Adidas vs Nike football boots – which are better? As our Euro 2024 Boot Battle enters the knockout stages of the tournament, all the answers will come. Today opened with Switzerland v defending champions Italy, while hosts Germany faced Denmark. Here’s all the action from the first Last 16 games.
Idle Italy No Match for Super Swiss
Italy faced Switzerland in the day’s opener, in an interesting clash. Italy haven’t exactly blown the tournament away, conceding first in all of their games so far. That run continued, but more on that later.
Breel Embolo had a fabulous chance to open the scoring, but Gianluigi Donnarumma stopped his curling effort as the Swiss forward ran clean through early on. The Italian keeper could do little about Remo Freuler’s effort eight minutes before half time though. The midfielder expertly ran onto a pass in the box and as it flicked up, volleyed it home to give his side the lead. Italy were ABSOLUTELY DREADFUL as they went into the break 1-0 down.
Ruben Vargas added to the Italian misery just after half time. He curled an effort into the top corner to give the Swiss a deserved 2-0 lead.
Italy Making England Look Like Prime Brazil
We’ve piled on England for their shocking performances thus far at the Euros, but Italy took the biscuit with their efforts against Switzerland. We use ‘efforts’ very loosely, as they really didn’t seem to care that they were defending champions and on the brink of Euros exit in the Last 16. Slow build up play and second to every ball were two damning characteristics of their play.
They did go close, or rather Fabian Schär went close. His headed clearance inside the box inadvertently went towards his own goal and grazed the post. The same goal’s woodwork was hit a little while later. Gianluca Scamacca stuck out a right leg and could only put his shot onto the post from a few yards out. But don’t be fooled into thinking the Italians were piling on the pressure. They did NOTHING else. Terrible showing from them and they got a warranted early exit from the tournament. Meanwhile, Switzerland were highly impressive and booked their place in the quarter-finals.
Adidas
–
Nike
Akanji (Clean Sheet): 2
Freuler (Goal): 3, (MOTM): 4
Vargas (Goal): 2
Running Total: Adidas 199 – Nike 225
Hosts ‘Rain’ Supreme v Denmark
The hosts showed no nerves in their Last-16 clash against Denmark. Within four minutes, Nico Schlotterbeck had the ball in the net but his header was ruled out for a foul from the corner. That didn’t deter the Germans, with Kai Havertz having two efforts well saved by Kasper Schmeichel. Rasmus Højlund had the Danes’ best chance, but his effort was well smothered by Manuel Neuer. Both sides went into the break level. That was after the game was paused for 30 minutes due to torrential rain and lightening – is this Germany or England?
Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head
The rain eased somewhat in the second half on a stormy night in Germany. Early on in the half, Denmark thought they’d taken the lead. The ball fell kindly for Joachim Andersen, who lashed it into the bottom corner but his effort was ruled out for a tight offside.
Just minutes later, Anderson’s night went from bad to awful. He was harshly penalised for a handball from inside the box, and conceded a penalty. Thank God we have that snickometer (I think that’s its name). What did the founding fathers of football do back in the 1800s without such a device to determine what or what is not a handball? Anyway, up stepped Havertz to calmly slot home to simultaneously take himself to joint-top of the goalscoring charts while giving his side the lead.
The Arsenal man should have doubled the Germans’ lead as a delightful, and I mean DELIGHTFUL touch not only allowed him to take the ball into his stride, but also saw him race past two defenders and run clean through on goal. His finished wasn’t as impressive though, as he could only dink it wide past the on-rushing Schmeichel.
Midway through the second half, Germany did get that decisive second goal. It was a similar chance to the previous Havertz one, as Jamal Musiala ran through on goal and added to his impressive personal goal tally. The Germans saw the game out and advanced through to the quarter-finals.
Adidas
Schlotterbeck (Clean Sheet): 2, (MOTM): 4
Nike
Musiala (Goal): 3
Rudiger (Clean Sheet): 2
Kimmich (Clean Sheet): 2
Raum (Clean Sheet): 2
Running Total: Adidas 205 – Nike 234
Boot Battle Standings (Adidas 205 – Nike 234) – Matchday 14:
The first day of the knockouts did not disappoint. Switzerland emerged as real dark horses for the tournament with such an overwhelming win against Italy. It was only 2-0 but Italy didn’t lay a glove on the Swiss. Maybe they were just so bad that even my Sunday League team could have defeated them, but even so it was impressive.
In the later game, the hosts were too much for Denmark. Schlotterbeck single-handedly saved Adidas with a clean sheet and MOTM, ensuring they didn’t fall even further behind Nike.
Get some good sleep tonight, as tomorrow England will threaten to bore us all to death once more against Slovakia. In the other game, Spain will face a tricky tie against a Georgia team that have already overachieved.
