Maybe it still isn’t coming home…
Euro 2024 is on the horizon and we’re all very excited.
England have a very good squad, maybe even the best, and are one of the favourites to win the tournament.
But as with everything, it wouldn’t be a major tournament without England fans still predicting all the things that could go wrong.
Gareth Southgate’s men have been drawn in Group C alongside Denmark, Serbia and Slovenia and if they top it, will face the best third-placed team from one of Group D, E or F.
Some of the countries that could be in that position include Austria, Czech Republic or Slovakia.
They could then go on to play Italy in the last eight before taking on France in the semi finals and maybe one of Germany, Spain or Portugal in the final.
However, England haven’t always done things the easy way in the past and should they make a meal out of the group stage, they will face a far bigger mountain to climb if they want to taste success for the first time since 1966.
The route if England finish second
The cliche in football is that there are no easy games but should they finish second then well, it’ll be even harder.
Not finishing top of the group would likely see them face hosts Germany in the round of 16 – although they did beat them at the same stage in Euro 2020.
Spain would then probably be the next opponents in the quarter finals before Portugal in the semi finals, setting up a grandstand finish against France.
Southgate tight-lipped on squad selection
Although you could probably make a good guess out of which players are and aren’t going to Germany this summer however when asked, Southgate opted to remain tight-lipped on the situation, insisting anything can change at any moment.
“Yeah, it’s going to be complicated, because firstly the injury situations that we have,” he said.
“Some will be back playing at the weekend, some will be back playing in a couple of weeks, some will be really close to the end of the season.
“Then we’re going to have the European finals, the FA Cup final and the two friendlies that we’ve got ourselves.
“It’s inevitable we’re going to be naming a longer squad, which is what we did before the Euros here even though we were dealing with 26 then.”
Related links:
- Scotland eying up five England stars to add to their ranks
- England XI Gareth Southgate should pick for Euro 2024 opener
- England fans name surprise manager they want to replace Southgate before Euro 2024
