Euro 2024 Preview: The Favourites

There’s nothing quite like tournament football. The jeopardy of crashing out,the drama of a penalty shootout and the euphoria at the end when your team lifts the cup. It’s even better when it’s a continental quadrennial tournament.

Euro 2024 is upon us. Time to don your national team colours(or adopt one). Let’s preview what to expect.

The Favourites

1.FRANCE(GROUP D)

Les Bleus are without a doubt the team to beat. Didier Deschamps has overseen three finals out of the last four major International tournaments. However, France did exit Euro 2020 at the hands of the Swiss in the round of 16.

Blessed with an abundance of talent, Didier Deschamps has the task of producing another successful tournament. N’golo Kanté earned a surprise call up to add depth to what was already an impressive midfield.

Tactically, France will likely set up in the familiar 4-3-3 formation although Deschamps has experimented with a 3-4-2-1 against Luxembourg. Decisions will have to be made on who to start between Wiliam Saliba or Dayot Upamecano in defence, midfield combination will also likely be altered with the reintroduction of Kanté while a decision in attack will be between Olivier Giroud and Marcus Thuram. Kylian Mbappé will seek redemption at the Euros after he missed the decisive penalty against Switzerland four years ago.

Despite all their quality, France aren’t necessarily the most entertaining side. They like to play it cautious and retreat to a low mid-bock without the ball. This approach has been successful in tournaments where the margin for error is low.

They have enough individual quality to win games in all different types of ways. That I think is their biggest strength. They are comfortable in physical games, in set-pieces and can scrape out results in games that they haven’t dominated.

Potential Weaknesses

As highlighted above, France take a cautious approach, especially in their press.This can lead them to be a bit passive in games. This is best highlighted in the 2022 World Cup final against Argentina where for 70 minutes France barely did anything meaningful in the game.

Creativity is also another area of concern for me. Antoine Griezmann is the main creative outlet for the French in midfield. All their other creative players are wide payers. This leads to an over-reliance in wide areas for attacks which against low block teams might pose a problem as seen against Canada in their final warm up match.

The last issue with France is individual errors. And yes I mean Jules Koundé and Dayot Upamecano.On a bad day these two can make errors out of anything, if there’s an area to target versus France it is these two.

France are real favourites for the tournament but my prediction is that they will not be the eventual winners.

2.England( GROUP C)

The tournament couldn’t come any sooner for Gareth Southgate. His squad announcement coupled with the narrow 0-1 loss to Iceland has earned him a backlash from both the fans and the media.

 Southgate, who has in the past been accused of being too intransigent in his football, decided to pick a team based on club form with an attacking intent in mind.

It’s a risk that he is willing to take in what will be very likely his last tournament at the helm of the Three Lions.Southgate has had to deal with doubts about his ability to coach attacking football and I must say I didn’t expect him to be this bold with his selections. Southgate has had success with his pragmatic approach. He made the finals in Euro 2020, the semis of the 2018 world Cup and a quarter-fnal defeat against France in 2022.

Southgate’s newfound tactical nuance will be heavily scrutinized but can his youthful side ‘bring it home?’

England will set up in a 4-2-3-1 formation. Injuries to Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw will test their makeshift backline. Marc Guehi is expected to partner John Stones at the back while Trent Alexander-Arnold will play in midfield alongside Declan Rice.Jude Belingham will be handed the creative responsibility as the number 10 while Bukayo Saka is expected to be on the right.

England under Gareth Southgate have always been a solid team and I’m intrigued to see how this attack first mentality will fare. The talent is there. It’s just about creating the structure for the players to thrive.

Potential Weaknesses

England’s issues are purely tactical. There is a disconnect between how they want to play and the execution on the pitch. They want to be a high pressing side that dominates the ball but have structural issues in their set up.

Think of Brazil versus England and how easily Brazil were able to connect passes to their wide players and get in behind the English defence. The Belgium game again showed how susceptible to balls in behind England are when Romelu Lukaku outran Luis Dunk to play a trivella pass for Youri Tielemans to finish off. 

The latest friendly against Iceland again highlighted England’s deficiencies in their press. Iceland were continuously able to play the ball through the middle without pressure and play through passes behind the English defence.These are the structural issues Gareth Southgate has to work on.

The last thing England have to do is build chemistry between the players quickly.For long parts of his regime, Southgate has been very loyal in his squad selections. This makes this side lack in both experience and chemistry on the pitch. They have to figure out what partnerships to cultivate if they are to progress deep in the tournament.

An example is when Cole Palmer and Phil Foden seemed to get in each other’s way against Iceland. It felt like they both wanted to occupy the same spaces on the pitch. The end result was a tepid performance in attack, especially from Phil Foden.

It would take something special for England to win the Euros. I believe they have too many tactical issues to sort in a short amount of time. Prediction is that they reach the quarter-finals.