We are just a few days away from the commencement of the 16th edition of the UEFA European Championship, Euro 2020.
Owing to the coronavirus pandemic, the tournament was postponed by a year. Thankfully, things look decent enough in Europe to go on with it and with fans present in stadiums.
For the first time, there will be host cities across 11 different countries where the matches will be held. Like the previous edition, there will be 24 teams divided into 6 groups of four with the top two and the best four 3rd-placed teams qualifying for the knockout stages.
Group B is perhaps one of the most straightforward groups of the competition, comprising of heavyweights Belgium along with Denmark, Russia and Finland, who are appearing in their first major tournament.
The Belgians couldn’t have asked for an easier draw while Russia and Denmark wouldn’t be disappointed with it either. However, Finland certainly have been handed a pretty difficult group and it would be quite a miracle if they made out of it.
GROUP B – BELGIUM
One of the tournament’s heavy favorites, Belgium had a magnificent qualifying campaign to reach their 6th Euro. The Red Devils won all of their ten matches, scoring 40 goals while conceding just three.
Belgium’s best performances at the Euros came in 1980 when they reached the final only to be beaten 2-1 by West Germany courtesy of a Horst Hrubesch brace.
BELGIUM TEAM INFO
- Manager – Roberto Martinez
- Captain – Eden Hazard
- Key Players – Romelu Lukaku, Kevin de Bruyne, Eden Hazard
- FIFA Ranking – Ranked 1st
- Prediction – Winners
- First match of the tournament – vs Russia on June 12
Belgium’s squad for the tournament
Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid), Simon Mignolet (Club Brugge), Matz Sels (Strasbourg)
Toby Alderweireld (Tottenham Hotspur), Thomas Vermaelen (Vissel Kobe), Dedryck Boyata (Hertha Berlin), Jan Vertonghen (Benfica), Thomas Meunier (Borussia Dortmund), Jason Denayer (Lyon), Timothy Castagne (Leicester City)
Axel Witsel (Borussia Dortmund), Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City), Youri Tielemans (Leicester City), Eden Hazard (Real Madrid), Yannick Carrasco (Atletico Madrid), Thorgan Hazard (Borussia Dortmund), Hans Vanaken (Club Brugge), Leander Dendoncker (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Nacer Chadli (Istanbul Basaksehir), Denis Praet (Leicester City),
Romelu Lukaku (Inter Milan), Dries Mertens (Napoli), Michy Batshuayi (Crystal Palace), Christian Benteke (Crystal Palace), Jeremy Doku (Rennes), Leandro Trossard (Brighton and Hove Albion)
GROUP B – DENMARK
The Scandinavian nation finished second in their qualifying group behind Switzerland to make it to their ninth European championship. Denmark’s best-ever showing in the Euros was their iconic triumph in 1992, a tournament for which they didn’t officially qualify.
The Danes replaced the suspended Yugoslavia and won the tournament in Sweden by beating Germany 2-0 in the final. Their victory is still regarded as one of the greatest underdog stories in Euro history.
DENMARK TEAM INFO
- Manager – Kasper Hjulmand
- Captain – Kasper Schmeichel
- Key players – Christian Eriksen, Kasper Schmeichel, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg
- FIFA Ranking – 10th
- Prediction – Last 16
- First match of the tournament – vs Finland on June 12
Denmark’s squad for the tournament
Kasper Schmeichel (Leicester City), Frederik Ronnow (Schalke), Jonas Lossl (Midtjylland)
Joachim Andersen (Fulham), Jannik Vestergaard (Southampton), Simon Kjaer (AC Milan), Joakim Maehle (Atalanta), Andreas Christensen (Chelsea), Mathias Jorgensen (Copenhagen), Jens Stryger Larsen (Udinese), Nicolai Boilesen (Copenhagen)
Robert Skov (Hoffenheim), Thomas Delaney (Borussia Dortmund), Christian Eriksen (Inter Milan), Christian Norgaard (Brentford), Daniel Wass (Valencia), Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (Tottenham Hotspur), Mathias Jensen (Brentford), Anders Christiansen (Malmo FF)
Martin Braithwaite (Barcelona), Yussuf Poulsen (RB Leipzig), Kasper Dolberg (Nice), Andreas Cornelius (Parma), Mikkel Damsgaard (Sampdoria), Jonas Wind (Copenhagen), Andreas Skov Olsen (Bologna)
GROUP B – RUSSIA
The hosts of the 2018 FIFA World Cup finished second in their qualifying group to reach their 12th European Championship if we include the editions they played as the Soviet Union and the CIS.
While playing as the Soviets, their best performance was winning the inaugural edition of the Euros in 1960, beating Yugoslavia in the final. As Russia, their best show was reaching the semi-finals in 2008.
RUSSIA TEAM INFO
- Manager – Stanislav Cherchesov
- Captain – Artem Dzyuba
- Key Players – Artem Dzyuba, Aleksandr Golovin, Mario Fernandes
- FIFA Ranking – 38
- Prediction – Last 16
- First match of the tournament – vs Belgium on June 12
Russia’s squad for the tournament
Anton Shunin (Dynamo Moscow), Yury Dyupin (Rubin Kazan), Matvei Safonov (Krasnodar)
Mario Fernandes (CSKA Moscow), Igor Diveyev (CSKA Moscow), Vyacheslav Karavayev (Zenit), Andrei Semyonov (Akhmat Grozny), Fyodor Kudryashov (Antalyaspor), Georgi Dzhikiya (Spartak Moscow)
Denis Cheryshev (Valencia), Magomed Ozdoyev (Zenit), Dmitri Barinov (Lokomotiv Moscow), Roman Zobnin (Spartak Moscow), Aleksandr Golovin (AS Monaco), Yuri Zhirkov (Zenit), Rifat Zhemaletdinov (Lokomotiv Moscow), Daniil Fomin (Dynamo Moscow), Daler Kuzyayev (Zenit), Andrei Mostovoy (Zenit), Maksim Mukhin (Lokomotiv Moscow),
Aleksandr Sobolev (Spartak Moscow), Anton Zabolotny (Sochi), Aleksei Miranchuk (Atalanta), Aleksei Ionov (Krasnodar), Artem Dzyuba (Zenit), Denis Makarov (Rubin Kazan)
GROUP B – FINLAND
Finland finished second in their qualifying group behind Italy to reach their maiden major tournament, thus finding their finest hour yet.
FINLAND – TEAM INFO
- Manager – Markku Kanerva
- Captain – Tim Sparv
- Key Players – Teemu Pukki, Lucas Hradecky, Glen Kamara
- FIFA Ranking – 54
- Prediction – Group Stage
- First match of the tournament – vs Denmark on June 12
Finland’s squad for the tournament
Lukas Hradecky (Bayer Leverkusen), Jesse Joronen (Brescia), Anssi Jaakkola (Bristol Rovers)
Paulus Arajuuri (Pafos), Daniel O’Shaughnessy (HJK), Joona Toivio (BK Hacken), Leo Vaisanen (IF Elfsborg), Niko Hämäläinen (Queens Park Rangers), Thomas Lam (PEC Zwolle), Jere Uronen (Genk), Jukka Raitala (Minnesota United FC), Robert Ivanov (Warta Poznan)
Glen Kamara (Rangers), Robert Taylor (Brann), Robin Lod (Minnesota United FC), Fredrik Jensen (Augsburg), Rasmus Schuller (Djurgardens IF), Pyry Soiri (Esbjerg), Tim Sparv (AEL), Nikolai Alho (MTK), Joni Kauko (Esbjerg), Onni Valakari (Pafos),
Teemu Pukki (Norwich City), Joel Pohjanpalo (Union Berlin), Lassi Lappalainen (CF Montreal), Marcus Forss (Brentford)