Julius

Famitsu have uploaded 30 minutes (okay, 29 minutes and 4 seconds...but who's counting?) of gameplay on their YouTube channel: Music sounds delightful

This is the first night where we've been the best team in a match the entire thing. Brilliant goal from Simons and a few beautiful counters aside, the Dutch didn't deserve to win tonight at all. If we somehow win it's hard to argue against Bellingham being Player of the Tournament for me, regardless of the number of goals, assists, etc. His overhead clearly changed the mentality. We owe Real and Don Carlo a big debt for teaching him about that black magic Italy were the best team in 2021, Spain have been this year. There's still a Spanish-sized mountain to overcome in them, but as we've been saying, these defences look leaky and they could be there for the taking. The tournament tree looks like it was made in FIFA. It's not pretty but I hate that getting to the final again, and having a solid shot at taking it, means Southgate might be around for another cycle. He's done great to get us hear but three semi-finals in four major tournaments, including two finals, with how young most of this squad is – this is dynasty potential stuff similar to what we've seen with France over the last decade. All they have to show for it is a single World Cup; I hope we don't make the same mistakes. I'm telling you he made a deal with the devil, it's the only explanation. To be honest, I was shocked he came off tonight with extra time potentially on the way. Maybe it's the fact that we'd had to go the extra mile in both the Ro16 and QF, so he was shattered, but it's not what I would have expected. I think it weirdly works in our favour, almost lulls the opposition defence into a state of false confidence. They're not needing to defend in the box against a tall and physical striker for 80'+ and then he's hooked off with someone who is much more direct and is also tall and physical, who is backing up into defenders and sticking up top as a target man. I'm tired. Really solid semis these last couple of nights!

We can't keep getting away with this Gareth can't keep getting away this But we have been, we are, we could do one more time yet

A striker? In the box? From open play? In the 90th minute? For England?!

It's getting very nervous now that we're down to the last 5...

I'm guessing Gareth said to carry on as we were, not realising that the Dutch would change up their system which has successfully stifled our play. They've overloaded the midfield and there's nowhere for us to make those bursting runs and short and quick passes to progress things through the middle like we were, and they're happy to contain us on the flanks. I'm not sure Gareth knows how to counter that. Warming up for when he needs to win us another penalty

Shaw on at half-time is the change I wanted to see and thought we had a 0% chance of getting. Let's see how this goes.

Best half of the tournament so far for us. A long way to go, we need to make timely subs between 60' and 70' to keep this pace and control, otherwise...yeah. Foden, Mainoo, Bellingham, Walker and Saka are running things out there. To go back to the pen, though... Fully agree. It's a 50/50 where both players have the right to go for the ball, Kane gets the shot off and follows through which is exactly what causes the contact in the first place. We've seen them given, we've seen them not, it's not obvious at all (because the ref clearly didn't even clock it until VAR pulled it up), and so shouldn't have gone to VAR in the first place for me. The yellow on top of the pen is INCREDIBLY harsh. For me, as someone who used to play as a defender, I'd be absolutely livid if that were given against me. That ref wouldn't hear the end of it. Reminder that it's Zwayer refereeing, by the way, who made some awfully atrocious calls in the Netherlands v Romania Ro16 match which ruined the game, so, potentially more mistakes to come

Feels alien watching a quality side set out to absorb the pressure from an England squad at a major tournament

What a shot from Foden. Seems really on it tonight. Best 30' of England so far at this tournament. Still waiting for the drop-off. There's no difference for some of us with how our nations have performed at this tournament

Same, I had flashbacks to France in 2022

Whatever, I'll take it Alright, now it's time to sit back for the next 60

No way on earth that was a pen

Absolutely. I was left going "come on Saka, release...wait, where's Trippier?" This is Southgate He's saving that change for after the 75th minute

Just saying this to mate It's better for us to be chasing than to be leading most of the time, because we're absolutely useless at holding onto an advantage

Easy Goal of the Tournament contender. Serves us right for going with a high press for a change that's our 5 minutes done for today, time to sit back and wait until the last 10. In all seriousness, this is what happens when your tactics fluctuate so much throughout a match. You can't just save something like a high-press until the last 10/15 of each match and expect everyone to know what they're doing when a high-press crumbles the one time you're trying to use it from the start against quality opponents. No-one knew what they were doing.

Well, here we go. Do or die. Time to turn up or go home.

Comunicado oficial: For Premium this month, we're getting Job Simulator as our VR2 titles, and for Classics? Summoner (originally PS2) Ratchet and Clank Size Matters (originally PSP) Jeanne d'Arc (originally PSP)

Damn This new Splatoon DLC looks W I L D

...but which games are your stroopwafel, surströmming and soufflé @Dcubed? Full transparency: I landed on stroopwafel and surströmming first because their definitions just seem to fit so naturally into this...and then I just wanted a third 'S' for some alliteration I do love a good soufflé, though, and it's true I've yet to have a bad one! But yeah I'm a fraud and if I could think of a different dish which started with 'S' and fit the definition I might've gone with that instead As for Pastel de Nata, obviously it's not quite the same but it is our closest analogue in the UK I guess – when I was younger the egginess of an egg custard tart just wasn't appealing to me at all, and I haven't actually got back around to trying it again, I'd probably love it these days with how much I love other custard-based treats. Hmm... Think I'm in the same boat – outside of DLC and a couple of remasters, I don't think I've finished a whole new game released in 2024. Welp. Think I've got some catching up to do! Lovely picks @Jonnas, especially a fan of your surströmming (while we've had a bunch of trailers for Sparking Zero I hadn't really been processing much of it, the potential that it has to disappoint based on what you've said definitely makes it a worthy candidate) and stroopwafel – I'm going to need to add Twinsen's Quest to the list and keep an eye on it, because it had completely passed me by too and looks super charming! No word of a lie, this was one of the games I was thinking about as also having as my surströmming, so - unfortunately - I totally get it some of those previews were absolutely scathing! And while I generally go into Star Wars projects trying to not expect/hope for more than a 7/10, I'm honestly at this point praying this can scrape by as a 6/10 for me personally. So long as it isn't completely broken, the story is somewhat interesting and the music/sound quality is there, all won't be lost. It's a weird one too in that it has a clearly defined premise, I've watched all the trailers, and...I'm struggling to recall what the moment-to-moment gameplay even looks like. The brief shots that come to mind when thinking of this game are scaling a random cliff in an Uncharted style like you mention but without those Naughty Dog production values; a brief shot of space combat; her running out of a cantina with her axolotl dog guy in tow. Excellent pick for a surströmming I think. Totally pre-ordered the Gold Edition and booked that week off, mind you Definitely fits in my eyes. I've been thinking about where I'd like to jump in with more classic western RPGs once the dust has fully settled on my time with Baldur's Gate III and during my research the Path of Exile games (which I totally never confuse with Pillars of Eternity because of the shared acronym) have kept coming up, but it's crazy the number of times I've seen a trailer or seen someone react to the trailer in a showcase and thought it was already released or was just more DLC for Path of Exile until the title hit. I do think you're right and it's being lost in the shuffle a bit – I wonder if it's simply down to how it's turning up at a bunch of events which don't feel super connected, or if the game hasn't done enough to differ itself from the original at a glance for people like me who haven't played it? ARGH I HATE THAT YOU'RE PROBABLY RIGHT As I was scrolling down to read your post I saw this bit in my periphery and it just clicked. The online is probably not going to be great and yeah, I don't think the conversation around it is going to last terribly long.

Shocked there weren't any more goals, but it just never quite fell the right way for France. Mbappé still doesn't have a goal from open play across two Euros now, compared to the 12 goals he has in two World Cups. Barmy, but pretty much the same happened to Müller. Well deserved from Spain, been my favourite team to watch from the start of the tournament – they set the mark early on, and no-one else has really come close. Curious to see if Deschamps sticks around now. One last dance at the World Cup? Because we all know Zidane is seemingly up next. Yeah, unfortunately even with the subs France made at the right time to keep the pace up, taking Kanté off - even 60+ minutes in - basically resets you to 11 men, even with him at an advanced stage of his career. Spain didn't seem interested in a third and more in game management, and it's hard to blame them with the result they ended up with – Williams must be livid, though, thinking he had a few chances to run at tired French fullbacks before late on. I think on paper Spain make short work of either England or the Netherlands in the final, but it's never quite that simple. Both teams have had to ride their luck at points to get this far, whereas Spain haven't really had to, but that's the sort of intangible which can win you tournaments. On the other hand, Spain get their first choice CB and first choice RB back after the suspensions served in this match with Le Normand and Carvajal. Think that nose injury early on clearly had a massive impact on his tournament. It's no excuse, but I think it's certainly a factor, and also highlights to me that Ancelotti is going to have an interesting job of trying to find the right place for him in the Madrid attack this coming season, because he's both France's best LW and ST which means he hasn't really been able to settle into one position, whereas in past tournaments where he's had success he's been playing off Giroud. Either way, you can guarantee he lights up the next World Cup.

Triple change for France right on cue They're going for it!

This forced sub for Navas and how Spain manage Mbappé now potentially decides the match. Wild.

Don't think it was that funny the first time, but really wish they'd stop now with the "it's past his bedtime" nonsense when it comes to Yamal.