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Understated Mainoo Vital as England Reach Euro 2024 Final

England midfielder Kobbie Mainoo (R) put in a superb display as his team beat the Netherlands to reach the Euro 2024 final. INA FASSBENDER / AFP
England midfielder Kobbie Mainoo (R) put in a superb display as his team beat the Netherlands to reach the Euro 2024 final. INA FASSBENDER / AFP
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Understated Mainoo Vital as England Reach Euro 2024 Final

England midfielder Kobbie Mainoo (R) put in a superb display as his team beat the Netherlands to reach the Euro 2024 final. INA FASSBENDER / AFP
England midfielder Kobbie Mainoo (R) put in a superb display as his team beat the Netherlands to reach the Euro 2024 final. INA FASSBENDER / AFP

Spain youngster Lamine Yamal showered himself in glory by firing his team into the Euro 2024 final but England had their own, rather more understated, teenager to thank in Kobbie Mainoo for helping secure a berth in the Berlin showpiece on Sunday.
The 19-year-old's sterling performance ensured England reached a second consecutive Euros final with a 2-1 semi-final win over the Netherlands in Dortmund on Wednesday, AFP said.
Mainoo played a vital role in England's midfield as the Three Lions produced their finest performance in Germany this summer.
Bidding to win their first major trophy since the 1966 World Cup, Gareth Southgate's side desperately needed to improve after scraping into the final four.
Finding his footing at the core of the team is Manchester United midfielder Mainoo.
He made his Premier League debut in January 2023 at 17, only breaking through in the 2023-24 season with his club.
Mainoo became the youngest ever England player to play in the semi-finals of a major tournament and showed exactly why Southgate has put his faith in him.
He began the tournament as third choice for the position -- after the coach dropped Trent Alexander-Arnold, he turned to Chelsea's Connor Gallagher against Slovenia in England's third group game.
It was not working at half-time so Southgate turned to Mainoo and hasn't looked back.
The midfielder has become Southgate's solution to a problem position, having previously lamented the lack of a new Kalvin Phillips or Jordan Henderson.
Mainoo put in assured performances against Slovakia and Switzerland but his best display so far -- and not coincidentally, England's -- was against the Dutch in Dortmund.
"I think all of his performances have been exceptional, especially when you consider his age," Southgate told reporters.
"We haven't really had a player like him until now. It makes such a difference when your midfield players can receive (while being) pressed, turn with the ball so easily and comfortably.
"I thought him, Phil (Foden) popping up in spaces, Jude (Bellingham), our movement was really good. It caused a lot of problems and them to adapt without the ball."
Futsal background
Mainoo, who attributes his slick ability on the ball to his past playing futsal, the five-a-side small-pitch game requiring high levels of technique and skill, helped England dominate their opponents in the first half.
The Manchester United midfielder pinned the Netherlands deep in their own territory by aggressively putting heavy pressure on the ball every time they tried to break loose.
England benefitted from a slice of luck after Xavi Simons blasted Netherlands ahead when Harry Kane won a soft penalty, but after the England captain converted it to level the score, their superiority was evident.
With Mainoo pulling the strings in midfield it was hard for the Dutch to win the ball back and England boasted a higher possession at full time, with Ollie Watkins' 91st-minute strike saving them from a third successive period of extra-time.
"It will be, I would imagine, a long time since -- or if ever -- an English side had 60 percent of the ball against a side from the Netherlands," said Southgate.
"It shows the more modern England way and the resilience and the character of the group."
Mainoo's rise to prominence has even surprised those close to him by its speed.
Luke Shaw, his team-mate for club and country, said ahead of the Netherlands game that his "growth is scary" and that Mainoo has "the world at his feet".
That was laid bare on a heady night in Dortmund which propelled him to new heights, with the biggest game of his career awaiting in Berlin on Sunday.
Mainoo will have his work cut out against the team-of-the-tournament Spain in the final. La Roja midfielders Rodri Hernandez and Fabian Ruiz have been two of the stars of the summer.
However, Mainoo and Manchester United got the better of Pep Guardiola's Manchester City in the FA Cup final in May, with the young midfielder scoring what proved to be the winner.
Asking for a repeat of that would be too much but Southgate will be delighted if he can just reproduce his near flawless display against the Netherlands.

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Djokovic Finally Adds Olympic Gold to his Resume by Beating Alcaraz

Gold medalist, Serbia's Novak Djokovic kisses his medal on the podium at the presentation ceremony for the men's singles tennis event on Court Philippe-Chatrier at the Roland-Garros Stadium during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, in Paris on August 4, 2024. (Photo by CARL DE SOUZA / AFP)
Gold medalist, Serbia's Novak Djokovic kisses his medal on the podium at the presentation ceremony for the men's singles tennis event on Court Philippe-Chatrier at the Roland-Garros Stadium during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, in Paris on August 4, 2024. (Photo by CARL DE SOUZA / AFP)
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Djokovic Finally Adds Olympic Gold to his Resume by Beating Alcaraz

Gold medalist, Serbia's Novak Djokovic kisses his medal on the podium at the presentation ceremony for the men's singles tennis event on Court Philippe-Chatrier at the Roland-Garros Stadium during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, in Paris on August 4, 2024. (Photo by CARL DE SOUZA / AFP)
Gold medalist, Serbia's Novak Djokovic kisses his medal on the podium at the presentation ceremony for the men's singles tennis event on Court Philippe-Chatrier at the Roland-Garros Stadium during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, in Paris on August 4, 2024. (Photo by CARL DE SOUZA / AFP)

For all of his Grand Slam championships and other titles, for all of his time at No. 1, Novak Djokovic really, really wanted an Olympic gold medal for Serbia, the last significant accomplishment missing from his glittering resume.
He finally got one at age 37 on Sunday, beating Carlos Alcaraz 7-6 (3), 7-6 (2) in an enthralling and evenly matched men’s tennis singles final at the 2024 Games, The Associated Press reported.
In a sense, it doesn't matter one bit how long it took, of course. Djokovic is now an Olympic champion and forever will be. And in another sense, the years of waiting, the stumbles along the journey, made him appreciate this triumph as much as — no, make that more than — every other, which is why his hands trembled when he knelt on Court Philippe Chatrier's red clay at the end and why his tears flowed.
“When I take everything into consideration, this probably is the biggest sporting success I ever had in my career,” said Djokovic, who didn't drop a set in Paris and is the oldest man to win the Summer Games tennis title since 1908. “This kind of supersedes everything that I imagined, that I hoped that I could experience, that I could feel.”
With margins so thin that any mistake felt as if it could tilt things, Djokovic was at his best when the stakes were highest, dominating each of the two tiebreakers against Alcaraz, who beat him in the Wimbledon final three weeks ago.
“In the close moments, in the difficult situations, in the tiebreaks, he played an impressive game,” said silver medalist Alcaraz, the 21-year-old from Spain who sobbed, too, after falling short of becoming the youngest male singles gold medalist. “That’s why I saw that he’s hungry for the gold medal. He was going to go for it.”
Djokovic already owns a men's-record 24 Grand Slam trophies and the most weeks spent atop in the rankings by any man or woman. He also already owned an Olympics medal, from 2008, but it was a bronze — and he made it clear that simply wasn't sufficient. He kept talking over the past week, but also the past months, about what a priority the gold was for him — and Alcaraz said Sunday he kept hearing about it.
Until getting Paris bronze medalist Lorenzo Musetti of Italy on Friday, Djokovic was 0-3 in Olympic semifinals, losing to the gold winner each time: Rafael Nadal at Beijing in 2008, Andy Murray at London in 2012, and Alexander Zverev in Tokyo three years ago.
This time, Djokovic said, “I was ready.”
In Paris, wearing a gray sleeve over the right knee that required surgery for a torn meniscus two months ago, Djokovic faced Nadal in the second round and eliminated his longtime rival in straight sets.
The 2-hour, 50-minute final featured one of the best to ever do it, in Djokovic — and the “highest mountain to climb at the moment,” in Alcaraz, as Djokovic put it.
There was superb ball-striking, deft drop shots and tremendous sprinting, sliding, stretching defense. The No. 1 seed Djokovic saved eight break points, No. 2 Alcaraz saved six. Pressure? Ha. What pressure?
“We both played at a very high level," Djokovic said. "We really went toe-to-toe.”
The only shame, perhaps, for the fans — and, naturally, Alcaraz — was that the Olympics uses a best-of-three-set format, instead of the best-of-five at Grand Slam tournaments. Those in the stands became part of the show, breaking out into choruses of “No-le! No-le!” or “Car-los! Car-los!” that often overlapped, creating an operatic fugue. As Alcaraz attempted to mount a comeback, his supporters chanted “Si, se puede!” (essentially, “Yes, you can!”).
Yet the place was as quiet as a theater between points; play was delayed briefly when a young child’s crying pierced the air that was thick with anticipation.
The first set alone lasted more than 1 1/2 hours, full of epic shots and epic games. One lasted 18 points spread over more than a dozen mesmerizing minutes on the way to that tiebreaker, when Djokovic grabbed the last four points, then turned to face his guest box — which included his tennis team and his wife and their two children — with a fist held high.
In the second tiebreaker, after Djokovic laced a cross-court forehand winner on the run to cap a 10-shot point for a 3-2 lead, he waved his arms to encourage the folks standing and screaming. Soon, thanks to one last forehand winner, he had earned that prize he wanted, at long last.
When the Serbian national anthem finished ringing out, Djokovic reached for his gold and brought it to his lips for a kiss.
Was he worried that moment would never arrive?
“There are always doubts. Absolutely, I had doubts," Djokovic said. “But the belief and the conviction that I can make it is stronger than my doubts. It always has been. I knew that it’s going to happen. It was just a matter of when it’s going to happen.”