The UEFA European Championship (Euros) are a long awaited tournament that many soccer fans love to watch, and cheer on their home nation. This event happens every four years and is supposed to happen two years after the men’s world cup. Due Covid-19, the event has come to a halt and will be continued in 2021. This leads to certain teams who haven’t yet qualified for the tournament needing to go through an international break which is held once every month or two months. Currently, there are 20 teams qualified for the Euros out of a possible 24 and there are still some strong teams hoping to secure a spot in the group stage. There is still one last chance for the teams who placed third in their group qualifiers for this tournament to be able to compete for the win. 16 teams have another chance to qualify but only the top four go through. Some of those 16 teams have very strong sides with the likes of Iceland and Norway. The Euros are expected to kick off on June, 11, 2021 with the opening match consisting of Italy vs. Turkey. If there are no more setbacks hopefully the Euros can be played with fans at half capacity.

One of the so called “Groups of Death” is group F. Consisting of France who were the 2018 World Cup champions, Portugal who were the 2016 Euro champions, Germany the host country and Hungary. France is looking very strong coming off a 2018 World Cup win, losing none of their star players and increasing the amount of options available. The key players in that win were goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, center backs Raphael Varane and Samuel Umtiti, midfielder Paul Pogba and center defensive midfielder N’golo Kante, lastly the two forwards Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann. The only player that has not improved since that time has been midfielder Pogba. The stare midfielder has had issues with the coaching staff at Manchester United which hasn’t allowed him to play much and improve his skill to be worthy of another starting position in the 2021 Euros. Portugal has one of the greatest players to ever play soccer, Cristiano Ronaldo, who unfortunately did not play much of his 2016 finals win because of an injury coming in the 25th minute. Portugal played France in the finals so France has even more fuel for the fire after losing in the finals which makes this group way more interesting. Germany is always a dominant team that can pull through and make it far in many tournaments. They won the 2014 world cup but many of the players in that team have retired or are too old to play in this Euro squad, they have many young options and experienced players to choose from. Some of those players are young stars like Timo Werner, Serge Gnabry, Kai Havertz, and Leroy Sane. Hungary is not a team that is viewed as a threat but if these three teams underestimate how good Hungary is in the group, they might not be prepared and if Hungary manages to go through to the knockout stage it would be a very big upset.

There is so much emotion involved in the Euros connecting the fans with the players and supporting your favourite or home country, which is why these national events are a joy to watch.

Key Players

When you hear the name Cristiano Ronaldo, you think of all of the accolades from his time at Real Madrid, Manchester United and Juventus. But you cannot forget how crucial Ronaldo can be for Portugal. Ronaldo has scored 102 goals for his country, only 7 behind the most of all time. If Ronaldo is as lethal as everybody knows he can be, alongside young Felix and players like Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo SIlva, Portugal can be a real threat to face during this year’s Euro.

Alongside an experienced French side who already have a World Cup under their belt, Kylian Mbappe and his incredible pace have a great chance of running away with this Euro. Scoring in the world cup final, and against formidable opponent Argentina, Mbappe already has his share of big moments with the Les Bleus kit on. If all goes according to plan, this tournament should be a walk in the park for France.

As Germany look for vengeance after their early exit in the World Cup, Timo Werner and Kai Havertz look to lead Germany to victory with their great skill and pace. At 24 and 21, the youngsters have a lot to offer for a very long time, so look for Germany to be a strong contender in this years competition.