All eyes will be on Group D (England and Scotland) and Group F (Group of Death) in Euro 2020. However, Group A is probably the most finely balanced.
Italy are the favourites to top the group, but Wales, Switzerland and Turkey are all evenly matched. All four teams are more than capable of making an impression in the knockout stages of Euro 2020.
Below we preview Group A of Euro 2020.
Read: Euro 2020 Preview – Group D – Enemies Old And New For England
Italy manager Roberto Mancini went slightly under the radar after leaving Manchester City. As a result, it has been forgotten how good he is. He’s reminding everybody of exactly that with this Italy team, who are unbeaten in 27 games. It’s been a long time since the 2006 World Champions have been a significant factor in international tournaments. This time, they have a young, exciting team and have departed from their traditional defensive style. The Azzurri are 15/2 to win it all.
Switzerland are 75/1 outsiders, but have plenty of reasons to be optimistic ahead of the tournament. They reached the knockout stage in both Euro 2016 and World Cup 2018, and they could again now. Following the hectic pandemic schedule, the team who wins the Euros will likely be the team who can keep their players fresh. Luckily for Switzerland, Xherdan Shaqiri, Fabian Schar and Steven Zuber have all played relatively few minutes this season. As well as that, they’re captained by Granit Xhaka, who has been eternally fit for his whole career.
Read: Euro 2020 Preview – Group F – Group Of Death
Turkey are solid in defense and dangerous in attack, which makes for a good tournament team. Like Switzerland, the 66/1 underdogs could benefit mightily from having fit players. Turkey have benefitted the most from the delay in the tournament. If it went ahead last year, they would have been without Ozan Kabak, Yusuf Yazici, Merih Demiral and Cenk Tosun. Playmaker Yazici in particular is highly talented and has just had the season of his career. He could well be one of the breakout players of the tournament.
Wales are fondly remembered for their 2016 campaign where they surprisingly reached the semi finals. Back then, Wales did a good job of being a solid team with two superstars in Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey. Unfortunately, both players are the wrong side of 30 and are not the most durable anymore. If they can eke the best out of Bale and Ramsey, they could be dark horses. If not, Wales can build for the future and blood young players like Ethan Ampadu, Joe Rodon, Neco Williams, Harry Wilson and Daniel James.
