- The Euro 2020 soccer tournament will get underway on June 11.
- The tournament decided to retain the ‘Euro 2020’ name following its postponement last Summer due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- France, England, Belgium and Germany are among the top betting choices to win the Euro 2020.
The Euro 2020 soccer tournament will get underway on June 11 and there’s likely no better sporting representation to reflect the bizarre reality of the past year and a half. The most obvious–the name of the tournament. It was originally slated for last Summer but the COVID-19 pandemic forced its postponement. UEFA decided to keep the ‘Euro 2020’ name, likely as to not have to reprint all of the marketing and promotional materials. In addition, the tournament has shuffled around venues to allow for spectators to attend where possible. Dublin was forced to drop out as a host due to the country’s COVID-19 issues while in Spain the host site was moved from Bilbao to Seville to better facilitate a live audience. As it stands, attendance will range from 25% to 100% of venue capacity. UEFA has also established some special rules due to the COVID-19 pandemic that will come into play in the event that a team suffers an infection and/or must quarantine.
The tournament is expected to be especially competitive with six of the top seven teams in the world on hand. Even the second tier looks more formidable than usual and could cause some trouble for the elite sides. The winners of the last four World Cup tournaments are in the tournament. Defending World Cup champion France is installed as the +450 betting favorite just ahead of England (+500), Belgium (+600), Germany (+700), Portugal (+800) and Spain (+800). The second tier teams such as Denmark, the Netherlands, Croatia, Poland, Wales and Scotland are sides that cannot be overlooked.
Hopes are especially high for England–manager Gareth Southgate has a talent rich young team blended with veterans such as captain Harry Kane. The Tottenham Hotspur striker continues to improve as a player but unfortunately his teams have not kept pace. There is talk that he’ll leave Tottenham this Summer with Manchester United and Manchester City both named as possible landing spots. The 27 year old Kane finished with a Premiership best 23 goals and added 14 assists this season. The Euro 2020 is seen as his chance to rebound from Tottenham’s disappointing 7th place EPL finish and to greatly enhance his value in the transfer market. Should England manage victory it would propel him into an even higher level of superstardom.
There has been debate over the best tactical strategy for the Three Lions and that has put the game management acumen of manager Southgate in the spotlight. This is likely unfair–every country spends the run up to every major tournament debating squad selection and tactical approach–though there are dissenting views coming from some very interesting sources ranging from Jose Mourinho to Frank Lampard. The strategic advice runs the gamut from emphasizing the attack to playing patient and defending. Despite discussion on tactics, more often than not teams tend to play conservative football at major tournaments such as Euro 2020. Whether or not this is in their best interest is definitely debatable.
We’ll have more on the Euro 2020 in the coming week. Here are the current odds to win from BetOnline.ag:
- FRANCE +450
- ENGLAND +500
- BELGIUM +600
- GERMANY +700
- PORTUGAL +800
- SPAIN +800
- ITALY +1000
- NETHERLANDS +1200
- CROATIA +2800
- DENMARK +2800
- UKRAINE +4000
- TURKEY +5000
- POLAND +6600
- RUSSIA +6600
- SWITZERLAND +6600
- AUSTRIA +8000
- SWEDEN +8000
- CZECH REP. +10000
- WALES +15000
- SCOTLAND +20000
- SLOVAKIA +20000
- HUNGARY +25000
- FINLAND +50000
- N. MACEDONIA +50000
