Which Nations Will Dominate the Euro 2020?
Euro 2020 will be held this June and July
January 29, 2020
Upcoming this summer is one of the biggest events in football – The UEFA Euro 2020. It is a well known tournament to fans around the world where only European national teams compete. Portugal are the current champions, but they may not be able to win it again. Hardcore supporters will always cheer for their country and want them to win. However there will only be one team that will lift the trophy on July 12th. As the countdown slowly decreases, predictions and winning odds start to come it.
So… who will win! We, at PantherNation decided to find out what people thought!
Steve Nicol, a former Scottish defender, who has played for Liverpool FC, believes that England will be on top of the Euros. He states that with arguably having the best right back in the world, Trent Alexander-Arnold, along with Harry Maguire and Ben Chilwell, England’s defense structure will be strong going into the tournament. Well known teachers on our campus also believe that football will be coming home. Teachers like Ms.Steward (HS Science) and Mr.Carver (HS Social Studies) are backing England to finally win a trophy after many many years. Ironically Mr.Davy (HS Counselor) is not supporting his home nation and rather is going for Netherlands. He believes there is ‘too much pressure’ from the English media and having the semi-finals and finals in Wembley, London.
Netherlands and France are high favourites to perform well at the tournament. France have a relatively young team with fan favourite Kylian Mbappe and a 2018 World Cup gold going in. These factors should make them confident in earning a top 3 spot or even gold back to back. The Netherlands also have great talent with Frenkie de Jong, Virgil van Dijk and Georginio Wijnaldum being in good form for their respective clubs.
A small tough nation, Belgium, played the best they have ever at the 2018 World Cup and finished with a bronze. 2 years later, they still look strong with De Bruyne in great form and with Eden Hazard returning from injury. Mr.Romary (MS Social Studies) has his vote on Belgium. ‘Lukaku ranked amongst the best strikers in Europe’ says Mr.Romary. And he’s not wrong. Lukaku is Belgium’s all time scorer with 52 goals in 84 games, and he’s only 26 years old. Other teachers like Mr.Duffy (HS English) also agrees that Belgium will see gold or at least make the final 4 and fight for it.
When asked about there being any underdogs in the tournament, there were some interesting answers. Croatia frequently came up to do some damage. Coming off a mind blowing performance in Russia 2018 by reaching the finals. They still have key players in the team, but are not at their level best. A surprising underdog which made the semi-finals in the 2016 Euros is the country in southwest Great Britain: Wales. They are capable of tearing teams apart and playing some great football. Mr. Kelly (HS Head of Social Studies) said, “I have a sneaky feeling Wales will get to the QF (If their key players stay fit).” Garath Bale is a world class Welsh player who unfortunately has had a lot of injuries in his career. If he is able to stay fit, he could be a threat to the opposition’s defence.
So in conclusion, even though football is full of surprises and upsets, making solid predictions and knowing who will win is tough. We could expect England, Belgium, France and the Netherlands to perform well in the tournament and hopefully make it far. English fans want the title to come home but will be challenged by France and the Netherlands who also will be fighting hard. However Belgium, who will be full of confidence will wreck some havoc.
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