The Latest: Germany players to take a knee at Euro 2020

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 29/06/2021 (1885 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Latest on soccer’s European Championship:

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Germany captain Manuel Neuer says the team will join the England players in taking a knee against racism before their European Championship game at Wembley Stadium.

Neuer says “we stand for tolerance. There was no question for us.”

The Germany goalkeeper has been wearing a captain’s armband with rainbow colors for the tournament and he says England counterpart Harry Kane will do the same in a show of solidarity.

Germany coach Joachim Löw says he thinks “it’s right that the team is campaigning for these values.”

England is one of several teams that has been taking a knee before games at Euro 2020. Portugal and Belgium’s players all took part in the gesture against racism before their game on Sunday. Referee Felix Brych also took part.

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American actor Will Ferrell is rooting for Sweden to beat Ukraine in the round of 16 at the European Championship.

Ferrell is married to a Swede and sent “his best wishes” to the Euro 2020 team in a short video posted on Twitter by the Swedish soccer federation.

Ferrell is shown wearing national team clothing and bellows “you are so smart, you are so strong, you are so fast, you play fabulously good” before chanting “we are all Sweden fans.”

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Spain will take six players from the European Championship squad to the Tokyo Olympics.

Spain says Unai Simón, Eric García, Pau Torres, Pedri González, Mikel Oyarzabal and Dani Olmo will be on the team.

Simón, Torres, Olmo and Pedri have been starting for “La Roja” at Euro 2020.

Spain defeated Croatia 5-3 in extra time on Monday to advance to the quarterfinals.

The three players over 24 in Spain’s squad will be Dani Ceballos, Marco Asensio and Mikel Merino.

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Cristiano Ronaldo has thanked Portugal fans for their support and says the team “will be back stronger.”

The defending champions lost to Belgium 1-0 on Sunday in the round of 16 of the European Championship.

Ronaldo says in an Instagram post that “we didn’t achieve the result we wanted” but “we gave everything” and “are proud of our journey.”

He says the national team is “deeply and sincerely grateful” for the fans for being behind the team “from start to finish.”

He says this team “proved that it can still give a lot of happiness” to the Portuguese people.

Ronaldo finished the tournament with five goals and remains the leading scorer at Euro 2020. He is tied with former Iran striker Ali Daei as the all-time men’s scoring leader in international soccer with 109 goals.

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It’s England against Germany. At Wembley Stadium. Again.

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It’ll be the round of 16 at the European Championship this time but there have been some other big ones in the past.

England beat West Germany in extra time in the 1966 World Cup final for the national team’s greatest soccer triumph. But the West Germans won 3-1 in the 1972 European Championship quarterfinals and then won on penalties in the 1996 semifinals.

The match at Wembley is the first one of the day. Sweden will face Ukraine in the late match in Glasgow.

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More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports