GLORY AWAITS:- EURO 2020

Fernando Santos guiding his players from sidelines, Cristiano Ronaldo motivating his team from sidelines after getting injured, match went in extra time, players covering hard yards to score a winning goal but then in 109th minute of the match, Eder, a player from Portugal shoots a ball that went inside the goal beating France’s defenders and goalkeeper and then the refree blows the final time whistle and Portugal won their first ever Euros. As a football fan, I watched my first Euros back then in 2016 and Ronaldo lifting the trophy was a cherry on top kinda moment.

Five years later, Euro 2020 is starting from today, which was cancelled in 2020 due to COVID pandemic and UEFA committee decided that they will move the tournament by one year and name of the tournament will remain the same.

For the first time in tournament history, Euro 2020 will be held in 12 different host cities around Europe which are Rome, Baku, Saint Petersburg, Copenhegan, Amsterdam, Bucharest, London, Glasgow, Seville, Munich and Budapest.

Format Of The Tournament

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In Euro 2020, the 24 teams drawn in six groups of four teams each. The top two team in each group and four best third-placed teams will advance to the round of 16, then teams who will win their round of 16 matches will qualify for quarterfinals and then they will play quarterfinals to qualify for semifinals stage, then semifinal round will happen to reach to the ultimate finale of EUROs which will held at Wembley on July 12, 2021 as per Indian Standard time.

Let’s Talk About Groups

There are few teams who are starting the tournament as title favourites. Some teams got easy groups, some teams got complicated groups, and out of six groups there is one group which is getting famous by the name of “group of death.” Let’s talk about the groups:-

GROUP A

In Group A, there are 4 teams including Turkey, Wales, Italy and Switzerland where Italy and Wales are favourites to qualify for knockout phase. Italy have some quality players like Donnarumma, Chiesa, Bonucci, Chiellini, Jorgingo, Immobile, Verrati and Nico barella. This time Wales is not reliant only on Gareth Bale, this time they got Dan James, Ben Davies, Neco Williams and Aaron Ramsey.

GROUP B

In Group B, there are teams like Denmark, Finland, Belgium and Russia. This is quite a complicated group because except Belgium, three other teams have an equal chance to qualify for next stage of the tournament. Belgium got great players like Courtois, Hazard, Lukaku, De Bruyne, Castagne, Jon Vertonghen and Carrasco. Belgium will be the tough team to beat in the tournament.

GROUP C

In Group C, Netherland have a great chance to top the group which includes teams like Ukraine, Austria and North Macedonia. Netherland got a great team where players like De Jong, Depay, Wijnaldum, De Ligt, Nathan Ake and Blind can help the team to achieve glories but in midfield they are lacking one of their important player which is Van De Beek. Team Ukraine is the team who have the capability to clinch second spot in this group because this team knows how to attack whenever needed.

Group D

Group D is one of the best group in the tournament to lookout for because in this Group there are team like England who have great young and experience players like Kane, Sterling, Henderson, Mount, Grealish, Foden, and they got great defended too like Trent Arnold, John Stones, Chilwell etc. Second team in this group is Croatia who reached in previous World Cup final and still got great players like Modric, Vrsaljko, Kovacic, Perisic and Lovren who can help the team to qualify for next stage. Scotland and Czech Republic are other two teams in this group who have some individual talents but not have a great team.

GROUP E

In Group E, there is team which is my personal favourite i.e. Spain and Spain will lock their horns with the teams like Poland, Sweden and Slovakia. Spain is a team who have one of the best young players in the tournament but can the young players will help the team to win the tournament ? Players like Pau Torres, G. Moerno, Marcus Llorente, Morata, Ferran Torres, De Gea, Laporte can lead this team to glory. If I look at Poland team there is only player on which they totally depend and the player is Robert Lewandowski. How much a single player can help his team, time will tell. Sweden and Slovakia. will have their chance to finish the group as third best team.

GROUP F

Group F will be the most entertaining group for the football fans throughout the world because when teams like Germany, France, Portugal will play with each other, nothing but firecrackers are expected from them. All three teams have a bunch of great players which make there team the title favourites.

Starting from Germany, players like Neuer, Rudiger, Sule, Kimmich, Havertz, Toni Kroos, Werner can lead this team to many victories once they get their team combination ready.

France, world champion of football, will enter the field to conquer Europe because they have one of the best team in tournament. They have great players in every area. Varane, Hernandez , Digne, Pavard in defense, Kante, Pogba, in midfield, Mbappe, Griezmann, Benzama in attack can create problems for other teams while playing.

Portugal, 2016 Europeon Champion, got a once in a generation kinda team because when you have players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandes, Ruben Dias, Pepe, Joao Cancelo, Bernardo Silva, Andre Silva, Felix and Diogo Jota in one group, nobody in a world can write you off. Can this team pull off another trophy or they will lack somewhere?

Fourth team in the group is Hungary which I don’t think is having any chance to qualify for next phase of the tournament.

Coming days are interesting for football fans. We will see some great team performances, some great goals, teams will upset each other, players will celebrate their wins, players will cry when they will face a loss. But for fans there is one thing that they will get for next one month and that thing is Entertainment.