Good day and Merry Thursday! Today we’ve got four quarter final matches and the field will be halved in about 800 words time. Here’s a reminder of the draw before we get stuck in:

The draw for home and away was made based on number of home games so far and if that is equal, any team away in the previous round could choose home advantage here. If both teams were away, we revert to their overall records so far with the best getting the choice.

Sweden vs Wales

Michael had to dig deep to see off Denmark on penalties and he must be delighted to have a home draw with Wales. It’s pretty much a clean bill of health too with only Par Zetterberg missing.

Andrew can welcome back Vinny Jones but is without David Hughes. Rob Page reverts to centre back.

Sweden dominate the play but are dealt a cruel blow on half time as John Hartson scores. Andy Dibble performs brilliantly and Gareth Taylor makes it 2. Welsh delight. Dibble continues to perform heroics and there’s no way back for Sweden.

Too many of Sweden’s big hitters didn’t turn up whereas Wales were able to dominate the middle of the park.

Wales were clinical whereas Sweden were wasteful, obviously intimidated by Andy Dibble’s reputation.

But who will Wales meet in the semi finals?

Poland vs Germany

Poland are another surprise package who have done incredibly well to reach this far. Ash is the 2018 champion but he’s got his work cut out to keep Poland in the hunt. He’s opted for 4-5-1 to try and nullify Germany.

Andrew must be loving how this draw has worked out. He’s without Bierhoff but form man Dundee has been a more than adequate replacement. He’s got 7 for the tournament already.

Dundee scores after 7 minutes and Ash makes two changes to try and get back into the game. Dundee completes a hat-trick in just 26 minutes. Ash makes a few changes and gets one back immediately after half time. Luckily for Andrew that’s as far as it goes.

Germany deserve their win but Poland came back strong in the second half.

So it’ll be Germany and Wales in the last 4.

Spain vs England

Rob is the only manager carrying a 100% record having won all three group games and his last 16 tie. The theme throughout has been a load of shots and not as many goals as you might expect. Luis Enrique misses this one and Gomez Fernando is preferred to Sanchez Fernando.

Dan is able to welcome back Le Saux and Ince who both missed the last 16 tie. Fowler and Shearer have 12 between them so no prizes for guessing where the danger lies. Dan is the last remaining former champion in the draw.

Sol Campbell smashes one in his own goal in the opening 9 minutes but Steve McManaman equalises with England’s first attack. Kiko restores the lead two minutes later and Dave Seaman somehow chips past himself to make it 3-1. Making a joke about a Seaman own goal would be too easy. Robbie Fowler reduces it to 3-2 on the stroke of half time. Spain are in control but Shearer equalises 10 minutes from time and Rob reacts by throwing on Sanchez Fernando. It works! He scores an 89th minute winner and Dan slumps over the hoardings like Keegan.

The usual story for Spain. All the play but only slightly more of the goals.

Who will they play in the semis?

France vs Italy

Dan is dealt an immediate hammer blow with the absence of Fabien Barthez and Thierry Henry. Both have picked up injuries and so Bernard Lama is between the sticks. Giuly is moved up front and Legwinski is back in.

Nikolai continues to spring a tactical surprise but he’s also got injury problems. Ferrara, Del Piero and Ravanelli are all missing and Roberto Baggio has just about recovered to take a place on the bench.

Those of you who were worried Bernard Lama would be a problem…are right. Signori and Zola score a quickfire double and France have it all to do. The introduction of Pires is meant to revive France but Thuram gives away a penalty and that’s 3-0. Carbone and Vieri complete the rout but the stats tell their own story.

6 shots on target, 5 goals. A bad time for Barthez to get injured.

Zola ran the show and gets a perfect 10. Has Nikolai struck gold with this formation?

Blimey. What a day.

That leaves the draw looking like this:

We’ll be back on Sunday with the semi finals. Only two more episodes to go and we know now we’ll have a new name on the trophy as all three previous winners are out.