’s team up by 3-0 on Turkey and cruising to a victory, Chiellini and Bonucci celebrated an injury time goal-line clearance with the sort of vigor more traditionally reserved for last-gasp winning goals.It has been that way for years, of course. Chiellini made his Italy debut in 2004; Bonucci, only two years younger but a much later bloomer, joined him in 2010. Between them, they now have made 219 appearances for their country, the vast majority of them in tandem. They are so inseparable, at both club and international level, that one of Google’s suggested searches for them is: “Are Chiellini and Bonucci related?”They are not, but even they admit they may as well be. “I think I know Bonucci better than I know my wife,” Chiellini has said. Bonucci finds that he does not have to “think about the other things you normally would when playing with someone else; we know each other’s games inside out.”“Giorgio is the type of defender who needs to feel contact,” his former teammate Andrea Barzagli said.Pool photo by Justin TallisBonucci is “more modern,” Barzagli said, better at “reading the game, understanding situations.”Pool photo by Laurence GriffithsWhat makes it work, though, is not that they are similar, but that they are different. Away from the field, Chiellini is sufficiently divergent from his on-field persona that the Spain striker Alvaro Morata’s mother once told him that she was surprised at how gentle, polite and, well, nice he was.He has a degree in economics and commerce. He was co-author of a book on his hero, the Juventus defender Gaetano Scirea. He is, by his own estimation, much more “serene, much more reflective” than he appears. Being captain of both Italy and Juventus brought him a sense of “calm,” he wrote in his autobiography, so that he even felt comfortable toning down his combative style while playing. His broad grin, as Italy’s semifinal with Spain went to penalties, was taken as gamesmanship by his opponents. In reality, he was probably just enjoying himself.Bonucci, the more refined of the two, is also a contradiction. It is he who struggled, early in his career, with self-doubt; who felt the need to hire Ferrarini as a young player. The trainer’s methods were unorthodox — in one telling, he would take Bonucci down to his basement and repeatedly punch him in the stomach, to improve his focus — but, over time, they worked. Bonucci became, as Ferrarini put it, a “warrior.”On the field, the story is the same. Their shared passion for stopping other people having fun might make it seem as if they are cut from the same cloth, but the strength of their partnership is in how little, rather than how much, they are alike.“They understand each other,” said Andrea Barzagli, a former teammate of both men. “When you have been through so many moments together, you know what is happening, how the other one will respond. You can remember what happened in that situation previously, how you dealt with it between you. They compensate for each other.”Bonucci, left, and Chiellini have honed their partnership in years together at Juventus.Stefano Rellandini/ReutersBarzagli, of course, is in a better position to analyze their relationship than most. Until recently, Bonucci and Chiellini were not a pair, but part of a trio, for both Juventus and Italy: Barzagli completed it, until he withdrew first from international contention in 2018, and then retired from playing entirely a few months later.Each one, in that triumvirate, had his own role. In Chiellini’s estimation, he was the “aggressive” one, Bonucci was the “metronome,” and Barzagli the “professor.” “He is always in the right place at the right moment,” Chiellini said.To Bonucci, Barzagli was the “example.” “Andrea is unbeatable in one-on-ones,” he said.Barzagli’s interpretation runs along similar lines. “Giorgio is the type of defender who needs to feel contact,” he said. “He uses his intelligence but also his physical strength to deny a player space. That type of defending is increasingly rare now. It has changed a lot in the last few years. I don’t want to say he is one of the last great Italian defenders, but he is in that tradition.”Bonucci, by contrast, is “more modern,” Barzagli said, better at “reading the game, understanding situations,” the sort of player that Pep Guardiola, the high priest of the modern style of defending, has described as “one of his favorite ever.” Matthijs de Ligt, the Dutch defender who serves as Barzagli’s heir at Juventus, admires his “vision, the accuracy of his long and short passing.” He sees something else in Chiellini. “It looks like he has a magnet in his head,” de Ligt said.Barzagli has not yet decided where he will watch the final on Sunday. Nerves never troubled him as a player; watching games as a spectator, he has found, is a little more stressful. “It is because you can’t do anything,” he said. He might choose to watch in the sanctuary of his own home, rather than with other people, to help him cope with it better.What dulls that anxiety most is the presence of his two former comrades. That they are still here, at the highest level of the game, is testament, in his eyes, to their “professionalism, their dedication, how well prepared they are physically and mentally.“That is their great secret, why they have been able to go on for so long.”Once again, on Sunday, familiarity will bring Italy comfort. Much has changed in front of them, but Bonucci and Chiellini are still there, still celebrating tackles, still enjoying their work.“One thing that maybe Italy knows and other countries do not,” Barzagli said, “is that defenders get better with age. You are always learning. With more experience, you have more solutions. You know what to do in every situation, because you have seen it before. That happens even when you are 34 or 35.” It is what has happened for Bonucci and Chiellini, too. This is a major final, of course, but it is also just another game. It is nothing they have not seen before. More

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      Copa América Final: Lionel Messi Tries to Slay His Ghosts

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      Saturday’s Copa América final against Brazil feels like Messi’s chance to deliver the title he and Argentina have chased for a generation.As soon as he was back in the changing room, away from the glare of the cameras and the eyes of the world, Lionel Messi got rid of it. He had been presented with the Golden Ball, the prize for the outstanding player in the 2014 World Cup, on the field at the Maracana, and he had accepted it, because it was the decent thing to do.Unsmiling, he had held the trophy carefully, delicately, as if it was an explosive that might go off at any second, for as long as he could bear. As soon as he could hand it over, though, he did so, giving it to Alfredo Pernas, one of his most trusted consiglieri on Argentina’s staff, to do whatever he needed to do with it. Messi did not care.All he knew was that he did not want it. Why would he? He had been given the trophy only a few minutes after Argentina had lost the World Cup final, after the one prize he craved more than any other in soccer had eluded him at the last. He did not need a memento for that night to be etched into his brain. He would, he would later say, regret the defeat for the rest of his life.Seven years later, Messi returns to Maracana this weekend. This time, it may be the Copa América on the line, rather than the World Cup, and it is Brazil that stands in his way, rather than Germany, but still: Saturday’s final feels like Messi’s chance — perhaps his last, best chance — to “slay the ghosts” of 2014, as Cristian Grosso put it in La Nácion this week.That is not, sadly, quite how it works. There is no balm for the lingering ache of that defeat to Mario Götze and Germany. Once Pernas had whisked his unwanted trophy out of sight, out of mind, Messi sat in the changing room and cried, his friend and teammate Pablo Zabaleta said, “like a baby.” He was, in that, not alone.Messi was named the outstanding player of the 2014 World Cup, a tournament he would rather forget.Sergio Moraes/ReutersMessi has said he has never been able to watch the game back (though why anyone would expect him to do so is not entirely clear). He does not need to, not really: The things he could have done differently, the chances wasted by Gonzalo Higuaín and Rodrigo Palacio are scoured into his soul. They will haunt him for the rest of his days, whether he wins the Copa América this weekend or the World Cup next year. He will never win that World Cup. He will never have that chance again.That is not to say that Messi has been short of animating force over the last three weeks or so. He opened his tournament with a brilliant free kick against Chile — there is no point describing it: You know what it looks like, because it was Messi, and it was a free kick, and you can picture what that looks like immediately — and he has barely paused for breath since.He scored twice more in a rout of Bolivia, added another goal late in the quarterfinal win against Ecuador, and then created Lautaro Martínez’s goal in the semifinal against Colombia. Nothing, though, encapsulated Messi’s mood in the tournament quite like what happened during the penalty shootout that settled that game.Messi has always been a quiet, undemonstrative sort of genius. Even his teammates acknowledge that he is not exactly a rabble-rousing demagogue of a leader. He does not stir hearts and gird loins with his soaring rhetoric; he inspires not only with his actions but also his mere presence.As usual, Messi has created many of the Argentina goals he has not scored himself.Nelson Almeida/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesHe can, at times, be so unruffled on the field that he almost seems distant, detached from what is unfolding on it. Messi has always given the impression of seeing soccer in a different way from almost any other human: an elevated, bird’s-eye perspective that allows him to see angles and passes and patterns of play that elude others. There are occasions when it is possible to believe that he sees the game so clearly that he can also discern its essential meaninglessness.Against Colombia, though, that changed. Messi was on the halfway line, arms draped around the shoulders of his teammates, when Yerry Mina — a former teammate at Barcelona, though only briefly — stepped forward to take Colombia’s third attempt.He missed, and as he looked away, as he turned his back on the celebrating Argentine goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez, he saw Messi marching toward him, bellowing in his direction. “Baila ahora, baila ahora,” he seemed to be saying: dance now, dance now, an apparent reference to Mina’s celebrations after Colombia’s shootout victory in the previous round.It was, to put it mildly, a little out of character for Messi: more aggressive, more confrontational, more vindictive than is typical. But it was in keeping not only with his approach to the tournament, but also with that of Argentina as a whole. Emiliano Martínez, for one, drew opprobrium in Colombia for taunting his opponents during the shootout; he had, according to more than one observer, gone a little too far with the gamesmanship.Messi’s emotions, so often in check, bubbled over in a shootout against Colombia on Wednesday. He and Argentina will take their latest shot at the Copa América title against Brazil on Saturday night.Ueslei Marcelino/ReutersHis retort, and Argentina’s, would doubtless be that this is no time for half measures. There is not a single player on Argentina’s squad who has seen it win a World Cup. A majority have never experienced their country’s lifting of the Copa América trophy, which Argentina has not won since 1993.It has made finals, of course, and plenty of them: losing to Brazil in the Copa in 2004 and 2007, and to Chile in 2015 and 2016. Given how often the tournament is played — once every six months or so, it seems — and given Argentina’s resources, a generation without victory, and Argentina’s gradual decline from world power to habitual runner-up, is a source of stinging embarrassment.For Messi, though, it is more personal. Twice in recent years he has considered stepping away from the national team, effectively declaring it to be more trouble than it is worth: once after losing the 2016 Copa América final and again, more definitively, in the aftermath of Argentina’s early elimination from the 2018 World Cup.Outside Argentina, he would have been forgiven for doing so. For years, the country’s soccer federation seemed to have little or no idea of how to build a suitable stage for the finest player, certainly of his generation and possibly of any. Messi was expected to carry a whole nation on his back; when he stumbled under the weight, it was because he was too weak, not the load too heavy.Besides, on a personal level, he did not need international success. Soccer has moved on from the era when greatness was forged in the white heat of World Cups and continental championships. Increasingly, it is the Champions League that defines not just a player’s status, but also his legacy. It was there that Messi, winner of four titles with Barcelona, had made himself immortal.And still he could not walk away. Messi came back after 2016 and he came back after 2018 and he is there, now, at 34, officially a free agent after his contract at Barcelona expired. Even as the remaining years of his career are suddenly mired in uncertainty — the club’s precarious financial position makes it appear as if it may not, in actual fact, be able to re-sign him — Messi is doing what he has had to do for a decade and a half: pulling Argentina along in his wake.Argentina’s relationship with Messi has evolved. This week, a mural was unveiled at the school he attended as a boy.Marcelo Manera/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesThere were times in the early years of his career when it was occasionally asserted that Messi did not feel the same kinship with Argentina — and Argentina did not feel the same kinship with Messi — as would have been the case had he not been living in Europe, in Spain, since he was a child. There was a distance between him and his homeland, the theory went, one that meant he could not replicate his club form in his national jersey.That Messi is still here, still trying, is the ultimate proof of the disingenuousness of that belief. He is not here in Brazil because he wants to make up for his personal disappointment in 2014. That, he will know, is impossible. Some scars never heal. He is here, as he has always been, because he is slaying someone else’s ghosts: all of Argentina’s near misses, all of its disappointments, all of its years of want.He is, he knows, running out of time. He has one more chance, realistically, to win a World Cup, in Qatar at the end of next year. It is not impossible that he will return to the Copa América once more, too: he will be 37 when the tournament is next played, in 2024. He will by then have been playing for his national team for two decades. He has one regret, at least, that will stay with him for the rest of his life. He does not want a second.A Tournament Too FarCan it really be coming home if England has rarely left?Pool photo by Andy RainWithin UEFA, the overriding emotion will be relief. Relief, to some extent, that the European Championship has been a success. It has not been diminished by a raft of coronavirus outbreaks. It has not been complicated by further lockdowns or tightened travel restrictions. It has not been played out to a backdrop of empty stadiums.Mainly, though, there will be relief that it is over. Even without the pandemic, this tournament was a logistical nightmare: 11 stadiums in 11 cities spread across four time zones, all subject to different local conditions. There will be no appetite within European soccer to stage a pan-continental tournament again.And that, frankly, is a good thing. Not simply because something is lost, however slight and insignificant, when a tournament is not hosted by a single nation — drawing in fans from across the world, changing the fabric of the place it calls home, even if it is only for a month — but because the diffusion of the games has compromised the integrity of the competition.Italy played it first three games in Rome, and will play its three of its last four in London.Pool photo by Carl RecineThe ludicrous Spanish talk show “El Chiringuito” might have descended into tinfoil hat territory when it suggested on Wednesday night that Euro 2020 had been “shaped” in favor of England, but that the way the tournament was structured offered certain nations an advantage is beyond dispute.It was not by chance that all four semifinalists played all three of their group games at home, reducing the amount of time and energy they might have lost to travel. It was, most likely, a relevant factor in how much Denmark tired in its semifinal that it had been forced to travel to Baku, Azerbaijan, in the previous round, while England had made the comparatively shorter trip — its only venture outside it borders in a month — to Rome.There is always a host nation, of course, and the host nation always has an advantage. But in ordinary circumstances, every team in the tournament takes a base in that country to reduce travel time. On a practical if not a spiritual level, the playing field is level.That does not mean either Italy or England will be an undeserving champion. They have been the two best teams in the tournament (rather than the two with the most talented individuals). Both warrant their places in the final. But both have enjoyed far from universal conditions. It would be helpful if that did not happen again.An All-Euros Team You Can TrustPedri, Spain’s 18-year-old midfield dynamo, was one of Euro 2020’s highlights.Pool photo by Stuart FranklinA strange convention has taken hold in soccer. It has manifested in the Premier League and the Champions League, and now it has infected the European Championship, too. It should be condemned by any right-thinking person, anyone who has the slightest understanding of sport, and it is this: the idea that the best player on the field has to be on the winning side.Ordinarily, and even more absurdly, man-of-the-match honors go to someone who has scored a goal. It happened, again, at both semifinals this week. Harry Kane might have sent England to the final at Denmark’s expense on Wednesday, but he was not the best player on his team (Raheem Sterling), let alone the best player on the field (Kasper Schmeichel, by some distance).Federico Chiesa picked up the award on Tuesday, despite only playing half of the game, and despite Pedri, the 18-year-old Spain midfielder, producing a performance of quite staggering poise and control and maturity.So, with that in mind, and conscious that the official version will simply be a list of the 11 players who have most recently scored a goal, here is a team of the tournament that actually, you know, reflects how the players have performed. It is possible, after all, to play well despite defeat.At times, it seemed Kasper Schmeichel would will Denmark to the final by himself.Pool photo by Catherine IvillSchmeichel is an easy choice as goalkeeper; Leonardo Spinazzola (Italy) edges Denmark’s Joakim Maehle at left back, and Kyle Walker has been the standout right back. Central defense is more difficult, but Giorgio Chiellini (Italy) and Simon Kjaer (Denmark) probably just shade England’s Harry Maguire.In midfield: Pedri (Spain) and Denmark’s Mikkel Damsgaard join Granit Xhaka, Switzerland’s captain, with spots for Kalvin Phillips (England) and Paul Pogba (France) on the bench. England’s Sterling and Italy’s Chiesa are simple choices up front, with Kane beating out Alexander Isak (Sweden), Romelu Lukaku (Belgium) and Patrik Schick (Czech Republic) for the central striker role.Most of them, of course, have played for winning teams, but it is the inverse of the relationship that UEFA — among others — seems to have envisaged: Their teams have won because the players have played well, and not vice versa.CorrespondenceMy apologies for offending André Naef, whose location will become abundantly clear when you find out how I upset him. “May I remind you that our ‘uninspiring’ team not only beat France, the world champion, and nearly beat Spain, despite being reduced to 10 players,” he wrote.The Spanish, he added, “showed a certain elegance” in victory, “unlike your rather disparaging comments.” Disparagement for what Switzerland achieved was not my intention; far from it. Few countries have made quite so much of their resources over the last decade as the Swiss. They warrant nothing but praise.Xherdan Shaqiri and Switzerland punched above their weight in a major tournament again.Pool photo by Anatoly MaltsevDavid Gladstone, meanwhile, pitches July 8, 1982, as one of the finest days of tournament soccer in history. “Italy against Poland may not have been the greatest game, but it was more than made up for by West Germany against France, including the noncall of the foul on Patrick Battiston. And they took place at different times.”Yes, that can be added to the list. Whether it tops France/Switzerland/Spain/Croatia day, though, is a matter of debate: West Germany’s win is doing a lot of the heavy lifting, after all.That’s all for this week and, I suppose, this season, too. This is the end of a long and hopefully quite enjoyable 2020-21, and it is a fitting finish: Brazil against Argentina and then Italy against England. Here’s hoping that the next 48 hours are even better than last Monday, or July 8, 1982, or any of the other contenders. Enjoy the next two days, wherever you are. I hope your team wins. More

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      England Celebrates as It Reaches the Euro 2020 Final

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      After 55 years of unsuccessful attempts to reach the final of a major soccer tournament, and after months of sorrow brought by the coronavirus pandemic, England tastes victory.LONDON — England woke up on Thursday with a sensation it had not felt in more than a half-century: Its national soccer team made it to the final of a major international tournament, with the prospect of a first-ever European Championship victory within reach.As England sealed a hard-fought 2-1 win against Denmark on Wednesday night at Wembley Stadium, fans crowded streets and celebrated in pubs, in fan zones set up across the country and at home. Politicians across the spectrum made a rare show of unity as they congratulated the players the nation has hailed as heroes, and England rallied together in a moment of public joy that many said was desperately needed.“Every country has been through some painful 18 months,” said Matt Corby, 30, who was wearing a red England jersey and celebrated with friends at a London pub. “To live this historic moment in England’s football now, after 55 years, it’s beautiful. What a time to do it.”Before its victory over Denmark, England had not reached a soccer tournament final since the 1966 World Cup, which it won. The team, sometimes known as the Three Lions, will now play on Sunday at Wembley in the final against Italy.As fans on Wednesday wept, danced and celebrated in the streets of Newcastle, Portsmouth, Manchester and London — and elsewhere across the country — there was a feeling that it was finally England’s moment, one that previous generations had hoped for for decades.“We would always get to this point,” said Derin Adebiyi, remembering England’s defeat against Germany in the semifinal of the 1996 European Championship.Mr. Adebiyi, as he celebrated in North London, said England had passed its “litmus test.”“This is transcending ideologies and dividing lines, and finally bringing the country together,” he added, praising the team for its performance, but also for taking a knee before every game, as an antiracism gesture. “These moments are so rare and important.”England players took a knee on Wednesday before the match against Denmark at Wembley Stadium.Pool photo by Justin TallisIn a nation that is rived by deep political divisions, and that is still trying to figure out its post-Brexit future, observers lauded the values embodied by a triumphant and diverse squad, led by Gareth Southgate.“The standard of leaders in this country in the last couple of years has been poor,” Gary Neville, a soccer legend and a fervent critic of Conservative politicians, said on Britain’s ITV News after England’s victory.“Looking at that man there,” he added, referring to Mr. Southgate, “that’s everything a leader should be: respectful, humble, tells the truth, genuine.”Mr. Southgate has praised his players for raising awareness about equality, inclusivity and racial injustice.Many on the England squad have been outspoken social justice advocates. Raheem Sterling, who grew up near Wembley Stadium, has been vocal about racism and has championed inclusion causes. Marcus Rashford has campaigned for free meals for underprivileged schoolchildren during the pandemic. Harry Kane showed his support for the L.G.B.T.Q. community when he wore a rainbow armband during the tournament.“We are heading for a much more tolerant and understanding society, and I know our lads will be a big part of that,” Mr. Southgate wrote in letter last month.Although England will most likely face its toughest adversary in the tournament on Sunday, many fans rejoiced with a feeling that the Three Lions had already won, and that their team had rid itself of old demons.“England Make History,” The Times of London declared on Thursday’s front page. “England’s Dreaming,” The Guardian wrote.“Finally,” tabloid newspapers said, while Politico’s morning newsletter included players ratings.Prime Minister Boris Johnson, not an avid soccer fan but perhaps sensing the political benefit of rallying behind a successful team, congratulated the players on Wednesday night for playing “their hearts out.”“Now to the final,” Mr. Johnson wrote on Twitter. “Let’s bring it home.”Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his wife, Carrie Johnson, celebrating England’s game-winning goal on Wednesday.Pool photo by Carl RecineAbout 60,000 fans attended the game at Wembley, and as the final whistle blew, many more had gathered outside, often disregarding social distancing measures and mask wearing despite a rising number of new coronavirus cases in the country in recent weeks. Fans climbed on buses and lampposts and chanted, “It’s coming home,” and drivers honked their horns until late into the night.London’s Metropolitan Police tweeted that “following the fantastic win by England,” at least 20 people had been arrested during the celebrations.While optimism dominated the news on Thursday, the victory’s aftermath comes as researchers warned in a report that England was facing a rapid growth in coronavirus cases, and that men were 30 percent more likely to be infected.Steven Riley, a professor of infectious disease dynamics at Imperial College London and one of the report’s authors, said changes in social distancing behaviors, like gatherings to watch the games, most likely explained the gap between men and women.The World Health Organization warned last week that the European Championship Games, held in cities across Europe, had driven a rise in cases. At least 60,000 people are expected to attend the final on Sunday in London.England’s remaining pandemic restrictions are set to be lifted by July 19, even as public health experts expect 50,000 daily infections later in the month.Still, many set aside their worries about the pandemic on Wednesday and focused instead on victory, which came after a nail-biter. England’s pregame confidence was quickly tamed by Denmark’s first goal, followed by the frustration at unsuccessful attacks. But when the team’s captain, Mr. Kane, scored a winning goal after 30 minutes of extra time, victory was theirs.Italy now awaits. The team has been unbeaten in 33 games, and will compete in its fourth European Championship final. In Italy, too, a victory would bring some welcomed sense of unity and optimism after years of political uncertainty — and after 18 months of hardship brought by the pandemic.But English fans won’t care. Wednesday’s semifinal had been at times a sketchy and stressful game, and Sunday’s final may well be, too.England had also disappointed many times, said Sarah Barron, 26, as she celebrated in a London beer garden.But this time, she argued, it’s different.“Don’t live in the past,” Ms. Barron said. “This time, it’s coming home.” More

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      Denmark's Christian Eriksen Was Invited to Sunday's Final by UEFA

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      Christian Eriksen and the paramedics who helped save his life after he collapsed on the field during Denmark’s first game at Euro 2020 have been invited to attend Sunday’s final in London by UEFA, the tournament’s organizer.It is unclear if Eriksen or his partner, Sabrina Kvist, who was also invited, will attend Sunday’s final at London’s Wembley Stadium, but at least one of the paramedics said he would go to the game, which might include Denmark — one of the biggest surprises of the tournament.Eriksen has spent the tournament mostly out of public view since his collapse, appearing in a photo from his hospital bed three days after the incident and in another this week taken after a chance meeting with a young fan.A message from @ChrisEriksen8.♥️🤍 pic.twitter.com/WDTHjqE94w— DBU – En Del Af Noget Større (@DBUfodbold) June 15, 2021
      Eriksen was rushed to the hospital on June 12 after his heart stopped and he needed life-saving treatment on the field during Denmark’s opening game against Finland at Parken Stadium in Copenhagen. “He was gone. And we did cardiac resuscitation. And it was cardiac arrest,” Denmark’s team doctor said at the time.One of the paramedics who helped save Eriksen’s life, Peder Ersgaard, told the Danish magazine Fagbladet FOA that he and other paramedics had been invited, and that he was excited to attend the game.Denmark faces England in a semifinal on Wednesday at Wembley. More

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      At Euro 2020, No Semifinalist Is an Island

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      Denmark and Italy borrowed ideas from Spain. Spain has learned from Germany. And England has taken everything it can from anywhere it can get it.LEEDS, England — Kalvin Phillips came home, for the first time, as a fully fledged England international with four jerseys as souvenirs. He had asked his new teammates to autograph one, destined to be framed and mounted on a wall at home. Two others were reserved for his mother and grandmother, as tokens of gratitude for years of support. More

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      Danger Awaited in Myanmar. So He Made a Daring Bid to Stay in Japan.

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      After defying Myanmar’s military rulers at a soccer match, Ko Pyae Lyan Aung decided to seek asylum. But he was being watched.OSAKA, Japan — The soccer player’s plane was at the gate. Ahead of him stood his last chance at safety.The athlete, Ko Pyae Lyan Aung, had come to Japan with Myanmar’s national team. On the field, before the first match, he had flashed a gesture of defiance — the three-finger salute made famous by “The Hunger Games” — against the military junta that had ousted his country’s elected government. He was now afraid of what might happen if he returned home.Several times, he had tried to break away from the team and claim asylum, and each time he had been caught. The immigration line at the Osaka airport offered one more opportunity. When an agent waved him forward and asked for his passport, he presented his phone instead. On it was a message in English and Japanese: “I don’t want to go back to Myanmar.”The gambit worked. He can stay, at least for now. But while Mr. Pyae Lyan Aung’s case has riveted Japan and put pressure on the government, his fate may ultimately hinge on two of the most politically sensitive issues in the country today: its hostile immigration system and its response to the Myanmar coup.Few countries are less hospitable to refugees than Japan, which settled just 47 asylum seekers last year, less than 1 percent of applicants. In recent months, the immigration system has become a political battlefield after the death of an emaciated Sri Lankan migrant in a detention cell.At the same time, the government has been under intense pressure at home and abroad to do more to dissuade Myanmar’s military as it has ruthlessly crushed protests against its Feb. 1 coup. But Japan, which has been a top investor in Myanmar and generally avoids rights issues overseas, has been reluctant to make any moves that might alienate the junta, parting ways with allies like the United States that have imposed sanctions.A clash between protesters and security forces in Yangon, Myanmar, in March.The New York TimesMr. Pyae Lyan Aung’s case is likely to raise more questions about Japan’s stance. A growing number of athletes from Myanmar have refused to represent the country at international sporting events, arguing that to do so would risk legitimizing the military leaders. Myanmar’s participation this month in the Tokyo Olympics could become another flash point.So far, Mr. Pyae Lyan Aung has kept mostly quiet about politics, and his journey through the immigration system — in contrast to the experience of so many refugees in Japan — has been smooth. In May, the country announced emergency measures allowing citizens of Myanmar who wish to stay in Japan to apply for provisional visas. On June 22, Mr. Pyae Lyan Aung did so.That day, reporters amassed outside the Osaka immigration bureau, a gray filing cabinet of a building in a weedy corner of the city’s port, where he had gone to submit his official asylum request.He had recently learned that soccer players he knew in Myanmar had been killed while protesting, his lawyer said, adding that the new information would make Mr. Pyae Lyan Aung’s plea more compelling.As reporters shouted questions, a tattoo of a giant eye peered out from the crook of Mr. Pyae Lyan Aung’s elbow, unblinkingly surveying the scene.After an interpreter began to relay his responses, another foreign man suddenly appeared in the doors of the immigration center, screaming “Save me!” in Japanese. He sprinted down the street, and officials, lanyards swinging from their necks, puffed out of the building in close pursuit.Myanmar’s national team training at a stadium in Chiba, Japan, in May, before a World Cup qualifier against Japan.Charly Triballeau/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesDays before, just blocks from where Mr. Pyae Lyan Aung now stood, he had been the immigrant trying to flee.He would rather have made headlines for blocking kicks during his team’s World Cup qualifier against Japan, he said during an interview in the narrow Osaka rowhouse where he now lives. But Myanmar lost, 10-0, and his defiant gesture made news instead.In the lead-up to the Japan trip, soccer players from Myanmar had begun openly expressing resistance to the regime. One grabbed international attention during a match in Malaysia when he celebrated a goal with his own three-finger salute.Ten players later declared that they would not play for the national team. That followed a decision by a Myanmar swimmer based in Australia to boycott the Olympics and call on the organizers to bar the Myanmar Olympic Committee. (The organizers said they had to stay out of politics.)The soccer players’ walkout delayed the trip to Japan, and Myanmar’s embarrassed national soccer association pressured the rest of the athletes to travel.Before he left, Mr. Pyae Lyan Aung decided to make a statement. He was frustrated and heartsick about the situation at home, he said, and felt betrayed when the Myanmar soccer association did not distance itself from the junta.Protesting against Myanmar’s coup outside the Chiba stadium.Charly Triballeau/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesHis moment came when his team lined up for the national anthem before its game against Japan’s national team, known as Samurai Blue.As news coverage of his defiant gesture snowballed, supporters became concerned about his safety. They reached out to U Aung Myat Win, an activist and restaurateur who fled from Myanmar to Japan in the 1990s. After years of being detained in the Japanese immigration system, Mr. Aung Myat Win had become one of the few refugees to receive asylum in the country.Over the years, he had gone to extraordinary lengths to help other immigrants from Myanmar navigate life in Japan. He messaged Mr. Pyae Lyan Aung, arguing that going back home could be deadly, and asked him whether he wanted to stay in Japan.At first the athlete wasn’t sure. But before long he had decided to try.His team was under close watch. Its management was keeping tabs on the players, and Japan’s soccer federation had hired a private security firm to ensure that the men didn’t break quarantine.Mr. Aung Myat Win scouted possible routes for Mr. Pyae Lyan Aung to slip out of his Osaka hotel. He would have to sneak past his teammates and down a central bank of elevators or emergency stairs.It proved too difficult. After several failed attempts, Mr. Aung Myat Win contacted an immigration lawyer specializing in asylum cases, Yoshihiro Sorano, who filed a complaint with the police saying that Mr. Pyae Lyan Aung was being held captive.Mr. Pyae Lyan Aung studying Japanese at the rowhouse where he now lives.Shiho Fukada for The New York TimesOfficers contacted the Japan Football Association, which assured them that the athlete was free to move around. The officers never spoke to him or visited the hotel, Mr. Sorano said.Asked about the situation, the group said that because of the government’s Covid-19 restrictions, it had hired private security to monitor all foreign teams in Japan, as well as Japanese players who had come into contact with them. It said it had not been able to confirm whether there were additional restrictions on Mr. Pyae Lyan Aung’s movement.Mr. Aung Myat Win and Mr. Sorano kept trying to make escape plans, but journalists had begun gathering outside the hotel, and the attention soon made it impossible.Before long, Mr. Pyae Lyan Aung and the other players were on a bus to the airport. Mr. Aung Myat Win followed.“When you get to immigration, tell them, ‘I don’t want to go home,’” he told Mr. Pyae Lyan Aung, who speaks little English and no Japanese. A supporter texted him the message in both languages to show the agent.Now that his asylum application has been filed, Mr. Pyae Lyan Aung is unsure what’s next. He has no job, has no Japanese language skills and is unlikely to get support from the government. He hopes to keep playing soccer professionally, he said, but if that doesn’t work out, he will do what he must to stay in Japan.All he knows for sure is that — for now at least — he can’t go home. More

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