England have the chance to take revenge for the 2018 World Cup semi-final defeat against Croatia in the opening match of Euro 2020 after Gareth Southgate’s team received a favorable draw for the upcoming summer tournament, although Wales faces a difficult task to advance after pairing with Turkey, Italy and Switzerland.
It’s certain to play in all Group D matches at Wembley because of the unique format of the tournament that will feature 12 cities throughout Europe, England is also drawn with the Czech Republic and the winner of the play-off path C – one from Scotland, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia or Norway.
None of them need to worry about Southgate, whose team defeated Croatia 2-1 at Wembley during the League of Nations last year and also put five past the Czechs during qualification on their way to the top of their qualifying group, even though they suffered their first qualifying defeat for almost a decade against Jaroslav Silhavy’s team in Prague last month. England will face Croatia in their first match on June 14, with the winner of the next play-off on June 19 and Czech in their last group match on June 23.
However, if they win the group, England side will face runners-up from the clearly difficult Group F consisting of Germany, world champion France and holders Portugal in Dublin. In a complicated drawing procedure that saw 36 major nations represented at Romexpo in Bucharest, Wales placed in Group A and will face a 3,000-mile journey to play their opening match against Switzerland in Baku on June 13 before facing Turkey in Azerbaijan. Ryan Giggs’s side then travel to Rome to face Italy in their final group stage match on June 21.
Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland also have hopes of reaching the final through the play-offs and will be placed into Group E with Spain, Sweden and Poland if successful. Elsewhere, Finland’s final debut will see them face Denmark, Belgium and Russia in a group where three teams are predetermined thanks to the host system, with Manchester City Belgium midfielder Kevin De Bruyne describing the format that makes them face a trip to both Copenhagen and St. Petersburg as a “scandal”.
It will be interesting to see who will triumph as the leader of the group and proceed to the next round.
ASL
