Euros Round of 16 Preview, who will make it through?
The Euros knockout stages are upon us, and and there are some exciting draws. What should we expect? That is what we will discuss in this week's issue of Football Latest.
Welcome back to Football Latest! In the upcoming week, the Euros Round of 16 will be played, and there are certainly some exciting draws and potential for some incredible stories. England face Slovakia on Sunday, but we are going to briefly go through each tie and how it could go.
Switzerland vs Italy
This tie certainly has potential to be surprising. Switzerland have been a side that has found a way to get the job done so far this tournament, getting an important and solid win against Hungary, who seemed to be an even competitor on paper, before drawing with Scotland and Germany, the latter being a very surprising draw. However, Italy also always seem to be a team that gets the job done in difficult situations, as evidenced by their Euro 2020 win. This is a different Italy side, but with the same ideas going into this tournament as they had four years ago: maintain a solid defence, score a goal early and see out the game. This could be a very uninteresting game between two teams that seem to not want to take attacking risks, so if a game is going to go to penalties in this round, it will probably be this game.
Germany vs Denmark
Next up we have Germany, the home side, facing Denmark. I think this will be a much easier game to predict. Germany have been one of the most exciting sides of the entire tournament so far, and have comfortably topped their group with home advantage certainly contributing to their success. I would actually argue that their young coach Julian Naglesmann is the best coach at the whole tournament, putting together a side where two of the most exciting central attacking midfielders in the world function well in the same side, in Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz. I think for this reason, they will be able to comfortably beat Denmark, but they need to be careful to not make the same mistakes that England made against Denmark, who will be quick to pick up on misplaced passes and have players like Eriksen who can shoot from distance if they are given time and space. This could certainly be a good watch.
England vs Slovakia
Please England. Just don’t mess this up. After topping their group thanks to two draws and a win, England have been drawn against Slovakia, a team who finished in third place in their group. Don’t get me wrong, there is quality in this Slovakia side. England are a very unsettled team, and the one side more unsettled than England at this competition is Belgium, who Slovakia beat in the group stage. Despite their quality, this has to be a team that England expect to beat. A team with aspirations as high as England and with players like Foden, Bellingham, Kane, Stones, Walker and Saka at their disposal, this has to be a game that we win. I would argue that Southgate has to start Anthony Gordon in this game and finally give him a good chance, rather than 3 minutes on the pitch in a group stage game. He also needs to have the courage to drop big players that are not performing and give our other quality a chance, and I would like to see some rotation in this game, with Palmer and Gordon both being given significant game time.
Spain vs Georgia
Georgia somehow managed to beat Portugal 2-0 in their final group stage game, but despite that, Spain’s quality is just too much. I think that based on form so far this tournament, they should be one of the favourites, even ahead of France at this stage. Spain were the only team in the entire tournament to finish the group stage with 3 wins out of 3, and they just have so much quality from back to front. This includes one of the most promising wingers in the world, Lamine Yamal, a player starting for his country regularly at 16, and by far the best Defensive Midfielder in the world, Rodri. Spain should comfortably win this game.
France vs Belgium
As I have already mentioned, Belgium are the most unsettled side at this tournament, and they have been one of the most unsettled national sides in the world for years, after their “golden generation” failed to meet expectations in the last few major tournaments. This tournament is probably one of the last for players like Kevin de Bruyne and Lukaku, and France is not an easy draw in their first knockout round. I think this tie could be a lot closer than people may expect, because France are coming from a group stage where they drew with an extremely poor Poland side and with the Netherlands after a narrow win against Austria. France should still have the edge, but this won’t necessarily be an easy win for France.
Portugal vs Slovenia
While Portugal are entering this game after a disappointing defeat to Georgia, Slovenia are a side that are going to struggle massively in the knockout rounds. Throughout the group stage, Slovenia’s only strategy has been to shut teams down and hope for a draw, but that doesn’t work the same in knockout football. Control provided from players like Bernardo Silva combined with Ronaldo and Bruno Fernandes’ attacking talent will most likely ensure a controlled win for Portugal against a side that will struggle to cope with the pressure of knockout football.
Romania vs Netherlands
There is usually a team in major competitions that produces a surprise result, and Romania have been one of many teams to do that so far. They managed to top their group ahead of Belgium, whilst also knocking out Ukraine by humiliating them with a 3-0 win. Despite this, the Netherlands do have quality from front to back. Defenders like Van Dijk, Nathan Ake and Dumfries combine well with some of their exceptional attacking players like Cody Gakpo, Xavi Simons and Frimpong (who has been used as a winger primarily). There does seem to be a hole in this team, however, which is the midfield area. Their star midfielder Frenkie De Jong is going to miss this tournament due to injury, and this could have a huge impact on their control over games. This could either be an extremely chaotic game due to lack of midfield control by both sides, or it could be a slow, nervy game if neither side want to take any chances.
Turkey vs Austria
Every major tournament, football fans discuss who the “dark horse” of the tournament will be, or which team will exceed expectations, and for the final game of the round of 16, we have a match up between two of these teams. Turkey are a team with extreme young talent in attack, and they are defined by individual quality from many players. The two main examples of this are Arda Guler, an exciting young midfielder playing for Real Madrid and Kenan Yildiz, who is an outstanding 19 year old striker playing for Juventus. Austria are a potential dark horse of the tournament for a different reason; the manager and the system. Instead of individual brilliance, Austria are defined by their extremely high-pressing style of play led by ex-Manchester United boss Ralf Rangnick, and have massively exceeded expectations, finishing ahead of France, The Netherlands and Poland to top their Euros group. I would go as far as to say that this could be the most exciting game of the round of 16 on paper, and I would personally favour Austria to go through to the quarter finals.
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