Page 7 – European Championships

I’LL DROP MOUNT FROM EURO SQUAD

West Bromloanee Charlie Austin has revealed that he would drop in-form Chelsea midfielder Mason Mount from his squad for Euro 2020 if he was the England national team manager. Gareth Southgate is the Three Lions of England manager and he has a lot of selection problems ahead of the Euro 2020 tournament this summer especially in the creative midfield department.

Charlie Austin is on loan at former club Queens Park Rangers in the English Championship having joined them last month from parent club West Brom, who are struggling to stay in the Premier League this season. Charlie Austin was recently featured on the Breakfast Show with TalkSports presenter Laura Woods and he was asked to briefly assume the role of England manager Gareth Southgate to select three players from the creative midfield quartet of Manchester City star Phil Foden, Chelsea player Mason Mount, Leicester City star James Maddison and Aston Villa skipper Jack Grealish. Continue Reading

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CAN SMITH-ROWE MAKE ENGLAND SQUAD

Arsenal midfielder Emile Smith-Rowe has been a breadth of fresh air at the club since he was introduced into the starting XI bymanager Mikel Arteta and he could play his way into the England squad for Euro 2020 later this year if he keeps up his form for the Gunners. The introduction of Emile Smith-Rowe into the Arsenal line-up has rescued the Gunners’ season up till his point. Some weeks back, it was unthinkable that Emile Smith-Rowe will even be in the conversation for Euro 2020 but this is no longer impossible due to his sensational form for his team. Emile Smith-Rowe is a graduate of the Arsenal academy and has supported the club all his years.

Emile Smith-Rowe has been able to forge a good partnership with fellow young midfielder Bukayo Saka to lead the Gunners away from the relegation zone and into contention for a Champions League spot on the Premier League table. Bukayo Saka is way ahead of Emile Smith-Rowe in the race to be a part of the England squad for Euro 2020 as he has made a handful of appearances for the Three Lions and he has been in very good form just like Emile Smith-Rowe in addition to the fact that the Nigerian-born player can feature effectively in defence, midfield and attack.
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BELGIAN INJURY BLOW AHEAD OF EUROS

Belgium have been rocked with the news that key midfielder Axel Witsel could miss the upcoming Euro 2020 tournament in the summer after he suffered a long-term injury over the weekend in the colours of his club. Borussia Dortmund player Witsel suffered the injury in the league win over RB Leipzig over the weekend. Axel Witsel was in the starting XI for Borussia Dortmund during the game that ended 3-1 in favour of the 1997 Champions League winners away from home.

Axel Witsel is in serious danger of missing out for the top team in the FIFA rankings, the Red Devils of Belgium. The ex-Zenit St. Petersburg midfielder tore his Achilles tendon during the Leipzig game and he’ll need a miracle to be fit in time to make the squad for Euro 2020. He went down injured with the Achilles injury around the half hour mark and Borussia Dortmund have already confirmed that the player will miss be missing for the foreseeable future. Continue Reading

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LOW CAN’T AFFORD POOR EURO CAMPAIGN

German national team manager Joachim Low has largely struggled to hit the expected heights amongst the German football faithfuls since he led the team to their fourth World Cup title at the 2014 FIFA World Cup tournament in the South American nation of Brazil. Joachim Low and Germany won that World Cup tournament by beating Argentina in extra time during the final clash. Joachim Low showed his quality as a manager as he sent on Andre Schurrle and Mario Gotze to do the damage. Schurrleprovided the assist for Gotze to score the all-important winning goal that gave the Germans their fourth World Cup title.

Joachim Low has not been able to replicate that level of success in the other major tournaments like the European Championship in 2016 and the FIFA World Cup tournament in 2018. He faces a big task to replicate that level of success ahead of Euro 2020. Recent reports had claimed that Low might need to win Euro 2020 next summer to keep his job as the German national team manager. Continue Reading

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EURO 2020 CITIES CONFIRMED

The 2020 European Championship is the most unique yet in the history of the competition mainly due to the tournament being hosted in different cities across several countries rather than the norm of the tournament being hosted in several cities across one or two countries. Euro 2020/2021 will take place next summer after it was brought forward from the originally designated period, this summer. This was due to effects of Covid-19, which was also responsible for the suspension of the majority of the football leagues across the world. In addition, fans became absent at match venues to prevent the spread of the virus.

Euro 2020/2021 was initially scheduled to hold from June 12 to July 12, 2020 before it was postponed till June 11 to July 11, 2021 as a result of the virus. Euro 2020/2021 is the 16^th edition of the tournament and it would be hosted in 12 match venues in 12 different cities across 12 countries on the European scene. Euro 2020 host countries are Azerbaijan, Denmark, England, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Republic of Ireland, Romania, Russia, Scotland and Spain.
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UEFA EURO 2020/2021 PLAY-OFF: START DATE

The prestigious tournament which comprises of top European nations was originally scheduled to commence in March 2020 but was pushed to a later date due to the breakout of the coronavirus pandemic.

WHAT THE PLAY-OFF IS ABOUT

There are 10 qualifying groups in the tournament. Each group will see the top two teams advance further, amounting to a total number of 20 participants in the next round.
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