Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
THE MUGGY AIR weighing down on Dusseldorf today did not hold any magic for Albania, as they exited Euro 2024 in defeat to Spain.
A win for Albania would almost certainly have put them through, while a draw would mean a flicker of hope at least until Wednesday’s final accounting of the best third-placed sides across the group. But instead they lost to a second-string Spain side whose quality was simply overwhelming.
Albania will reflect warmly on their frantic 2-2 draw with Croatia and with regret on their close-shave loss to Italy. Here they had to little to argue against a Spanish side that will go deep into the tournament.
Albania were effectively trying to replicate what Ireland did at Euro 2016: win the final group game against an already-qualified heavyweight to squeeze into the last-16. Spain manager Luis de la Fuente then obligingly made like Antonio Conte and overhauled his team, with Aymeric Laporte the only survivor from the 1-0 win over Italy that secured Spain’s status as group winners.
De la Fuente is an old-school Spaniard, and has previously expressed his pride in his Catholicism and his love of bullfighting. Football-wise, he’s a bit more La furia roja than tiki-taka.
In keeping with this his Spain team is a bit more direct and vertical than predecessor’s Luis Enrique. While tonight’s captain Jesus Navas has played in better Spain teams, he has rarely been part of one so thrilling as this one.
Where wingers Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams tore Italy asunder all alone last week, so in their absence this was a more collective effort. In spite of making 10 changes, everyone fitted smoothly into the national 4-3-3 and methodically ripped Albania apart at the seams.
But while the system is familiar, Spain’s attitudes have shifted. This team has appointed more value to a quick forward ball, and it was their route to the opening goal. Aymeric Laporte skidded a delightful ball through midfield to Dani Olmo, cutting four Albanian players out of the game. Olmo then passed in behind to the overlapping Ferran Torres, who side-footed the ball in off the post, Thierry Henry-style.
The only good news from the first half for Albania was that Spain didn’t score again. They colonised possession and took the game entirely at their own pace, with Torres, Mikel Merino, and Dani Olmo spurning opportunities to give the scoreboard a more just look.
The game meant everything to Albania and comparatively little to Spain, which made this an altogether more dispiriting means of defeat. Quickly Spain drained Albania of optimism and then gradually took away their hope. The Albanian supporters’ wall of jeers during Spanish possession faded after a few minutes – it had to, there’s not enough oxygen in the atmosphere equipped for that scale of a job – but they erupted again midway through the half, in a kind of last spasm of frustration.
When Kristjan Asllani let fly from long range before the break, forcing a decent if needlessly elaborate save from David Raya, it had the effect of re-animating the whole stadium. Spain then quickly took the ball back to once again anesthetise the whole occasion. Joselu came close to killing it with Spain’s second goal just after half-time, angling an acrobatic volley narrowly wide.
Spain’s commitment to finding that second goal was dubious anyhow. Dani Olmo, scooting away on a counter-attack and with Ferran open to his right, opted to try and lob the goalkeeper from just across the halfway line. He miscued the effort and it skewed along the ground.
Advertisement
Sylvinho turned to striker Armando Broja just shy of the hour mark, whose involvement in the competition thus far has been curtailed by a lack of match fitness following a half-season rusting on the Fulham bench. He instantly made an impact, though: an instinctive penalty-box hook towards goal was palmed away by Raya. That brought forth another enormous swell of noise around the ground.
That moment seemed to finally rock the game off-kilter, and Broja almost pounced on a Spanish mistake to scarper clear on goal, only for Robin Le Normand – on as a half-time substitute – to intervene at the last moment.
With Spain’s intent dwindling, de la Fuente introduced Morata and Yamal, just to remind Albania that his side were not in the business of rubber-stamping other people’s dreams.
Arber Hoxha was introduced to Broja-level roars from the Albanian fans and his direct dribbling sustained the noise, flashing a shot from distance just wide of the far post. Albania’s lack of quality, though, meant they were restricted to these kinds of potshots.
Albania clawed their way into the final quarter through sheer desire, where set pieces held some hope. They won a wide free-kick in the first of four additional minutes, but when Broja manage to pilfer the ball clear of a scramble of bodies when it was put into the box, his shot was too close to Raya.
In the final minute Albania won the ball back on the edge of the Spanish box and then whipped a terrific cross across the box to…nobody at all. None of the Albanian players attacked the cross, instead all stood on their heels. It summed up their admirable effort: just not convincing enough when it mattered.
Albania: Thomas Strakosha; Ivan Balliu, Berat Djimitsi, Arlind Ajeti, Mario Mitaj; Qazim Laci (Medon Bershia, 70′), Yiber Ramadani, Kristjan Asllani; Jasir Asani, Rey Manaj (Armando Broja, 59′), Nedim Bajrami (Arber Hoxha, 70′)
Spain: David Raya; Jesus Navas, Dani Vivian, Aymeric Laporte (Robin Le Normand, HT), Alex Grimaldo; Martin Zubimendi, Mikel Merino; Ferran Torres (Lamine Yamal, 71′), Dani Olmo (Alex Baena, 83′), Mikel Oyarzabal (Fermin Lopez 61′); Joselu (Alvaro Morata, 71′)
Referee: Glenn Nyberg (Sweden)
Written by Gavin Cooney and originally published on The 42 whose award-winning team produces original content that you won’t find anywhere else: on GAA, League of Ireland, women’s sport and boxing, as well as our game-changing rugby coverage, all with an Irish eye. Subscribe here.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Close
3 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic.
Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy
here
before taking part.
@Robert Halvey: in this case, because she is none of the things in your list. I think it is the ridiculous hype that winds people up. Swift is a prototype for a certain business model in the music industry. That’s her real significance. It began with Presley and the Beatles and is now at the stage marked by swifts marketing,merchandising machine. Worth studying but the music itself ,though popular, is nothing to write home about.
@Robert Halvey: Just one of many things that upsets them I’d imagine. They spend their days complaining and accusing everyone and everything of being “woke”, constantly angry.
@Alan: That’s fair, I think her music is the blandest type of pop that would never interest me. Very little pop music has any interest for me, at the best of times.
She gets a particular level of venom directed towards her that is just not justified though. She is extremely successful and worked hard to achieve that success. She has shone a light on how artists can take control of their music, via the Taylor Versions (which, regardless of what genre or artists you or I like more, benefits from).
Pretty sure that the most vitriolic types that attack her for doing her thing, are the same types that follow people like Andrew Tate or Trump.
@ben wu: but then these records come out in multiple formats and the fans buy them all. Extremely cynical marketing? Plus she doesn’t write all the songs herself, so the image is a composite of various other peoples ideas. Which is fine if you make a point of indicating that. End of the line for me is her bringing her boyfriend onstage ffs lol liberation for women, that’s what I preach
@Alan: As far as I know, regarding the Taylor Versions for those 6 albums, she has always had a songwriting credit, or co-contributing songwriting credit on every song. It’s literally the reason she was able to re-record them when she got blocked from buying the masters.
There are not many major artists that can pull off that sort of move, Prince may have been one, but he chose a different road.
That her fans bought those records, is not really of too much interest to me, and from what I’ve heard, a significant number of people that are not her fans (people that write songs) also bought them just to send a signal to the types that are buying up back catalogues just to profit off of.
@James T.Kirk: Do you not find it a little odd, that the ones that post on every article about her and shout loud about how much they dislike her, are the same types that view every article and think their comment has value?
@Karen Marten: Music tastes are subjective. There are a lot of very successful artists for whom I have utterly no interest in. I don’t engage in disparaging them or their fans, since…why bother? Could also add that success is a metric that is objective, whether number of records sold, or number of concert goers.
I’m fine with liking a lot of artists that don’t have pop success or mainstream recognition, I just don’t see any point in just hating on ones that I wouldn’t listen to. It seems very much like a waste of time.
No idea what the rest of your post even means.
What is going on here? A person with an average voice and who puts together two and three-chord jingles is paid billions? Plato warned that the decline and fall of civilisation would be preceded by the decay of its music. Future looks grim
When will this Swift nonsense end?
It’s going on for weeks, just do your concerts and get lost.
There are other things going on besides these First World problems
Dear Friends in Music,
As a Non-Touring Independent Artist, it’s difficult to grow a fan base.
I’m looking for your help in building a bigger following on Spotify.
I would be very grateful if you could open the link below and click the FOLLOW BUTTON and then click the follow button on my Spotify page.
Very much appreciated,
Thank you
Patrick
Bought two tickets, not for me I hasten to add, but have listened to a few of her songs, and she’s not bad. More a Zep fan myself, with a bit of Mahler or Boulez thrown in for good measure, but now when she comes on the radio, I don’t turn the dial as they say.
Zelenskyy tells Fox News relationship with Trump can still be salvaged
Updated
5 hrs ago
29.5k
Baltoney
Two young men die, two others seriously injured in single-vehicle crash in Donegal
3 hrs ago
24.9k
Oval Office
Zelenskyy leaves White House summit after Trump claims he's 'not ready for peace'
Updated
13 hrs ago
96.0k
591
Your Cookies. Your Choice.
Cookies help provide our news service while also enabling the advertising needed to fund this work.
We categorise cookies as Necessary, Performance (used to analyse the site performance) and Targeting (used to target advertising which helps us keep this service free).
We and our 153 partners store and access personal data, like browsing data or unique identifiers, on your device. Selecting Accept All enables tracking technologies to support the purposes shown under we and our partners process data to provide. If trackers are disabled, some content and ads you see may not be as relevant to you. You can resurface this menu to change your choices or withdraw consent at any time by clicking the Cookie Preferences link on the bottom of the webpage .Your choices will have effect within our Website. For more details, refer to our Privacy Policy.
We and our vendors process data for the following purposes:
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
Cookies Preference Centre
We process your data to deliver content or advertisements and measure the delivery of such content or advertisements to extract insights about our website. We share this information with our partners on the basis of consent. You may exercise your right to consent, based on a specific purpose below or at a partner level in the link under each purpose. Some vendors may process your data based on their legitimate interests, which does not require your consent. You cannot object to tracking technologies placed to ensure security, prevent fraud, fix errors, or deliver and present advertising and content, and precise geolocation data and active scanning of device characteristics for identification may be used to support this purpose. This exception does not apply to targeted advertising. These choices will be signaled to our vendors participating in the Transparency and Consent Framework.
Manage Consent Preferences
Necessary Cookies
Always Active
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Store and/or access information on a device 105 partners can use this purpose
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development 137 partners can use this purpose
Use limited data to select advertising 106 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Create profiles for personalised advertising 79 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Use profiles to select personalised advertising 78 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Create profiles to personalise content 38 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Use profiles to select personalised content 34 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Measure advertising performance 127 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Measure content performance 60 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources 75 partners can use this purpose
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Develop and improve services 82 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Use limited data to select content 39 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
Use precise geolocation data 43 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Actively scan device characteristics for identification 25 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Ensure security, prevent and detect fraud, and fix errors 87 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Deliver and present advertising and content 97 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Match and combine data from other data sources 69 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Link different devices 51 partners can use this feature
Always Active
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Identify devices based on information transmitted automatically 85 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
Save and communicate privacy choices 65 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say