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Toni Kroos’ Retirement Delayed as Germany’s Adventure Continues at Euro 2024

Germany's midfielder #08 Toni Kroos celebrates his team's win at the end of the UEFA Euro 2024 round of 16 football match between Germany and Denmark at the BVB Stadion Dortmund in Dortmund on June 29, 2024. (AFP)
Germany's midfielder #08 Toni Kroos celebrates his team's win at the end of the UEFA Euro 2024 round of 16 football match between Germany and Denmark at the BVB Stadion Dortmund in Dortmund on June 29, 2024. (AFP)
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Toni Kroos’ Retirement Delayed as Germany’s Adventure Continues at Euro 2024

Germany's midfielder #08 Toni Kroos celebrates his team's win at the end of the UEFA Euro 2024 round of 16 football match between Germany and Denmark at the BVB Stadion Dortmund in Dortmund on June 29, 2024. (AFP)
Germany's midfielder #08 Toni Kroos celebrates his team's win at the end of the UEFA Euro 2024 round of 16 football match between Germany and Denmark at the BVB Stadion Dortmund in Dortmund on June 29, 2024. (AFP)

Toni Kroos gets another game before he retires. Germany's Euro 2024 title challenge looks more real than ever.

One of the most decorated players in modern soccer with six Champions League titles and a World Cup, Kroos wasn't flashy as Germany beat Denmark 2-0 on Saturday, but he was a calm, assured presence holding the midfield together.

Kroos already won the Champions League with Real Madrid this season. Now he's three games away from one final trophy and could face his Madrid teammate, Spain's Dani Carvajal, in his next game.

Some fans already have their eyes on the final in the German capital and sang about heading to Berlin as Germany saw out the win.

Just like another Real Madrid great, Zinedine Zidane in 2006, Kroos is ending his storied career at a major tournament in Germany. He came out of international retirement in February for one last tournament. Each game Germany plays in the knockout stage could be the last of his career.

Germany weathered a thunderstorm, hail and stubborn Danish resistance Saturday to ensure the 34-year-old midfielder will play again. Germany faces either Spain or Georgia in the quarterfinals July 5.

Zidane reached the 2006 World Cup final with France, only to headbutt an opponent, get a red card and lose to Italy. Kroos and Germany can still dream of a win on home soil and a first major trophy since Kroos and his teammates lifted the 2014 World Cup.

Until the Denmark game, Germany had not won a major-tournament knockout game since Euro 2016. The win continues the sense that Germany is finally turning things around under coach Julian Nagelsmann after years of disappointment. He took over last year with a mission to deliver a host-nation success story at Euro 2024, and has already signed an extension for the 2026 World Cup.

The decision to give Nagelsmann an extension in April came largely on the back of morale-boosting friendly wins over France and the Netherlands. Since then, Germany is unbeaten in six games including pre-tournament friendlies.

"I’m proud of the team," Nagelsmann said Saturday. "They're beginning to realize how good they really are."

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Britain is Back in America’s Cup Final for the First Time in 60 years

INEOS Britannia, left, and Luna Rosa Prada Pirelli sailing teams compete during the Louis Vuitton Cup Final Day 7 at the Barcelona's coast, Spain, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)
INEOS Britannia, left, and Luna Rosa Prada Pirelli sailing teams compete during the Louis Vuitton Cup Final Day 7 at the Barcelona's coast, Spain, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)
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Britain is Back in America’s Cup Final for the First Time in 60 years

INEOS Britannia, left, and Luna Rosa Prada Pirelli sailing teams compete during the Louis Vuitton Cup Final Day 7 at the Barcelona's coast, Spain, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)
INEOS Britannia, left, and Luna Rosa Prada Pirelli sailing teams compete during the Louis Vuitton Cup Final Day 7 at the Barcelona's coast, Spain, Friday, Oct. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)

A British yacht is back in the America’s Cup finals for the first time since 1964 after INEOS Britannia finished off Italy’s Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli on Friday.

Britannia scored the winning point for a 7-4 series victory after a fast and flawless race that it finished 17 seconds ahead of Luna Rossa. Britannia claimed the Louis Vuitton Cup for being the best of five challengers.

The boat skippered by Olympic great Ben Ainslie will next face defender Team Emirates New Zealand in a first-to-seven wins series for the America’s Cup starting on Oct. 12.

Despite holding the most Olympic medals in sailing and having a rich maritime tradition, Britain has never won the biggest prize in the sport — a wait that runs back 173 years, according to The AP.

“One more to go boys!” Ainslie told his sailors, who shouted with joy as they crossed the finish line.

Britain has been chasing the America’s Cup ever since the schooner America won the race’s very first edition back in 1851 when it bested Royal Yacht Squadron in a loop around the Isle of Wight, with Queen Victoria herself in attendance. This is the 23rd time it has challenged for the Auld Mug, more than any other nation.

Now, it is the closest it has come to finally winning the cup in sixty years.

It will face a New Zealand team that has won the past two editions in 2017 and 2021. As defending champion in this truly winner-takes-all competition, the Kiwis got to choose the rules and the location of the regattas, so in theory they should have an edge that the Brits must overcome.

The British will have on their side the real racing experience over recent weeks. They have gone from outside threat to the fastest ship of the challenger’s fleet. Before racing started, New Zealand leader Grant Dalton said that he put both Luna Rossa and American Magic a notch above Britannia, but warned that the Brits could pull off a surprise.

That they did, delivering a nearly flawless Louis Vuitton finals series, while Luna Rossa’s chances were hurt by structural problems to their silver-hulled yacht.

The Britannia team has the financial backing of billionaire Jim Ratcliffe, who also bought into storied soccer club Manchester United this year. It has also benefitted from a partnership with the Mercedes Formula One team.

The British win over the Italians avenged a 7-1 loss to Luna Rossa in the same stage of the 2021 event in Auckland.

Only four nations have ever won the cup. After the 30 titles by American boats, New Zealand has won it three times, Switzerland twice and Australia once.