Euro 2020

[Jezza]

Host Country: Azerbaijan, Denmark, England, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Romania, Russia, Scotland, Spain
Dates: June 11 2021 to July 11 2021
Teams: 24

Groups:

Group A:
Turkey, Italy, Wales, Switzerland

Group B:
Denmark, Finland, Belgium, Russia

Group C:
Netherlands, Ukraine, Austria, North Macedonia

Group D:
England, Croatia, Scotland, Czech Republic

Group E:
Spain, Sweden, Poland, Slovakia

Group F:
Hungary, Portugal, France, Germany

[Pies4shaw]

I've been watching the warm-up friendlies. Italy's was good. So was the Netherlands this morning (though not so much in a 2-all draw against Scotland 4 or 5 days back). England was lacklustre. The best friendly in recent times was Faroe Islands v Iceland. The winning Icelandic goal was a stunner.

The competition opens with Turkey v Italy on 12 June (our time). Since Turkey thumped the Netherlands 4:2 in a WCQ group game recently, that should be a good game to start with.

I haven't looked at the format but I expect it's the same as the old WC finals before the expansion to 32 teams in 8 groups (ie, top 2 teams in each group and the 4 best 3rd-placed teams advance). That should mean that there isn't much drama in the group stage.

My early (and completely unconsidered) picks to advance to the knock out phase are:

Turkey, Italy, Wales
Denmark, Belgium, Russia
Netherlands, Ukraine
England, Croatia, Scotland
Spain, Sweden
Portugal, France, Germany.

Put another way, I expect that Switzerland, Finland, Austria, North Macedonia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary won't advance. The Czech Republic are usually a good team but they've been poor in the lead up, so I suppose they might come good. Wales might keep Switzerland out, too, of course.

Hopefully that's all wrong and there will be many exciting upsets (as long as they don't adversely affect the Netherlands).

[Pies4shaw]

Italy recorded their best-ever goal-scoring performance in the Euros (believe it or not, they have never previously scored more than 2 goals in a match at the Euro finals), with a 3-0 defeat of Turkey (admittedly, the first goal was an OG - but they all count).

The Turkish strategy didn't impress me - it was very close to "parking the bus" in the first half. They have some great talents, so that was a shame to see - but in the second half, they were repeatedly opened up when they did try to play with a little more attacking intent, so perhaps I just misunderstood the gap in class.

That was Mancini's 28th undefeated game in a row in charge. If Italy can hold that form, they will go deep into this tournament.

Tonight, the early game (before my bedtime, anyway) is between Wales and Switzerland, then Denmark takes on Finland in the middle of our night and Belgium takes on Russia early tomorrow morning, our time. My picks are Wales, Denmark and Belgium. Hopefully, the games aren't quite so predictable.

[Jezza]

Turkey 0-3 Italy



Goals:
Italy - 53' (Demiral) - OWN GOAL
Italy - 66' (Immobile)
Italy - 79' (Insigne)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R45kuN4pIsY

[Pies4shaw]

So, three matches overnight, rather overshadowed by Christian Eriksen's collapse late in the first half of Denmark's game against Finland. It seems that he is recovering in hospital but it was an awful few minutes. The game was stopped and eventually resumed much later on.

In the football news, Switzerland and Wales drew one-all, Finland beat Denmark 1:0 and Belgium stamped themselves as the team to beat with a dominant display against Russia. They won 3:0 but could have kicked 5 or 6. De Bruyne didn't play - but should be back later in the tournament, so there is a chance they will get stronger.

Tonight, England have the opportunity to lose to Croatia in the early game. In the middle of our night, Austria and North Macedonia will work hard to justify a 24-team finals format and then, in the big one, the Netherlands and Ukraine clash in the early morning, our time. With Van der Saar, Cruyff, Gullitt, Van Basten, Rijkaard, Koeman, Neeskens, Johnny Rep, Robben and Bergkamp all still unavailable for the Dutch, this one could go down to the wire.

[Jezza]

Best wishes to Christian Eriksen. I'm very happy to hear he's stable and awake in hospital.

[Jezza]

Wales 1-1 Switzerland



Goals:
Switzerland - 49' (Embolo)
Wales - 74' (Moore)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4MgN1BPTkk


Denmark 0-1 Finland



Goals:
Finland - 60' (Pohjanpalo)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-jLaB_M-jE


Belgium 3-0 Russia



Goals:
Belgium - 10' (Lukaku)
Belgium - 34' (Meunier)
Belgium - 88' (Lukaku)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z060eBZXpPM

[Pies4shaw]

Eriksen continues to recover well, apparently.

England beat Croatia 1-0, Austria beat North Macedonia 3-1 and the Netherlands did their best to choke against the Ukraine - having led 2-0 about 3/4 of the way into the game, the Dutch remarkably let Ukraine score twice in a matter of minutes. They then found the winner to scrape home 3-2. I would have thought 4-0 would have been about right on the play, so the Dutch obviously need to tighten up at the back. Leak like that at the back against Italy and they'll have no chance.

Italy and Belgium have been the most impressive (and complete) teams so far, as we would expect.

Coming up tonight, its Scotland v the Czech Republic early, Poland v Slovakia in the middle of the night and Spain v Sweden early tomorrow morning, our time.

Meanwhille, Brazil is leading Venezuela 1-0 just before halftime in the opening game of the Copa America.

[Pies4shaw]

Just re-watching the highlights of the Dutch game. Frenkie de Jong really should have closed down the shot for the first Ukraine goal. Pathetic stuff from a player from a top club in a leading competition. He stood still, literally, and watched the long-range shot from a few feet from the Ukrainian captain. He needed to move about a yard to get in the way. The expression on Frank de Boer's face after the goal says it all.

[Jezza]

England 1-0 Croatia



Goals:
England - 57' (Sterling)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0R9VbDAqbT0


Austria 3-1 North Macedonia



Goals:
Austria - 18' (Lainer)
North Macedonia - 28 (Pandev)
Austria - 78' (Gregoritsch)
Austria - 89' (Arnautovic)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1n9t7R4kIoY


Netherlands 3-2 Ukraine



Goals:
Netherlands - 52' (Wijnaldum)
Netherlands - 58' (Wout Weghorst)
Ukraine - 75' (Yarmolenko)
Ukraine - 79' (Yaremchuk)
Netherlands - 85' (Dumfries)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70hjNSFdobs

[Jezza]

Scotland 0-2 Czech Republic



Goals:
Czech Republic - 42' (Patrik Schick)
Czech Republic - 52' (Patrik Schick)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zd_uiYxw47o


Poland 1-2 Slovakia



Goals:
Slovakia - 18' (Szczesny) - OWN GOAL
Poland - 46' (Karol Linetty)
Slovakia - 69' (Milan Skriniar)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWvLJCbft-w


Spain 0-0 Sweden



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sfdSfkZxws

[Jezza]

Hungary 0-3 Portugal



Goals:
Portugal - 84' (Raphael Guerreiro)
Portugal - 87 (Cristiano Ronaldo)
Portugal - 90' (Cristiano Ronaldo)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOAiV2hac7M


France 1-0 Germany



Goals:
France - 20' (Mats Hummels) - OWN GOAL

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2t0L-e9fXSw

[Jezza]

Finland 0-1 Russia



Goals:
Russia - 47' (Miranchuk)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PClCTuu8DYc


Turkey 0-2 Wales



Goals:
Wales - 42' (Ramsay)
Wales - 90' (Roberts)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFVo700T-mY


Italy 3-0 Switzerland



Goals:
Italy - 26' (Locatelli)
Italy - 52' (Locatelli)
Italy - 52' (Immobile)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mf1ubd1yA9Q

[Jezza]

Ukraine 2-1 North Macedonia



Goals:
Ukraine - 29' (Yarmolenko)
Ukraine - 34' (Yaremchuk)
North Macedonia - 57' (Alioski)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHkW6Z2Qi1A


Denmark 1-2 Belgium



Goals:
Denmark - 2' (Poulsen)
Belgium - 54' (T. Hazard)
Belgium - 70' (De Bruyne)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qv1NMpJ9Sfc


Netherlands 2-0 Austria



Goals:
Netherlands - 11' (Depay)
Netherlands - 67' (Dumfries)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5rl9qEeYz8

[Jezza]

Sweden 1-0 Slovakia



Goals:
Sweden - 77' (Forsberg) - PENALTY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9GYnL_KDGc


Croatia 1-1 Czech Republic



Goals:
Czech Republic - 37' (Schick)
Croatia - 47' (Perisic)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaY6YM_aFwI


England 0-0 Scotland



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28K3QTA6hY4