In the wake of the arrival of the Covid-19 contagion in 2020, UEFA was forced to postpone Europe’s biggest football showpiece which was meant to be the diamond jubilee celebration of the competition.
Several activities were lined up for the 60th year celebration of the competition last year and luckily for the fans, none has changed even after it suffered a one-year postponement.
For a period of one month, the UEFA EURO 2020 Championship will be celebrated in twelve cities across Europe.
However, while the decision to shift EUROS by a year didn’t change the pageantry, glamour, and fanfare of the competition, it did have abstruse effects on a couple of teams capable of clinching the trophy come July 11, thus making the competition yet an inscrutable one.
While it’s hard to bet on a team that could land the trophy in Wembley, here’s the favorite teams likely to make it to the latter stages of the quadrennial football competition while one of them will possibly emerge as champions.
Let’s take a look at the top 5 favorites to win Euro 2020
France Are The Biggest Favorites
Les Blues are coming to Euro 2020 with a whole lot of expectations on them having emerged as runners-up when they hosted the EUROS in 2016. before winning the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.
Didier Deschamps has got an insanely talented side, as well as a very young squad. And the good news for France and their fans is that the larger crop of players who clinched the Mundial in 2018 in Russia is still very much around as well as a couple of new faces.
By and large, France is like a well-oiled engine because they’ve got quality in every department of the team. In the duo of Kylian Mbappe and Karim Benzema who eventually left the wilderness of international football after six years to represent France at a major tournament, they’ve got no problem with scoring goals.
Also, they will be coming into the tournament with some UEFA Champions League Winners in N’golo Kante, Kurt Zouma, and Deschamps’s good friend, Olivier Giroud.
When there’s a squad as strong, talented, and cohesive as the French squad in the hands of an astute manager in Deschamps, they should be the biggest favorites.
Can EURO Come Home For England This Time?
Despite playing in nine previous editions of EUROS, England has never lived up to its own supporters’ lofty expectations.
But seeing how The Three Lions faired in the last World Cup, reaching the semi-finals before the defeat to Croatia who was the eventual runners up, there’s this feeling that England could be at the top of European games.
And here’s a better time and opportunity for Gareth Southgate and his young squad to put the disappointment of the 2016 EUROS in France behind them.
The first name on the lips of English supporters is the team’s best player and captain, Harry Kane, who have just had a tremendous season with Spurs in the Premier League, having thirty-seven goal contributions (24 goals and 13 assists) in the process.
Also, the fact that he emerged as the top scorer in the 2018 World Cup makes his team a side to be reckoned with.
But he won’t be the only player that’ll be hard to play against for England, Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford, Chelsea’s Mason Mount, and others will not be handy for any defense that opposes The Three Lions. It’s not too arduous to see why football enthusiasts, pundits would tip them as one of the favorites to win EURO 2020.
Will Portugal Deliver Again Against All Odds?
So it’s five years already that Fernando Santos and Cristiano Ronaldo led the A Seleção of Portugal to an unlikely Euros glory in France after Eder’s only goal in the extra time bagged Portugal’s first-ever major trophy.
To add to that, Santos’ side also won the inaugural UEFA Nations League shortly after the 2018 FIFA Mundial in Russia and topped the group after the qualifying rounds for the Euros
READ ALSO: Losers & Winners Of The Delayed Euro 2020
Meanwhile, the Portuguese team has changed in terms of the personnel in the team that conquered Europe in 2016.
Nonetheless, the team now has a squad packed with handsomely gifted players in the midfield and upfront.
Therefore, it’s tremendously difficult to write out the defending champions in the last two UEFA’s international football competitions.
Oh! They still have Cristiano Ronaldo which is a huge motivation for Santos’ squad.
The Less-fancied Favorites, Italy
There has been a silent but major improvement in the Italian squad following their failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. The Azurri under the tutelage of Roberto Mancini has got a massive winning record, coupled with defensive solidity.
Italy has conceded only six goals in its last twenty-six matches as their last lost game dates back to 2018. And this is done with a lot of concern on the age profile of the team.
Should Mancini and his Azurri side negotiate their unbeaten record through UEFA EURO 2020 group matches in Rome against Turkey, Switzerland, and Wales, then Italy could go all the way.
Could Belgium Finally Deliver?
Belgium has been tagged favorites in the last two tournaments played but unfortunately, their efforts have returned with little or no success as there’s obviously no trophy to show for it failing to perform on the biggest stage when it mattered.
With lots of creative alternatives in the team starting with Eden Hazard, Kevin De Bruyne who is often regarded as one of the best midfielders in world football, and of course Dries Mertens, all aiming to feed and provide Belgium top-scorer Romelu Lukaku who has been in scintillating form for Inter Milan this season. Goals shouldn’t be rare.
And just like it was in the past, Roberto Martinez’s side is filled with richly talented players that have skyrocketed the Red Devils to the number one spot in FIFA rankings and no doubt will scare many other contesters in the competition this year.
