England's up for a classic in the quarter-finals
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Reading Time: 3min | Wed. 26.06.24. | 12:57
The Netherlands' defeat from Austria sent them straight to a quarter-final derby with the Three Lions
England and the Netherlands will face each other on Sunday (7 pm) at Arena AufSchalke in Gelsenkirchen. The Englishmen fulfilled their task and justified their role as favourites in Group C, finishing first. However, not many football fans expected that neither the Netherlands nor France would take the top spot in Group D. Contrary to the expectations, Austria finished first, while Oranje had to satisfy with only the third spot, and subsequently facing England already in the quarter-finals.
Regarding other teams from England's group, it is known that the second-placed Denmark will face the host, Germany, and will have an extremely difficult task. The Danes have drawn three times so far, while Die Mannschaft, although they got first place thanks to Niclas Füllkrug's added-time goal, is probably among the two best teams in the tournament, alongside Spain. Furthermore, the third-placed Slovenia shall play against the Group E winner. It will most likely be Belgium, but Ukraine, Slovakia and Romania all have their chance since each of the four teams has three points ahead of today's last-round matches.
Interstingly, Denmark and Slovenia both drew all their games at the tournament so far, and the same thing happened to Greece at EURO 2004 when they eventually won the European title. Whether the Danes and the Slovenians can repeat the Greeks' success remains to be seen.
Portugal was somewhat lucky for their round of 16 opponent, given that it would probably be Hungary, which secured their spot in the knockout phase with a 100th-minute goal against Scotland. Cristiano Ronaldo and Co. will certainly have an easier task than England or the Netherlands. Another known round of 16 pair consists of Italy and Switzerland. Mattia Zaccagni's late goal saved the Azzurri while the Swiss showed some excellent performance so far, being very close to beating Germany. Hence, that should be one of the most interesting knockout phase clashes.
Finally, Spain, France, and Austria will have to wait for today's epilogue to find out about their rivals. La Furia will face the third-placed team from Group E (Slovakia at the moment) and will be a firm favourite in that duel. Les Blues await the second-placed squad from the same group, which should probably be Romania or Ukraine. Finally, Austria's great results secured them the easier opponent in the round of 16, and that will be either Turkey or the Czech Republic.
One part of the tree is already complete, and the remaining one will be known after today's matches. Nevertheless, what's clear at this point is that the "left" side of the tree is way stronger than the "right" one. Namely, on one side, there are Spain, Germany, Portugal and France, whereas on the other one the only "renowned" teams are England and Italy. Still, Switzerland and Austria are lurking in their chance, given that they've already shown they know how to cope with favourites.
EURO 2024 - projected round of 16 matches
Spain - 3rd-placed from Group E (Slovakia at the moment)
Germany - Denmark
France - 2nd-placed from group E (Romania at the moment)
Portugal - Hungary (most likely)
Group E winner (Belgium at the moment) - Slovenia
Austria - 2nd-placed from Group F (Turkey at the moment)
England - Netherlands
Switzerland - Italy
EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP - GROUP STAGE
Wednesday
19.00: (3.30) Slovakia (2.05) Romania (3.85)
19.00: (5.60) Ukraine (3.90) Belgium (1.70)
22.00: (7.80) Georgia (5.20) Portugal (1.43)
22.00: (2.65) Czech R. (3.40) Turkey (2.80)
***odds are subject to change***
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