Group by Group Group A 1- Italy (group winners) 2- Wales (2nd place) 3- Switzerland (3rd place) 4- Turkey (4th place) Group B 1- Belgium (1st place) 2- Denmark (2nd place) 3- Russia (3rd place) 4- Finland (4th place) Group C 1- Netherlands (1st) 2- Ukraine (2nd) 3- Austria (3rd) 4- North Macedonia (4th) Group D 1- England (1st) 2- Croatia (2nd) 3- Scotland (3rd) 4- Czech Republic (4th) Group E 1- Spain (1st) 2- Sweden (2nd) 3- Poland (3rd) 4- Slovakia (4th) Group F (Group of Death) 1- France (1st) 2- Portugal (2nd) 3- Germany (3rd) 4- Hungary (4th) 3rd placed teams Switzerland, Russia, Austria, Scotland, Poland, Germany (best 4 go through) My predictions as far as the 4 best 3rd place teams that go on to the Round of 16: Switzerland (A), Scotland (D), Poland (E) and Germany (F) Russia and Austria eliminated Round of 16 matches 1- (2A) Wales vs (2B) Denmark= Wales 1-1 Denmark; after extra time; Wales score; Gareth Bale scores in the 111th minute; Wales wins 2-1 (aet) 2- (1A) Italy vs (2C) Ukraine= Italy beats Ukraine 2-1 3- (1C) Netherlands vs (3D) Scotland= Netherlands 1-1 Scotland; after extra time no one scores; goes into penalties; Netherlands win 5-3 on penalties 4- (1B) Belgium vs (3A) Switzerland= Belgium wins 2-0 5- (2D) Croatia vs (2E) Sweden= Sweden beats Croatia 2-1 6- (1F) France vs (3E) Poland= France beats Poland 1-0 7- (1D) England vs (2F) Portugal= England 0-0 Portugal; goes into extra time; no one scores; goes into penalties; England beats Portugal 5-4 on penalties 8- (1E) Spain vs (3F) Germany= Spain beats Germany 1-0 Quarter-Finals (Last 8) Sweden vs France= France beats Sweden 2-0 Belgium vs Italy= Belgium beats Italy 1-0 Netherlands vs Wales= Wales with the shocker of all shockers; 1-1 in regulation time; Wales and Netherlands play 30 minutes of extra time; Wales then beats Netherlands on penalties 5-4 England vs Spain= England beats Spain 2-1 Semi Finals France vs Belgium= Belgium get revenge for Russia 2018 by beating France 1-0 Wales vs England= England beats Wales 2-0 EURO 21 FINAL Belgium vs England Your UEFA EURO 2021 Champions are: England who win their first European Championship title; England have never won the Euros; I say 2021 is their time to win it all; England beats Belgium 2-1
Nice work! If i was just doing groups I'd say Group by Group Group A 1- Italy (group winners) 2- Switzerland 3- Turkey 4- Wales Group B 1- Belgium (1st place) 2- Russia 3- Denmark 4- Finland Group C 1- Netherlands 2- Austria 3- Ukraine 4- North Macedonia Group D 1- England 2 - Croatia 3 - Czech Republic 4 - Scotland Group E 1- Spain 2- Poland 3- Sweden 4- Slovakia Group F 1- France 2- Germany 3- Portugal 4- Hungary Not entirely sure of how the 2nd round even is calculated 1. Belgium Vs. Czech Republic - Seville 2. Italy Vs. Austria - London 3. France Vs. Turkey - Bucharest 4. Croatia Vs. Poland - Copenhagen 5. Spain Vs. Denmark - Glasgow 6. England Vs. Germany - London 7. Netherlands Vs. Portugal - Budapest 8. Switzerland Vs. Russia - Amsterdam QF - 1. Belgium Vs. Italy - Munich 2. France Vs. Croatia - Saint Petersburg 3. Spain Vs. Germany - Rome 4. Portugal Vs. Switzerland - Baku SF. Belgium Vs. France Germany Vs. Portugal Final Belgium Vs. Germany Winner Belgium
A lot of mouth watering Match ups in your Round of 16 especially Croatia/Poland, England/Germany and Netherlands/Portugal But the one I'm most intrigued by are the QF match ups especially Belgium/Italy and France/Croatia especially considering France/Croatia is a rematch of Russia 2018 but in the EUROS But a Germany/Belgium final...I'm not even mad at that...in fact I love it
I will for now refrain from posting any predictions. Still five weeks to go. I'm changing opinion on some picks so fast. And every change can turn my bracket upside down. So I guess it's better to wait until I will have made up my mind.
Two Home Nations in the semi-finals would be extremely extraordinary. I can't see it happening. Wales had their deep run in the last EUROs. It's difficult to see them repeating that success. Of course, everyone is entitled to have his opinion.
I think their magic of Euro 2016 they can replicate it again especially if Giggs is still their manager heading into the tournament
They are certainly one of the most spirited sides out there. Giggs won't be coaching the team at the EUROs. Rob Page has taken over. https://www.google.com/amp/s/theathletic.com/news/robert-page-wales-euro-2020-ryan-giggs/YN1SxM5zhdGe?amp=1
I would be very surprised if Wales made it out of their group to be honest, just don’t see the quality they had compared to 2016 with having a prime Bale. Italy, Turkey and Switzerland will be too strong for them in my opinion.
Note that Bale has been playing better for country than club as of late. He cares for the national team. He's keen to reach the World Cup with Wales. Wales are outsiders on paper but this is when the team thrives usually. They have probably an inferior squad but with determination and spirit they can make it out of the group.
When I look at your group stage predictions I see rather few upsets. I think they'll be quite a few. Not all powerhouses will finish top of the table. Some less fancied sides will finish 3rd or even 2nd. I did my homework. I looked back at the last EUROs. Especially at 2016 as it was the only edition with 24 teams so far. They were quite a few surprises in group play like Croatia finishing top ahead of Spain, Wales finishing top ahead of England and Hungary finishing top ahead of Iceland and Portugal. Italy wasn't necessarily expected to top the group over Belguim either. Almost all sides who were labelled as weak link in their group finished at least 3rd etc... Can't see why it should be any different this time. The matter is to detect who the overperformers will be and who the underperformers will be. And that's where it gets tricky obviously. Based on all this you can be sure that my predictions will look "less ordinary".
I watched already over 100 prediction videos in four languages. People are mostly going for the same sides to progress to the Round of 16. In those videos literally only one guy had the balls to put Hungary in 3rd in the group of death and predtcted them to advance. Hungary's chances to get out of that group are much higher than 1%. It's just boring. It doesn't have to be Hungary. Pick at least Finland or North Macedonia to place 3rd. Almost everybody is reluctant to include upsets. Real upsets. Football is the least predictable sports after all and full of surprises. It's low-scoring and the winner isn't always determined by individual talent for all we know. Most people are biased anyway. In Western Europe/USA there's a strong tendancy to undermine underdogs. Especially Eastern European teams. Maybe because they don't know these teams well or for whatever reason. @Ofori I don't necessarily agree with Wales finishing in the semi-finals but that's not the point. At least you came up with a major surprise. Props to you.
Let me just add something on Wales. I think their team is doing a fine job despite the Giggs saga. At the moment I'm not 100% sure if they'll make it out of the group. I think it's very important for them to get Ben Davies and Joe Allen back from injury. Both could get there just in time. If Wales can play with their full team I think they'll topple at least Switzerland. Not so sure about Turkey though. Turkey is coming very strong into the tournament, on high confidence and motivation. I think you underestimated them quite a bit. For me there's no way Turkey would finish last.
I guess I underestimate Turkey because when it comes to EURO tournaments they usually always disappoint
1996: Group stage 2000: Quarterfinals (was a surprise. They defeated hosts Belguim who were rated higher back then) 2008: Semi-finals (6 points in group play, defeated Croatia on PKs) 2016: Group stage (they were the best 3rd placed team not to qualify) Turkey's resume at the EUROs is far from dissappointing. I would say it's a mixed bag. If nobody gets injured they arrive with their strongest squad to a tournament in years. They have a decent amount of players playing in top European leagues for relevant clubs such as Liverpool, Juventus, Milan, Leicester or Lille. They should do well.
Yeah that's true but then another team that has been impressing me lately is Ukraine being managed by Sheva aka Shevchenko
They are going to top Group C as far as I'm concerned. One of my probably two surprise group winners.
The group of Death I mean you have France, Portugal and Germany...you do realize one of these teams could be a 3rd place team or even go out of the competition in the group stage I mean Hungary last time they were at a EURO was 2016...5 years ago...and they made it out of their group to make it to the Round of 16 but can Hungary do it again? I doubt it
Personally, I think they can do it. This is exactly what I meant. I feel not enough people are speaking about the possible scenario that one of France, Germany or Portugal doesn't make it through. The disrepect towards Hungary by most people is unbelievabel. Portugal and Germany have both issues. If they don't sort them out Hungary will be there to capitalise on that. Szoboszlai will be key. If he's fit he will provide a lot of danger from set pieces and long-range shots.
The group of death is the hardest to predict. Hungary can't be dismissed. They are playing at home for two matches and gave Portugal a real scare in 2016. I think they will be very defensive and it may be hard for some of the other teams to find their rhythm. Germany are playing at home for all three games too, but have been in dreadful form for the past 3 years. It's very possible that little will separate the teams in the group. We could see all the games end in draws with very little goal difference. I think it's going to be a very close group. Belgium are my favorites to win. De Bruyne is for me the best footballer on the planet at the moment. England will reach the final I believe. They will have a big advantage playing at home, but the quarter-final will prove tricky for them. I see France losing out only because they will have such a difficult time negotiating their group. They won't have any easy games and I think they will lose momentum and tire out too much, but with players like Kante, Pogba, and Mbappe, dismiss them at your own peril. I think those are the teams to beat. Edit: One more thing about group of death, I think it will be low scoring and low points. There's a good chance the third place in that group doesn't make it into the last 16.
But then the game I'm also looking most forward to is: England vs Scotland mainly because of the history and the rivalry between not just the 2 teams but their countries
@Ofori There was a time when that match up was a real contest (certainly when Dennis Law was still playing). I think the last time Scotland played England in a major finals was at Euro 1996 when Gascoigne did his best impression of Pele. Scotland had some decent players in those days. Hendry won the EPL with Blackburn. MacAllister was captain of Liverpool when they won the UEFA Cup in 2001. It's been ages since they had a team capable of competing at this level, although they came so very close at qualifying for Euro 2008. They were unlucky that campaign. There's a few games that look like they will be crackers. Turkey and Italy will make for a memorable opener. I have the match from Euro 2000 when they played 20 years ago. Conte scored a great rovesciata (bicycle kick) goal and Del Piero was unlucky not to have seen his free-kick into the back of the net. It took a controversial penalty for Italy to win, but the referee made the right call. The Turkish defender was pulling at Inzaghi all game and the referee had given the defender plenty of warning. Toldo was brilliant for Italy, but he had a hard time on crosses (despite his height) and he was much to blame for allowing Turkey to score. That was a brilliant game and I'm expecting this occasion to be the same. BTW, congratulations to your club who won the Series A. Lukaku has been amazing. Ericksen and Barella were the other two standouts for me. I hope to see them play to their best abilities at the Euros.
Yeah Turkey vs Italy will be a barn burner that's for sure but thank you for that. I appreciate that. However, the group that I would say least intrigues me is Spain, Poland, Sweden and Slovakia
After how Spain played against Greece and Georgia, I'm going to have to agree. They will invite teams to defend deep and Spain may just pass the ball around for the sake of it. Enrique needs to get his team to take players on and to take shots more from outside the box rather than trying to pass the ball into the goal if they are to top the group, as they should. Zlatan and Lewandowski will add a touch of real class to the group at least. Skriniar and Ramos will have their hands full with those two.
I say this. Of all groups Group D is for me the most awkward to predict. I don't see England blazing through this group like they should on paper. I don't see them getting beaten but a couple of draws could be on the line here. I mentioned it already in another thread that at least 7 players of the England squad will be engaged in the CL Final on 29 Mai. All of them are expected to start and most of them are tipped to be starters for England as well. The players who will play the CL final will probably get two three days off. Meaning they will join late the England squad which is by no means good news for Southgate. I can already smell a draw with Croatia on the opening matchday. The only game where I'm pretty confident England would win is against Scotland. The last game against the Czech Republic can be tricky too depending on the standings in the group. England will finish the group undefeated but I'm not sure if they collect 5 or 7 points. Then there's a lot of talk about possibly avoiding the 2nd team of Group F. If England finishes top they are very likely to get a powerhouse in the Round of 16. I could see a scenario where England wouldn't even bother to beat the Czech Republic on the last matchday so they can finish 2nd. It would be pathetic but you never know. I don't know if they would really do this but it's not totally unthinkable. The final table of this Group D will look much closer than people would have imagined. I see all the teams grabbing points of each other.