Can England Win Euro 2020?

We are finally here, Euro 2020 is about to get underway. Around Europe, there will be plenty of fans who think their team can win this competition, but what about England?

Generally second favourites with the bookmakers, England appear to have a great chance of winning. On top of that, Wembley plays host to many games, there is a potential path through to the final that leaves them playing just one game away from Wembley over the entire tournament.

In preparation for Euro 2020, England have played two friendlies against Austria and Romania, and won them both by a score line of 1-0. They were not convincing, but does that matter? Finding their feet, playing with new players and not picking up injuries were the three most important factors of those two games, so in that respect it was job done.

Can they do it?

The Group Stage

Quite simply, England must qualify from this group. If they do not, expect Gareth Southgate to be looking for another job. They are odds on to win the group, and when you add in the Wembley factor, that is fully deserved.

Both Scotland and the Czech Republic should not offer any real threat, the top of the group should come down to the game against Croatia. This is the team that knocked England out of the 2018 World Cup at the semi final stage, but they had an ageing core of players then, and that has only got older since.

the top of the group should come down to the game against Croatia

Since then, in the Nations League, England have drawn away in Croatia and beaten them 2-1 at Wembley, so this is a game that England will fancy themselves to win.

Route to the Final

There are two realistic routes to the final, one where England win the group and one where they come second. Both have positives and negatives attached to them.

The route which is the easiest in terms of who they play is actually the one they would take if finishing second in the group. The route for winning the group is much tougher, but the advantage of that one is that they would go through the entire tournament and play just once away from Wembley, in the quarter finals, if they went all the way.

Their “reward” for winning the group would be a last 16 games against whoever finishes second from Group F, which includes France, Portugal and Germany, so certainly not an easy first knockout game!

England are expect to win the group, that means they will have that tough game, but does also mean that just one game will be played away from Wembley, which gives home advantage.

The Squad and Injuries

Gareth Southgate named his 26-man squad ahead of the friendlies. He then saw controversial pick Trent Alexander-Arnold side lined with an injury, so had to make the change to bring in Ben White to replace him.

Looking down the squad, the likes of Phil Foden, Jadon Sancho and Mason Mount make this young England team perhaps one of the very best we have ever had in terms of individual skill and technical ability with the ball.

Let’s hope they can bring that together as a team, and potentially win Euro 2020 this summer.

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