Group

One could suspect that an England in which a part of its citizenship has adopted the song of the Millwall fans – “Nobody likes us and we don’t care!” – presents an unfriendly team to Euro 2021; but nothing would be more false. The fine and courteous squad of Gareth Southgate returns to television, passing the ball from behind, not getting drunk after the victory and comforting opponents who miss a penalty.

Of the 23 players who went to the 2018 World Cup, where they lost in the semi-final against Croatia, 10 survive. Of these, some are still recovering from injuries, such as center back Harry Maguire and midfielder Jordan Henderson.. And others drag long periods of low form, such as forwards Raheem Sterling or Marcus Rashford.

After ruling out Jesse Lingard, Delle Alli or Eric Dier, who had important roles in Russia, Southgate has recruited young people – Jude Bellingham and Jadon Sancho (both playing in the Bundesliga), and Bukayo Saka of Arsenal – who have international experience with their clubs but very little in the selection. They have reduced their average age to 24.65.

The inclusion in the list of 26 of four right backs has inspired humor but they are versatile players, who can be central, Kyle Walker, or lead in the lanes or the center of the field. The luxury is that the regulars – Walker on the right and Kieran Trippier on the left – can be exchanged for Reece James and Ben Chillwell, who displayed their quality with Chelsea, in the final of the Champions League.

Off vests

There is stiffness in the center of defense, where long, slow Maguire and John Stones are fixed, if the former recovers from his ankle injury. Neither they nor the goalkeeper, Jordan Pickford, are strangers to excessive parsimony or absent-mindedness. In midfield, Henderson hasn’t played a game for Liverpool since February. Two promising players, Kalvin Phillips, from Leeds, and Declan Rice, from West Ham, are the alternatives to recover the ball and set the pace.

Jack Grealish, Mason Mount and Phil Foden seem the ideal players to link the medullary line with Captain Harry Kane and whoever Southgate chooses to accompany him at the top. The coach has played with 4-4-2 and 4-3-3, more depending on the characteristics of his available players than of rivals. There is no shortage of creative footballers in the final stretch.

The aspiration is to reach the semifinals at least, announced the coach when presenting his final squad on Monday, after the participation of three English clubs in the European finals. Southgate seems to be looking for a riskier life. On the warm night of his first friendly, against Austria this past Wednesday, he did not wear one of the famous and long-suffering vests that he exhibited in Russia. Now he dares with a jacket and shirt.

If their group (Croatia, Scotland, Czechia) wins, England will only have to leave their home at Wembley in the quarter-finals (Rome Olympic Stadium) for the entire tournament.

Current world runner-up in Russia 2018, this will be his sixth European Championship. His ceiling is in the quarterfinals, which he acceded to in 1996 and 2008. Trying to make that leap in quality, his coach since 2017, Zlatko Dalic, continues to entrust Luka Modric with command of operations to lead the team. The madridista will not have an assistant with Ivan Rakitic, absent from the list, and will have to associate with players with Kovacic, Perisic or Pasalic to connect with forwards such as Rebic, Brozovic or the Osasunista Budimir.

At the back, Croatia has veterans such as Lovren and the athletic Vrsjalko, in addition to the solvency in the goal of Kalinic. Within Group D, they will have host England (June 13) as their most difficult rival. Then they will face the Czech Republic (June 18) and Scotland (June 22).

The first rehearsal before the European tournament did not go very well for the Balkan team, who could only draw (1-1) against Armenia on June 1 in the Croatian city of Velika Gorica. “Our latest results were not the best, but I am optimistic. Our goal is to pass the group stage, “the Croatian coach admitted to the press days before the game against the Armenians.

One of the main doubts of the ‘chess’ team is to know what the physical state of Modric is, overloaded with matches at Real Madrid due to the fatigue of enough rest in the League and the Champions League. The white midfielder works, as in his club, as the main engine of the Croatian national team.

The measures in force in Scotland against the pandemic have forced Croatia to give up its base camp in St Andrews for the Eurocup, fearing a player will catch it. For this reason, it will be based on Rovinj, a town on the northern coast of the Croatian Adriatic.

The Czech Republic is ready to do a good job at this European Championship. His dream would be to repeat the final he played 25 years ago at Wembley, a stadium that he will visit again, against Germany. It seems complicated. He has a talented team with whom he really aspires to be able to make the first cut and get into at least the round of 16. He could not do it in 2016, where he already saw the faces with Croatia, with whom he will have to face again this time. England and Scotland, both with the field factor in their favor, complete group D.

Leverkussen striker Patrick Schick is the standard-bearer for the team led by a Czech football historian like Jaroslav Silhavy. Nor should we ignore the burly West Ham midfielder Tomas Soucek, the axis on which this team turns.

From suffering, the team trained by Steve Clarke to qualify for this European Championship made its flag. He resorted to the repechage and in both cases he solved the matches in the penalty shootout, first against Israel and, above all, the final clash against Serbia in Belgrade and against the prognosis.

This will be his third participation in the final phase of the European Championship after the experiences of 1992 and 1996. In both he was unable to pass the first phase. This time he is part of group D and will play in his country the three matches of the first round.

Manchester United’s midfielders McTominay and Arsenal’s Tierney, along with Liverpool’s full-back Robertson and some old-fashioned British football forwards form the skeleton of a team that may surprise the odd.