Euro 2020 review
Ten things that football fans learned from Euro 2020
It was great to see crowds back at matches because it wasn’t the same without a crowd at a match. It was great to see the crowd cheering when their team scored especially when the team were playing their match at home. The standard of football improved due to a crowd back in the stadium especially when a player put in a tackle or their team scored a goal. It has been tough to watch football over the last year but with crowds returning to football matches it looks like some things are getting back to normal.
In the opening weekend of Euro 2020 there was a lot of shock and uncertainty as Christian Eriksen collapsed. When you see something like that happen it puts everything into perspective and makes you realise there are more important things in life than football. Thankfully Eriksen survived and since then everybody has enjoyed the games more in this tournament. Denmark players used this as a positive and it motivated Denmark to win their final group stage match to get into the last sixteen and to reach the semi-final of Euro 2020.
Video Assistant Referee’s had a good tournament and were able to give a decision quickly which was great to see. Before the tournament a lot of fans would have been worried of the tournament been ruined by a bad VAR mistake but thankfully this wasn’t the case. The Referee’s also had a good tournament they let most games flow and didn’t stop the matches for stupid fouls but they need to start booking players for rolling around on the ground. The only thing that frustrates people is that the Linesman are not allowed to put their flag up when someone is offside and have to wait to the play is over this is very frustrating because if someone is offside by a few yards the Lionsmen should be allowed to put their flag up.
When fans were picking winners before Euro 2020 a lot of people were going for France because they have great attacking players in their team such as Kylian M’bappe and Antoine Griezmann. They played their last sixteen match against Switzerland as a group of individuals and you need to play as a team regardless of how many superstars you have in your squad. They were also complaicment and thinking France had the match won before it started that never works in football. France went out with a mindset that they could outscore the opposition but your not guaranteed to score every game but they went 3-1 up with nine minutes to go everyone thought they had it won but lost concentration which let Switzerland back in. M’bappe didn’t have a great tournament which didn’t help France at all.
Czech Republic surprised everyone in Euro 2020 as they made it to the quarter-final. When they were drawn in a group with England and Croatia nobody gave them a chance to get out of the group but Patrik Schick goals was the difference in getting Czech out of the group. Schick was one of the stars from Euro 2020 and if European teams are looking for a striker in the Summer they should look at signing Schick. Another player that played well for Czech was Tomas Soucek showed how good he is and if Soucek keeps playing like this West Ham will do well to keep him.
Before Euro 2020 nobody gave Spain a chance to get out of their group. When Luis Enrique didn’t bring any Real Madrid players there were a lot of eyebrows raised in Spain. The critics grew when Spain only scored one goal in their first two games but scored five goals in the last game which gave them a confidence boost. They gained momentum from this result as they made their way to the semi-final. In the semi-final against Italy they were quiet unfortunate because they were the better team in the match. Just missing out on a penalty shoot out but Spanish fans should be delighted that they made it to the semi-final. Pedri was unbelievable for Spain especially in the semi-final he was so calm under pressure which was remarkable considering Pedri is only eighteen.
England started their campaign with a narrow win against Croatia but then followed it up with a disappointing performance against Scotland then finished the group stage with a win against Czech Republic. England’s best performance was against Germany were they played Germany off the park and England fans were delighted that Harry Kane scored his first goal of Euro 2020 in this game. England’s biggest win was against Ukraine in the quarter final were Kane scored two more goals in this game. There was a lot of pressure on England as they played their semi-final against Denmark and they went behind when Damsgaard put Denmark in front from a free kick. England got back on level terms with a own goal and went onto win with a penalty rebound from Harry Kane. England went into the final quietly confident and started the match great with a goal from Luke Shaw. In the second half England came more defensive and let Italy back into the game but it went to penalties. It’s natural to be disappointed to lose out on penalties but England fans should be delighted that they made it to the final. Luke Shaw continued his good club form with England and Shaw was outstanding for England in Euro 2020.
A lot of football fans were picking Belgium before Euro 2020 started but De Bruyne wasn’t able to play his best stuff and Belgium found it hard to get past Italy. Everyone labels Belgium as a golden team with all the superstars but they still haven’t won the Euros yet. Belgium will need to start winning competitions because if they don’t their golden team will be considered a failure.
Italy only conceded three goals in Euro 2020 and this is why Italy won Euro 2020. They have a amazing goalkeeper in Donnarumma and a experienced defender in Chiellini they are difficult to beat. They have some great attacking players in Verratti and Immobile but they know how to win which matters a lot in knockout football. Italy were in the doldrums a few years ago until they appointed Mancini as manager and since then Italy have gone thirty four matches unbeaten which is unbelievable and Mancini has done a remarkable job with Italy over the last few years. Italy played the best football in Euro 2020 and it was a well deserved win.