EVERYTHING You Need To Know About England’s Opposition Ahead Of EURO 2024 👀🔥

EVERYTHING You Need To Know About England’s Opposition Ahead Of EURO 2024 👀🔥

so if england are the favorites to win Euro 2024 who are the main candidates to stop them doing it now if any other team have the right to call themselves favorites going into this tournament it’s got to be France they have that right in every tournament just because they have just an incredible set of talent to call upon there were probably 50 players who could say that they’re good enough to be in a European Championship winning Squad DDA damp is going to have to trim that down to 26 somehow now of course the one shity is Killian mbappe this guy will be leading the way as Captain and major goal scorer another incredibly prolific season and Captain for PSG this season as well so the leadership side comes more and more naturally to him as well as the goal scoring now I think if we looking at France’s forward players we know that we’re in an absolute golden age for that because at the moment if you look at it three of their top four goal scorers of all time mbappe Olivier jiru who’s just getting ready for his swansong in European football before going off to the MLS with Los Angeles FC and Antoine Griz man are in there the odd one out being the retired tier onri and at some stage mbappe is going to take over jiru even though it’s taken him forever to get there to the top of French goal scorers of all time probably not in this tournament because he’s 13 behind going into the Euro 2024 but it just shows you how many threats they’ve gotten the fact that they’re having to use Griz man in Midfield where he’s been brilliant over the last couple of years of course shows that they do have threats all the way over the pitch now the major concern for France is their problems are quite similar to England’s problems actually in that they have a few key players out of form in key positions notably at Center back where Rafael Varan has faded from the picture and do Pano who’s really really trusted by D Dean has always struggled a little bit with consistency the bottom has fallen out of his form in the last six eight months for Bayern he’s even been ousted from the first team Bayern in the last couple of months by Eric Dyer uh so for them to decide on some sort of defensive leadership I guess a lot of Premier League fans are sitting there right now thinking well the obvious answer is William CBA it would be a real departure if he got into the 11 having not been tested there much going into the tournament and that would be a little bit of a risk but these are decisions that did De has got to make and of course not defending correctly is something that could lose you the tournament no matter how much talent you’ve got now while we’re talking about threats to win this title what about Portugal why not Portugal of course champions in 2016 and let’s face it they’re a lot better team now than they were then even though talent and Effectiveness are perhaps two separate things of course one of the key things for them is they’re not as riing on Cristiano Ronaldo as they used to be he’s nice to have but not everything has to flow through him anymore you have other lead leaders in the team as well as other goal scorers so you could say their best player was Bernardo Silva you could say it was Bruno fernan even though he’s had a difficult season for Manchester United same for rapael Leo who’s not been the same player who won Sera MVP going back a little bit but he’s still a match winner on his day how do they fit them all into the same team well that’s a problem for Roberto Martinez to deal with but even though people have a mixed opinions about Martinez in England he’s perhaps their secret weapon if they’re really going to win this tournament he’s changed the way that Portugal have played over the last little while and there are a few reasons behind this of course the fact that they won all 10 of their games in qualifying shows that he’s really taken to Portugal and they’ve really taken to him but they play slightly more bold slightly more exciting football he’s always been a little bit better tactically than people have given him credit for and I think if you go back to the 2018 World Cup and look at the number they did on Brazil Belgium in the quarterfinals with r l Lukaku put out to the right wing shows that he has a different way of seeing the game sometimes especially when he’s got brilliant players to work with as he has at the moment the other thing is he really understands the needs of his players I think you go back to the last International break where he picked a different team for both of the two friendlies that they were playing shows that he understands what it’s like to be a player what it’s like to feel tired at this stage in the season and to have have someone that understands your needs as an elite player I think is really vital in gaining their confidence there’s a brilliant atmosphere around Portugal and I think they’re a serious Contender for this tournament now if we’re talking about favorites we’ve got to talk about Germany right for two reasons one because they’re the hosts and two because it’s Germany at a tournament right well not quite it’s a little bit more nuanced than that really we’re looking at Germany winning the European Championship we’re going back more than a generation of course they’ve won the World Cup since in 2014 but the last time they won the Euros was in 1996 okay it’s that one in England so we won’t talk about that too much but it shows that Germany have been a declining force and particularly a declining Force since they won the World Cup in 2014 a couple of really poor uh major tournament displays not least the one in Euro 2020 when they look really short of ideas under Yogi love bringing in hansy flick didn’t work for them either so for them it’s all about Reviving The feeling behind their national team because people in Germany feel a little bit downcast about the prospects of their team and have done for a couple of years and there wasn’t even that much public interest in the 2022 World Cup partly because it was in Qatar but also because Germans just don’t feel good about their national team at the moment and you didn’t even have the game shown on big screens in most of the major cities like Munich Berlin and col now of course it’s slightly different this time for a couple of reasons and firstly is because julan nles man has coming he’s bright he’s got loads of different ideas and they’ve had a couple of good results against big Nations recently like the wins over the Dutch and the French for example which are really really important to them but it’s also the fact that because their Club teams have been doing well in Europe and you look at Leverkusen and their brilliant season um Bayern getting uh to the semi-finals of the Champions League Dortmund getting all the way to the final you can pick out some of those players and think okay well maybe this is a tournament where like the World Cup in 2006 they could use it as a moment where they regenerate that National feeling of feeling good about their football and feeling good about their national team those young players who could pull them through you look at floran vers um you look at Nicholas KR who’s a little bit older but someone who’s got the impression of being a tournament Talisman which he almost was a World Cup 2022 where he just played a little Cameo scored that brilliant equalizer against Spain albite to get them a draw in the group even though it wasn’t enough to to go through in the end so there is an opportunity with nagles man and this young Germany site to create something a little bit fresh in this tournament now Spain are the last one of our big four who could maybe threaten England to become tournament champions and of course tournament champions quite recently twice in 2008 and 2012 but the question is do they really belong in this group well I guess I’ll leave that up to you of course they had their moments in the last Euros before they failed to even get out of the group at World Cup 2022 so what sort of Spain are we really looking at I think on different days you could have different answers to that I think what’s clear going into this tournament is in Lis delente they have a coach who’s not as good as they had for the last couple of tournaments in Lis Enrique who really has a firm identity DEA Fuente is someone who was like a safe pair of hands because he looked after the under 21 team before he knows a lot of these players and of course they’re trying to bring through younger players but of course it feels for that reason that they’re kind of stuck between two stools they have experienced players like Alvaro marata who were great on their day but perhaps not at the level of the greats of 2008 and 2012 and younger players like pedri who’s played so much before like pal kuari of Barcelona only 17 years old and can almost be a playmaker from that Center back position he could be an absolute star for them in in the future Barcelona has just signed into a big new contract of course as they try and build with him one of those other Main Stays from the Barcelona click Gaby won’t be available because he did his Cru ship KN ligament going back into Autumn so he’ll be really missed as well so even though they have one of the best midfielders in the world in rodri we’re sort of picking out odd players who we think could make an impact rather than a plan uh a system an an idea of what we’re definitely going to get from them so we’re talking about a relatively condensed tournament compared to the World Cup so maybe Spain could put together a system of performances a series of performances and results that could get them into the spot I just wonder if they could still lack that sort of consistency necessary to win a tournament even a relatively short form tournament like this one so what about the best of the rest well it might seem a little sacriligious putting Italy in this category they are the defending Champions After all but they’ve been through such an incredible bizarre Journey over the last couple of tournaments of of course failed to qualify for two successive World Cups and really made heavy weather of qualifying for this tournament as well kept us going right until the end getting that draw with Ukraine and lusen to see themselves through in the end but you know what they have changed so much over the last little while I think um you look at the fact they’ve got a different coach um having done so well under Roberto manini in luchano spalti someone who also wants to play pretty football but but they’re in a transitional spot at the moment you know they have a couple of Main Stays and particularly that Midfield I mean they’ managed to move on from Marco veratti very well with nicoo barela having had a brilliant season for inter are more than capable of orienting the game for them going forward but I think you look at both ends the fact that uh gig donaruma has had an up and down season for PSG to say the least and Jan Lucas kamaka there’s great clamor for him to lead the line in Italy but he’s only started to come into form for Atlanta over the last couple of months so we’re not 100% sure of what we’re really going to get from Italy now the Netherlands If Only They had a time machine I think you look at sliding doors moments and if Euro 2020 had happened when it was meant to happen the Netherlands would have really been a contender they looked absolutely brilliant under Ronald kumman but of course it got postponed a year because of covid kumman took the opportunity of a lifetime to move on to Barcelona and things changed a little bit now of course cuman’s back there where he belongs at the Helm of the Dutch national team now but they’re not quite the team they used to be again sort of between two stools like Italy in that they have some of those really experienced players like uh Virgil Van djk Memphis perhaps not quite the level he was a couple of years ago having been held back by injuries and whatnot they do have some key players who could really make a huge impression in this tournament you look at donel Maron who’s been in great Nick for Dortmund this season and another Bundesliga base player Javi Simmons who on his day is really one of the best Midfield players in Europe but again we can’t be quite sure of what we’re going to get from the Netherlands the other ones we have to look for a Belgium now there’s this narrative that they’re an aging team and of course that’s true to a certain extent um and romu Lukaku has again had a few Peaks and troughs this season at Roma along with their form his has been up and down but I wonder if the fact that Kevin De Bruner has missed quite a lot of this season through injury maybe helps and maybe he’ll be a little bit fresher than some of the other star names at this tournament and of course we have to look at the fact that Belgium regenerating and they’re doing it quite well you look at AR teat at the back who’s done well for Ren and I would expect will turn up in the Premier League at some point art verir in Midfield if he gets a little go really industrious midfielder who’s already impressed in the Champions League and of course Jeremy dku who has turned from potential to brilliant player under Pep Guardiola and the fact that Belgium are moving in the right direction you look at the fact they’ve won all their qualifying games and the fact that the Belgium fa awarded a contract extension already to Domenico tadesco so even if there this isn’t the tournament they’re going to win they feel that there’s the prospect of them moving in the right direction under Tedesco and getting better and better with with this new team so whereas England can go into Euro 2024 with confidence plenty for them to think about though you suspect that France and Portugal will be the real ones to watch next up I’ll be casting my eye over Scotland’s hopes in Germany this summer

Andy Brassell previews the top teams at EURO 2024.

Subscribe: https://youtube.com/c/talkSPORT

Enjoyed this YouTube video? 😍

🖥️ talkSPORT’s Website: https://talksport.com/
📲 talkSPORT’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/talkSPORT
📷 talkSPORT’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talksport/?hl=en
👤 talkSPORT’s Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/talkSPORT/
📱 talkSPORT’s Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@talksport?

🔴 Download the talkSPORT app HERE! – https://talksport.com/apps/

🔎 Want to see if you feature on our YouTube channel? Check out our Best talkSPORT callers playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFVMnSsi_04LGLa9pS9xDv__me-Gjmlu2

#talkSPORT
#EURO2024