You almost feel sorry for Spain. They’ve played the best football. They’ve scored the prettiest goals. They’ve beaten all the top teams. But they don’t have...
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/NTDTV3LK3NFCDFVRXKTLYW6QMU.jpg "Ken Early: Toni Kroos castigated after tackling tough subject carefully. That’s social media for you")
Sitting on a train from Düsseldorf to Munich on Sunday afternoon, I was idly counting up the number of hours I have spent on intercity trains...
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/OL523IWHMSML6BDBMIKZN4HPQI.jpg "Switzerland expose Italy’s lack of talent to dump defending champions out")
Round of 16: Switzerland 2 Italy 0 Italy’s reign as European champions is over after they were dismantled 2-0 by a far superior Switzerland at the...
:quality(70):focal(2835x1550:2845x1560)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/PJDLPJXKQFEQXCLVNTZ57APNKA.jpg "Ken Early: Nationalism takes you to peculiar places … especially at Euro 2024")
I was idling at my desk in the press box before the start of the Hungary-Germany match in Stuttgart last week, when my attention was attracted...
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/QAW7DPF4QIBT7HLQPRYQ76ANOM.jpg "Ken Early: To travel by train for Euro 2024 is to see a textbook case of neoliberal capitalism’s endgame")
In September 2023, Deutsche Bahn (German Rail) unveiled an unusual new PR campaign. The campaign was unusual because it was designed to acknowledge that everyone in...
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/JRKVB25JZDRE6THYIPJYNKJ4K4.jpg "Ken Early: England’s structural problems on display in unconvincing win")
Euro 2024: England 1 Serbia 0 England are off to a winning start but the question they left hanging in the air at the Schalke Arena:...
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/Z7BQTM4HIFHTISE5T5WUCDTEZI.jpg "Ken Early: It’s all about the football as England bring the firepower and Portugal bring Cristiano Ronaldo")
International tournaments used to mean a rare chance to see the best players all playing against each other. Now the best players mostly play for a...
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/VCHGVVX7OEF5OE5OVXRMQXX2AU.jpg "We no longer try to understand why Real Madrid win the Champions League final – we just accept")
Real Madrid’s Age of Inevitability began a little after 9.30pm Lisbon time on May 24th, 2014, when Sergio Ramos met Luka Modric’s corner with a bullet...
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/OOLIIRV5XQ2H7ZXQKTTAE4N2FY.jpg "Ken Early: Effortlessly elegant Ancelotti deservedly considered among the world’s best")
It’s three years to the day since Carlo Ancelotti announced he was leaving Everton for a new challenge at the club of his heart, Real Madrid....