Euro 2020: England v Denmark buildup – as it happened

... and with that, my friends, the live baton is passed to your friend and mine, Paul Doyle. He’s preparing to take you on a journey. Whatever happens, it’ll be a journey. Good luck to England, good luck to Denmark, may the best team win the right to pen a fairytale for the ages. Thanks for reading!

The Fan Zone in Trafalgar Square. The calm before the storm.

Some expectation management, in the form of a lovely email from Martinho Lucas Pires. “As a Portuguese citizen, my only comfort in the days after our loss against Belgium has been to enjoy the amazing energy of the knock-out stages, and the brilliance of the Guardian’s daily updates and reports (yes, I’m an overseas fan). After seeing the It’s Coming Home fever and how it is rising in the UK, I’ll play a bit the party-cracker by saying … watch out.

“I was there in 2004 when we put our flags on the windows and adopted the team to our hearts and souls, just to see our dreams crushed at home (at my Benfica’s stadium, of all places). In 2016 all of France was siding with their likely host winners when our team made history with a goal from the most unlikely of players (2004 was suddenly wiped out from all Portuguese collective memory) and basically shattered the home team’s dreams.

“You are playing at Wembley, semi-final and final, against Denmark (the coolest of underdogs) and, if you pass, against Italy (the winners of winners). And you’re England, and you are already home. Best of luck mate, but fill the freezer with some pints. You’ll need them: either for good, or for bad.”

“What happens when three hijabis walk into a bar?” Shaista Aziz on a tweet that went viral, and why Gareth Southgate’s inclusive England team is winning so many hearts.

“As a Northumbrian I also pronounce home hjem,” writers Bill Bevan. “But, I’ll try not to tonight. We do have our own version of hygge, of course. It’s all ganning canny!”

Choose your own adventure ... with Adrian Chiles.

Hvorfor aye mand. Jimmy worries: “Regarding that great Tweet by the Danish FA (12.40pm) and more specifically the It’s Coming Hjem (*Hjem = Danish for Home) ... as a Geordie, have I been accidentally supporting Denmark all this time?”

Hair are your aerials.

The good doctor.

Somebody had to do it.

As if going out in the semis wasn’t upsetting enough, today’s Knowledge asks ...

From proper fans to politicians. Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer have been yammering on in support of England. You know the sort of thing they do, there’s probably no need to click. Although Starmer does say that “there’s been only one song featured in our house since Saturday … It’s Coming Home!” which is the most suspiciously disingenuous sounding music-based quote from a Labour leader since Gordon Brown insisted he was a fan of Arctic Monkeys.

A decent range of retro shirts on display down Wembley Park Boulevard. Denmark’s classic Hummel effort from the mid 1980s, the Euro 96 job, the most egregious and yet somehow also the best number from the Admiral years, and a red t-shirt that sort of references the 1966 World Cup final. A good effort, all told, plus a full ten out of ten for their tinnies game. Fully stocked up for the next couple of hours at least.

Luke Shaw or Joakim Mæhle? Which marauding full back is best? There’s only one way to find out, and it’s not a fight.

More breathless stuff from Gary Neville, who will tucker himself out before kick-off at this rate. “History beckons for this team. To reach back-to-back Semi-Finals is incredible, but it’s not enough. You become nearly men! The only danger is that the lads don’t see the danger. When you’re euphoric and on a wave in sport or life you can have that feeling it’s never going to end and something becomes your right. It doesn’t work like that. Go for it lads! Focus and grab this chance!”

“Tonight is a night to be cold, don’t let emotion take over.” It sounds like a lyric from one of K-Tel’s Country Classic cassettes. Perhaps sung by Charley Pride or Conway Twitty. But in fact it’s Gary Neville letting it all pour out on Instagram. He adds: “These are young men who haven’t got massive life experience. I’ve been there as a 21-year-old in Euro 96, all of a sudden it’s gone! You’re packing your bags at 1am. Don’t be driving home at 1am in the morning!” [slow pedal steel guitar solo to fade]

“K-Tel! Thank you for the memories.” You’re welcome, Charles Antaki. “I don’t recall that particular LP to mind, but many others, as I used to work in a record shop as a youngster. It was in fact part of the EMI factory shop for workers at the plant, so we didn’t stock much hip stuff; big sellers were James Last and Jim Reeves (not together, I don’t think). Regularly as clockwork, after a big K-Tel push on the TV, people would come in wanting Pop Classics Now! or Sounds of Connemara!, or whatever, only to go away disappointed and disgusted to be reminded that they were, as it very insistently said in the adverts, Not Available In Shops.”

Actual football, then. Here’s Nicky Bandini on Jorginho, whose preposterously calm penalty sent Italy into the final.

Three Lions isn’t the most rousing official England track, of course. That would be The Road to Spain, a narration by Ray Clemence on the 1982 K-Tel album This Time, which culminates in the Churchillian call to arms: “I know that we didn’t qualify in the way we would have liked, but hopefully that’s in the past.”

World in Motion was pretty good too, mind, and on that subject, here’s Dan Hampson of Omega Auctions, who has been clearing out Peter Hook’s loft by the look and sound of it. “This is one to file under deep cuts. We’ve just published a few snippets of never-before-heard raps from the ‘World In Motion’ sessions, including a simply stunning effort (really) from Peter Beardsley. We’re on our umpteenth-hundred listen here - it gets better every time. Loads of amazing stuff in the sale but none as important as this one.”

(More musings on This Time: The Album here, for those who need them.)

Worrying scenes as the dog situation in Feltham threatens to spiral out of control. Bruno and his friends are running amok. This poor woman must have a Snausages bill as long as her arm.

It’s not technically a Euros story, but poor old Trent Alexander-Arnold deserves a mention after missing out on England’s summer of fun, doesn’t he, so here we go. Oakley Cannonier, the ball boy who was praised for his quick thinking in tossing the ball to the Liverpool defender ahead of that quickly-taken corner against Barcelona, has signed a professional deal with the club. The 17-year-old striker seems to have a taste for historical footnotes: Cannonier also scored the very last goal at the club’s old Melwood training ground, in an under-18s game against Leeds.

Dogs in Feltham latest. Bruno’s still in the back, last we heard. This one’s out here.

A deep cut now, courtesy of New York based crate-digger Victor Ortega. “I don’t really know what they are singing about except RED and WHITE,” he says. “Aggressive synths.”

Ah, well, I can field this, courtesy of the aforementioned essential tome Danish Dynamite, by Rob Smyth, Lars Eriksen and Mike Gibbons. It’s Denmark’s 1986 World Cup single, with PSV and Denmark midfielder Frank Arnesen on lead vox. This became the fastest and biggest selling single in Danish history. The chorus goes: “We are red, we are white, we stand together side by side.” The comedian Jarl Friis-Mikkelsen, who penned the lyrics, wanted to record a B-side to be sung after defeats, but the DBU nixed his rewrite: “We are red, we are white, we are really deep in shite.” Now that would have knocked Three Lions into a cocked hat.

Time to delve into the Joy of Six archive. That should kill an hour or two. Here are a couple to be getting on with, both featuring plenty of hot Danish action. In fact, if you were to draw a Venn diagram featuring sets of hygge and retro soccer whimsy, these articles would be slap-bang in the middle.

Spotted earlier today in Feltham, home of a thousand punchlines, as football fever sweeps the land ... it’s Bruno the dog! How, wonders Bruno, to tell his owner that, truth be told, he’s not into Big Sport, taking a much more internationalist approach to life, believing that nation states should cooperate rather than lock horns? Probably best to keep quiet, don’t want to upset them, plus they might cut off the supply of Snausages.

Nine months are a long time in football, right? England and Harry Maguire will certainly hope so.

“I‘ve been thinking a lot about the Lightning Seeds these past couple of weeks,” admits Beth from Tottenham. “They were a decent little band, but not massively well known. Surely not in a million years would they have thought Three Lions would take off the way it has. Do you know the situation with royalties? Cos if they got a penny for every time someone yelled ‘it’s coming home’, they’d be stinking rich!” No idea about the amount of coin Ian Broudie has trousered, though during the 90s he’d have surely been on a decent BBC stipend for repeated use of earlier hit The Life of Riley, which for a while doubled as the existential soundtrack to Matt Le Tissier’s every move.

Today’s Fiver. Yet another tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

Speaking of the old World Cup, here are the latest odds for next winter in Qatar.

• 6-1: Brazil, France
• 8-1: England
• 10-1: Spain
• 12-1: Argentina, Germany, Belgium
• 16-1: Italy, Portugal, Netherlands
• 40-1: Colombia, Uruguay

You can get 400-1 on Wales, 500-1 on the Republic of Ireland, and a cool 1,000-1 on Northern Ireland and Scotland. Qatar are 200s.

The Spanish are sanguine after last night’s bittersweet defeat, as Eric Garcia explains. “We have to think this can be the start of something great. We got this far, we’ve seen other sides who are stronger than us on paper and fell before us. There were many changes, many new faces but what we’ve done is spectacular.” Jordi Alba, still recovering from having his jowls entertainingly warmed by Giorgio Chiellini before the penalty shootout, adds: “We showed that this team is ready for the World Cup. We’ll see what happens in the World Cup as there’ll be great sides such as Argentina and Brazil but we’ll be fighting and looking to play a big role.”

There will be 8,000 Danes at Wembley cheering their lads on this evening; Julie Rosendal emails us from Denmark with the details: “Though Danes can’t travel to Wembley to cheer the Danish team on due to C-19, there’ll be 8,000 expat Danes filling the area behind one of the goals. The Danish FA has been actively drumming up expats in the UK, and they’re calling themselves #TheExpatArmy. There’s more info here at the Director and Head of Commercial at Danish FA’s twitter (translation below):

Translation of tweet: Everything is now sold out in the Danish sections! 8,000 Danes living in the UK has bought a ticket for the match tonight. We’re completely blown away and this surpasses everything we could have hoped for. Some has named themselves #TheExpatArmy. I salute you! It’s coming hjem*!

(*Hjem = Danish for Home)

#TheExpatArmy
#ItsComingHjem

Rah rah rah!

all best from Julie Rosendal, a Dane in DK.

As for Italy, already in the final, here are a few more words from boss Roberto Mancini, yet to swing the boots up on the desk, pop a cigar on, and get stuck into the grappa. “We haven’t done everything we need to. There’s still one step to go. Now we have to rest up because this really was very challenging. We certainly struggled with Spain’s ball possession, had some issues, but we wanted to make the final. I did say to the players before the match this would be our hardest game of the competition, because when you go into your sixth match in such quick succession with all the travelling that we’ve had to do, it does become very tiring. I thank the players because they believed right from day one that we could create something incredible.”

Let’s not get too fixated on England, though. Other teams (well, two remain) are available. Danish Dynamite, huh? Any old excuse.

How about a bit more on the aforementioned parping disgrace at Clarence House, where renditions of Sweet Caroline and Three Lions filled the sweet summer air yesterday afternoon? The Prince of Wales invited the Band of the Coldstream Guards onto his lawn to play instrumental versions of the hits, the former written by Neil Diamond, the latter with lyrics by popular 1990s comics Steve Punt and Hugh Dennis (subs, please check). Exactly why, we’ll never know, because he was away with the Duchess of Cornwall carrying out engagements, but this is how the world works now. A royal source says: “Both Their Royal Highnesses will be closely following the outcome.”

Hello everyone ... and many thanks to Will, for the mother of all hospital passes. Now then, what shall we do all afternoon while we wait for the MBM?

That is all from me today. The good news is that Scott Murray is taking over and he has loads of interesting things to say.

Roll up, roll up.

“Because this is not just another game,” quotes Paul Roome from Sean Boiling at 1131. “This is the only time they will play in a semi final of a major tournament at home. It will never happen again in their careers.”

“Does playing at home make much of a difference to the match? Does Sean really think that winning the Euros at Wembley is sufficiently bigger than e.g. beating the Brazilians at the Maracana in the WC Final that it will add an extra dose of nerves?

“They’re professional footballers. They get out there and play. If they don’t/can’t then they shouldn’t be at the top level.”

Players will tell you that playing in front of home fans does make a big difference, especially after a long time without supporters.

This is a very British approach to getting the country up for the big match.

Premier League star Callum Hudson-Odoi has avoided a driving ban after explaining he was running late for training when he was caught going at 90mph in a 50mph zone.

The Chelsea winger, 20, admitted speeding in his black Mercedes on August 6 last year on the A3 in south-west London.

Prosecutor Alison Larkin said Hudson-Odoi, who had three points on his licence from a previous speeding matter, was clocked driving at 90mph on a 50mph restricted road at 9.47am.

Top QC Oliver Glasgow, defending, referred to a letter his client had written to the court explaining he was “under considerable pressure from work” and experiencing “personal problems in his life”.

“On his journey to work that day there was a road closure,” he said. “He was expected to arrive at training at a certain time and fearing he would not, he chose to increase his speed.

“It was a foolish and stupid decision on his behalf. The personal circumstances in his life and in particular the pressure of work led him to make a very silly decision in attempting to get to work on time,” the barrister added. “What he did was an extremely stupid decision.”

Hudson-Odoi could have faced a driving ban but magistrate Gilles Casse ordered him to pay a total of £834, including a £667 fine and costs, and endorsed his licence with six points.

Italy are not worrying about who they will face in the final, says Federico Chiesa.

“We need to simply think about ourselves just as we have done so far this tournament, that is what has got us this far,” he said. “We need to think about what we need to do there out on the pitch and only after Wednesday will we think about what is next.

“Denmark really play with a lot of intensity and throughout this tournament they have really proved what a top side they are and they have some quality players.

“England have really shown that their individual players can be matchwinners, they have got some top players in the final third and all across the pitch. We will enjoy the second semi-final and see who we are up against.”

There is a cracking episode of Inspector Morse on ITV3 at the moment. Will this be the best thing ITV show today?

“Sorry for the long email, but we’ve got plenty of time before kick-off,” Sean Boiling begins (do not worry, the longer the email the less I have to think of something to write myself).

“The little bit of sports psychology I’m aware of says that the culture/mindset of ‘it’s just another game’ is the way to get peak performance. That three foot putt to win the Masters is the exact same three foot putt you’ve practised countless times - in fact your skill, preparation, muscle memory, technique etc means that you could hit the putt with your eyes closed. Awareness of the outside context will only hamper your performance.

“So, that said … how does the England team, Gareth, his staff, the players deal with that today?

“Because this is not just another game. This is the only time they will play in a semi final of a major tournament at home. It will never happen again in their careers. Even Jude Bellingham. What does Gareth say to the players? How do you as a player put the context aside? At the same time as all of those other things that players say about feeding off the crowd and using Wembley to their advantage etc …”

Couple of cans to relax themselves and then straight into the Danes, I suspect.

Jonathan Wilson’s big brain looks at tactical matters.

Who will be the third forward tonight? I reckon Southgate will play a back three and he likes to keep the opposition guessing, so I wonder if Phil Foden will be starting.

“We have so much talent and when you train against these players every day … when you get on the pitch against the opposition, because the players we’ve got are world class, you are ready,” Trippier says. “When you train against these guys every day there are no fears.”

Where there are winners, there are also losers.

Matthias Dressler-Bredsdoff emails re 10.20: “Just to let you know that the expression “over stok og sten” does in fact make perfect sense: in Denmark, particularly in the country-side, there’s a lot of timber-frame houses, called bindingsværkshuse. The expression “over stok og sten” refers to a practice of painting them very quickly i.e not minding whether you paint the frame or the stone (stok og sten).”

I know it makes sense but cannot see it catching on in England.

I believe this is also a pun.

According to the source of all my journalistic materials, Wikipedia: “Hygge is a Danish and Norwegian word for a mood of coziness and comfortable conviviality with feelings of wellness and contentment. As a cultural category with its sets of associated practices hygge has more or less the same meanings in Danish and Norwegian, but the notion is more central in Denmark than in Norway.”

Are Denmark underdogs tonight? Yes ... unless you ask their coach.

It’s all been worth it just for this. Although, is Atomic Kitten without Kerry Katona the real deal?

Kasper Schmeichel is a good sort.

1. Three at the back
2. Always
3. Possibly/to some extent
4. Will be on the ball for 55% of the time it is in play

I think I have solved all of the world’s problems with those answers.

Real-life Danish person Lars Bøgegaard emails: “Just for the objective balance in the blog (see 9.34): An old Danish saying “Det går over stok og sten” means that something is going really, really fast. Directly translated (which makes absolutely no sense in English, but wait for it…): “It goes over kane and stones.’”

You’re quite right, it makes no sense.

And then one night in Rome ...

“For tonight’s game, as has been the case for every knockout England game, my wife has made plans to go out for dinner,” emails Karl Gibbons. “If … if England win, then for the final on Sunday, she will have to make plans or I shall kick her out to walk the roads for 90 minutes. I will message her score updates – I am not that mean!”

She is a lucky, lucky woman.

Lovely stuff.

Who are Steve O’Brien, Daniel Parker and Dr Benjamin Rosenblatt? I hear you ask. Sachin Nakrani has the answer.

Former England manager Roy Hodgson believes Gareth Southgate’s side have been “absolutely perfect” during Euro 2020.

Hodgson, 73, who spent four years in charge of the national team until 2016, said he expected England to beat Denmark in Wednesday night’s semi-final at Wembley.

“I’m very confident indeed because I think the England team is playing so exceptionally well from the start of the tournament really,” he told ITV’s Good Morning Britain.

“In fact, they have been faultless. I can’t think of anything to criticise, although I’m sure there are people who do find something. But they must be hard pushed to find something. It’s been absolutely perfect.”

England know plenty about semi-finals, less so about finals. Andy Hunter takes a look back at the Three Lions’ history in the last four.

“Can England bring home the Danish bacon?” asks Ladka Lal. “If Shaw continues to slice through their defence like a knife through Lurpak then England are bringing home to Gareth Southgate’s Lego House that is Wembley.

“The boy from Brent, borne of poverty but worth his weight in gold, the kind of North London whose more than able and the boy called Bruce but now a globetrotter. Sterling, Kane, Shaw, it’s ours you know?”

No more Danish puns, please, people.

IT’S COMING HOME!

Now do classical gas.

Luis Enrique is taking the positives out of last night’s defeat to Italy.

“It’s not a sad night for me,” the Spanish manager said. “Not at all. Of course there’s disappointment but that’s elite football. You have to be able to win and lose.

“We were very pleased to win the penalty shootout in the quarter-finals but we can’t get desperate now. We have to just congratulate our opponents. You’re always thinking about the present, thinking about being competitive.

“I said at the start we were one of the eight teams that could have won it. I don’t think I was wrong about that. I think we now go home knowing we competed and were one of the best teams at the competition.”

Darrell Jones emails to say: “Very concerned about the picture you just posted of the England team doing star jumps. It appears to show a woeful lack of coordination. This does not bode well. :-)”

Could be a unique plan to defend corners by bemusing the opposition.

Denmark might be seen as underdogs but they do have a Euros title under their belt.

Italy will have an extra day of rest compared to the victors tonight. Roberto Mancini will want his players to use it wisely after a tough 120 minutes against Spain.

“First and foremost, we’re delighted to have been able to provide this wonderful evening’s entertainment to the Italian people,” the former Manchester City boss said.

“Now we still have one more game to go and we wanted to do exactly that if possible. We knew it was going to be a very tough match because in terms of ball possession Spain are the best around. They caused us problems. We had to dig in when we needed to. We tried to score or create opportunities when we could.

“It was a very open match and of course there were some issues because we did not have too much possession. However, we wanted to make it into the final and we kept trying right until the end.As ever, penalties are a lottery but I really want to take my hat off to Spain. They’re a wonderful team.”

Coming in your ears.

I mainly want England to win the tournament so I never have to hear the question “is football coming home?” ever again. The reporter on BBC is just shouting at poor children asking the big question. Another reporter is forcing young kids to sing at a Danish school. Every cliche of news reporting is being ticked off this morning.

“Let’s face it, Wembley has always carried its own kind of voodoo, torn at times between the anti-energy of those midweek friendlies when the national stadium carries all the fierce, scalding passion of a night at the Ideal Home Exhibition and the quiet creep of hostility that was present during the tedious 0-0 against Scotland.”

The former Denmark coach Åge Hareide just told BBC Breakfast he wants the game to go to penalties tonight, thinking Kasper Schmeichel could be the hero for the Danes. You will be shocked to hear that David James is backing England to get through.

After all the talk, Harry Kane has called on England to make their point on the pitch as they look to reach the Euro 2020 final.

“It’s a chance to go out there and prove it, we can talk as much as we want but the bottom line is we have to go out there and perform,” said the striker. “We can go and be free, enjoy it, but have a real focus on trying to get through to the final.

“Whenever you are an England player stepping out into a major tournament every game is a high-pressure situation. I spoke after the Germany game about the pressure that was on us as a team to perform. We came through that well and, the further you go, we were expected to win the Ukraine game. But you still have to go out there and perform under that pressure. It’s part and parcel of major tournament football.

“A lot of us have been dealing with it at club level, Champions League finals, cup finals, so the squad is more experienced than what it was in 2018. It’s about performing on the matchdays, there’s a lot of talk going into this semi-final and it’s a chance for us to go one step further than we did in Russia in 2018.”

The bigger question is on a night like this: what are your superstitions ahead of a big match?

Do you eat the same meal every time? Wear the same underwear or socks? Do you watch from a specific chair? Let me now.

Here is plenty of things to get you in the mood for the next 11 and a half hours.

Karen Carney on Raheem Sterling ...

Ames on Kane ...

Southgate keen on making history ...

The morning news has been heavily focused on the England game tonight. Poor journalists turning up outside Wembley at 6am for a match that kicks off at 8pm. There is certainly no shortage of hype around and will be looking to add plenty.

Let’s start with last night ...

Match report ...

Mancini’s delight ...

Barney Ronay on Italy’s grit ...

And player ratings ...