Euro 2020 power rankings: breaking down the final 24
No Eden Hazard, no problem (for the time being at least). Tougher assignments await in the summer but Belgium were impressive in the 3-1 win against Wales on Wednesday despite falling behind to a sumptuous Harry Wilson goal after 10 minutes. Kevin De Bruyne was magnificent, and equalised with a dipping long-range shot, and the Belgium coach, Roberto Martínez, praised the “personality and bravery” of the team on a poor pitch.
2) Germany
The Jogi Löw farewell tour could not have started in a better way, Leon Goretzka and Kai Havertz scoring to put Germany 2-0 up against Iceland within seven minutes. Ilkay Gündogan added a third after 56 minutes in a wholly satisfying 3-0 win. It was their first game since the 6-0 defeat in Spain and Löw admitted he had used that game as motivation. “The difference was that this time there was passion on the pitch,” admitted Goretzka. Jamal Musiala made his debut as a 78th-minute substitute, becoming Germany’s fourth youngest player in the process.
3) England
“Today we respected the game and went about it in the right way,” Gareth Southgate said after the 5-0 win against San Marino, and the England manager had a point. San Marino are the worst team in the world – ranked 210 out of 210 – so it was a question of how many England would score, but there were a few positives to take, chiefly James Ward-Prowse’s performance in midfield and a debut goal from Ollie Watkins with his first shot.
4) Portugal
In an instantly forgettable game, Portugal did enough to beat Azerbaijan 1-0 with an own goal from Maksim Medvedev.
Fernando Santos gave debuts to Nuno Mendes and João Palhinha (both Sporting) but this was a tepid performance with Portugal creating only three proper chances against defensive opponents, adding fuel to the argument that they perform better without Cristiano Ronaldo. Diogo Jota spent the game on the bench but expect him to get time on the pitch against Serbia on Saturday.
5) France
“This is not PlayStation,” said the France coach, Didier Deschamps, after his experiment with 4-4-2 backfired in the lacklustre 1-1 draw against Ukraine. “You need balance, substitutes,” he added. Antoine Griezmann scored a wonderful goal but then questioned the tactics. “We maybe needed some more offensive players who are able to go one-against-one down the sides,” he said.
6) Spain
After the deluge against Germany in November it was a return to familiar failings against Greece. Spain dominated possession (78%) but were unable to take their chances and were punished when Iñigo Martínez gave away a second-half penalty. Tasos Bakasetas made no mistake and the game finished 1-1. Two debutants, Pedri and Bryan Gil, brought fresh impetus as substitutes but it was not enough. “We lacked that little bit of inspiration,” Enrique said.
7) Turkey
Senol Gunes’s side produced one of the most impressive performances of the first round of games, deservedly beating the Netherlands 4-2 after a Burak Yilmaz hat-trick. The final goal was the pick, a wonderful free-kick into the top corner, but there were positives all over the pitch for the coach, including the 24-year-old goalkeeper Ugurcan Cakir, who played well and saved a penalty (though he might have done better for the Netherlands’ second goal).
8) Italy
“The first half was almost perfect,” said Roberto Mancini after the 2-0 victory against Northern Ireland, “but I must discuss the second half with my players.” The performances of Domenico Berardi and Ciro Immobile up front were the main positives for Italy but it was also clear they missed Jorginho.
9) Denmark
On a highly satisfying day for Danish football, Kasper Hjulmand’s side beat Israel away 2-0 without much trouble, after the Under-21s defeated France and it emerged that 12,000 fans will be allowed in for Euro 2020 games in Copenhagen should they go ahead. The most impressive thing against Israel was perhaps that Christian Eriksen was poor but that it did not matter. Simon Kjaer and Jonas Wind stood out, the latter scoring and assisting.
10) Switzerland
What a start for Vladimir Petkovic’s side against Bulgaria. They overwhelmed their opponents and were 3-0 up after 13 minutes. That has never happened in the national team’s 116year history, according to Blick. Petkovic called up 10 new players and that appears to have rejuvenated the setup. Xherdan Shaqiri stood out.
11) Czech Republic
A satisfying few days for the coach, Jaroslav Silhavy, who saw his team overwhelm Estonia, winning 6-2 despite going a goal down. West Ham’s Tomas Soucek scored a perfect hattrick – header, right foot and left foot – but goal of the night came from Antonin Barak, who somehow managed to, in three touches, backheel the ball to himself and flick it behind his back before finishing. Vladimir Darida had a good game too but tougher opponents, in Belgium and Wales, await.
12) Sweden
This was all about Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s return but apart from a terrific assist for the only goal in the 1-0 win over Georgia, the Milan forward and Sweden never really got going. Janne Andersson had selected an unusually attacking lineup with the 39-year-old returnee, Alexander Isak, Dejan Kulusevski and Victor Claesson but chances were few and far between and Georgia could have equalised towards the end.
13) Poland
Paulo Sousa’s first game did not go according to plan, his team falling 2-0 behind against Hungary before his substitutions led to a comeback and a 3-3 draw. The Portuguese had only had four training sessions and his initial 4-4-2 did not work out but it did get better with the introduction of Piotr Zielinski after 59 minutes and a switch to 3-4-3.
14) Austria
It had been a difficult buildup to the game against Scotland for Franco Foda with uncertainty over whether the sizeable contingent from Germany could play. After a relaxation in quarantine rules they were available but Foda, already without Martin Hinteregger, Julian Baumgartlinger, Konrad Laimer and Marko Arnautovic, then lost Marcel Sabitzer to an injury on match day. Unsurprisingly, Austria looked somewhat disjointed but dominated large parts of the 2-2 draw and the 23-yearold striker Sasa Kalajdzic continued his upward trajectory with his first two international goals on his third cap.
15) Wales
“There were murmurs of Brazil in the celebration,” Connor Roberts said in trying to sum up the feeling after Wilson and Gareth Bale combined to score one of Wales’s finest goals for