[This is part 3 to a six-part series on the Euro 2020. The first two articles talked about location, how the tournament works, and the first two groups. In this article I will be talking about Groups C and D. In the upcoming parts, I will discuss the remaining groups, the favorites, who I think are favored, and how I think the tournament will play out.]
Group C (and player to watch per team)
Where the pundits’ favored teams to progress are Netherlands and Austria
- Austria:
- David Alaba (Bayern Munich, Germany) is the seven-time Austrian player of the year, has won two Champions Leagues, 10 German League titles, six German Cup titles, two FIFA Club World Cups, two UEFA Super Cups, and five German Super Cups. He is the main defender for both Austria and his club team.
- Netherlands:
- Matthijs de Ligt (Juventus, Italy) is a 21-year-old thought to be the next face of the Juventus defense after Giorgio Chiellini retires. Played a crucial defensive role for Juve as they won this year’s Coppa Italia 2-1 against Atalanta.
- Memphis Depay (Lyon, France) is the star player for French side Lyon. Although he has not won any trophies with them yet, back in his Man United days, he won an FA Cup, an English League Cup, and the Europa League. He is also the main forward for the Dutch team.
- North Macedonia:
- Goran Pandev (Genoa, Italy) is a starting striker for Genoa and played a key role in qualifying North Macedonia for the Euros. Previous to his current club, he has won a Champions League (Inter), Italian League title (Inter), five Italian Cups (Napoli-2, Inter-2, Lazio-1), two Italian super cups (Inter-1, Lazio-1), and a FIFA Club World Cup (inter)
- Ukraine:
- Oleksandr Zinchenko (Man City, England) is a 24-year-old defender for his club as well as Ukraine. What makes him stand out is he plays on the left wing of the defence and allows him to get up to field and help out with more attacks that you would a defender would be involved in.
For Group C, I agree with the predictions and I think that Netherlands will come out on top, with Austria coming in second. I think that it is possible that Ukraine could sneak out of the group as a third-place team, but they would mostly likely have to beat North Macedonia and tie Austria to get enough points to compete.
Group D:
Where the pundits’ favored teams to progress are Croatia and England.
- Croatia:
- Luka Modrić (Real Madrid, Spain) was the 2018 World Cup Golden Ball recipient for the best player of the tournament. He also received the 2018 FIFA Best Men’s Player in the world award (formerly called the FIFA World Player of the Year) and the 2018 Ballon d’Or. He is the heart and soul of both his Club Real Madrid and the Croatian national team. He is the most capped player in Croatia’s history, and has helped his club team win four Champions Leagues, two Spanish League titles, a Spanish Cup, three Spanish Super Cups, four FIFA Club World Cups, and three UEFA Super Cups.
- Ante Rebić (Milan, Italy) is a main forward for his club team Milan and previously won the German Super Cup with his former German club team Eintracht Frankfurt.
- Czech Republic:
- Tomas Soucek (West Ham, England) is a defensive midfielder for the English club team and in the past four years, helped his former club, Slavia Prague, win two Czech cups, and three league titles.
- England:
- Harry Kane (Tottenham) is the main striker for his club along with Son Heung-min. He helped carry England to the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup by scoring six goals in the tournament.
- Mason Mount (Chelsea) a young sensation for his club team, Mount is starting to establish himself at his club with 6 goals and 5 assists this season, he is starting to get picked to play in important matches such as their win against Leicester (their last game of the season) to qualify for Champions League next year.
- Scotland:
- Andy Robertson (Liverpool, England) is a key defender at his club alongside van Dijk. He helped his club team win the 2018-19 Champions League.
I agree with the predictions from The Telegraph and World Soccer that in this group, Croatia and England are the favorites.
Stay tuned for my next article where I will be discussing groups E and F.
Photo: Stadio Olimpico, Wikipedia, Creative Commons
