The ‘World Cup of Europe’ is upon us, as 24 of the best teams in Europe battle it out for top honours in UEFA EURO 2020. The tournament, pushed back by one year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, will be played in 11 venues across Europe. The draw can go a long way in determining the passage of a team to the knockout stage and many times in international tournaments, one has seen good teams not progressing past the initial stages after being drawn in the aptly titled “Group of Death”. In EURO 2020, Group F deserves the tag of the “Group of Death”. It has defending UEFA EURO champions Portugal drawn together with two time winners France, who are also the 2018 FIFA World Cup title holders. To add to the list there is Germany, a team that has won the EURO title maximum number of times jointly (3 times along with Spain).
The fourth team in the group is Hungary, who made the draw after winning the Qualifying play-offs. I recall the 2004 edition of EURO vividly, as I hosted the Pre & Post match show for India’s public broadcaster who relayed the EURO final on the National Channel. The final featured a very young and prodigiously talented Cristiano Ronaldo along with the experienced Luis Figo in the Portugal line-up. Playing in front of their home crowd, Portugal, the pre-match favorites were stunned by Greece who lifted their maiden trophy in the year in which the country also hosted the Olympic Games. Life came full circle in 2016, when I was a part of the Hindi commentary team for a private sports network that broadcast the tournament in India. Ronaldo and Portugal, won the EURO final in France, beating Les Blues in front of their home crowd. What was even more remarkable was that Ronaldo could not play the full match, as he was injured and substituted 25 minutes into the final. This time around, Portugal has more resources to rely on apart from just Cristiano Ronaldo and Pepe.
With Bruno Fernandes in great form for Manchester United, Bernardo Silva having had a solid season with Manchester City and Diogo Jota looking in good touch, the EURO title-holders can hope to stake a strong claim to progress in the playoffs. Moving on and talking about France, who look like they are the team to beat in this tournament. The French side has made it to at least the Quarterfinals of the last 3 major tournaments (World Cup & EURO) that they have played in. They also seem to have the most settled team amongst the contenders, with 14 players out of the 26 having been a part of the 2018 World Cup winning campaign.
Germany have won the UEFA EURO title 3 times and are one of only three countries that have held the title of European champions and World Champions together (though not necessarily in that order), as West Germany won the EURO in 1972 and the World Cup in 1974. France won the EURO in 2000 after winning the World Cup in 1998, while Spain went one better by winning the EURO in 2008 and in 2012, while also winning the World Cup in between in 2010. With their coach Joachim Loew set to relinquish command at the end of the tournament, Germany may just be looking to give him the perfect send-off with a title they last won 25 years ago. On paper, Hungary seems to be the weakest team out of the four. Their best performance in EURO was a 3rd place finish in 1964. In the last edition in 2016, Hungary not only qualified for EURO but also made it to the Round of 16, after beating Austria, and playing out draws against Iceland and Portugal. So to take them lightly might be a recipe for disaster.
The author is a sports commentator who has worked on assignments for leading sports networks in India & abroad and is on the Hindi commentary panel for the EURO 2020 broadcast on SONY TEN3.
