The Belgian national team appears as the favorite to pass Group B and “easily” to the next round of the upcoming European Nations Cup (Euro 2020).
In addition to the “Red Devils”, the group includes teams: Denmark, Russia and Finland.
Belgium national team: Participating in the finals for the sixth time (1972, 1980, 1984, 2000, 2016 and 2020).
The Belgian team currently enjoys the presence of a golden generation of talented players, and the team did not find it difficult to qualify for Euro 2020, knowing that it ranked third in the World Cup in Russia. And coach Roberto Martinez can count on a huge group of attacking talents, such as Eden Hazard, captain and star of Real Madrid, Romelu Lukaku, Inter Milan striker, and Kevin De Bruyne, midfielder Manchester City.
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The Belgian national team feels that time is slipping from the hands of this unique generation of players, but it is confident that the team can achieve its best result in the European finals since it reached the Euro 1980 final, especially since the team won all the matches it played in qualifying for the tournament.
Denmark: Participated in the finals for the ninth time (1964, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2012 and 2020).
And the Danish team needed a draw with its Irish host in the last round of the qualifiers to ensure that it finished second in Group D behind the Swiss team and accompany it to the “Euro 2020” finals.
Goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel hopes to repeat his father Peter’s achievement in “Euro 1992”, but even the most optimistic fans of the Danish team do not wait for him to win the second European title through “Euro 2020”, as Peter Schmeichel led the team to win its only continental title in 1992, after the team participated Championship at the last minute.
Since reaching the quarter-finals of the 2004 edition in Portugal, the Danish team has not crossed the group stage in the European Championship, but the team has the opportunity to achieve more than passing the group stage if its player Christian Eriksen, the Inter Milan star, is at his best.
The duo Pierre-Emile Hojberg and Thomas Delaney also add to the strength of the Danish team’s midfield, while Simon Kaer leads the defense line. The team faces some difficulty in defeating its rivals, despite the presence of Leipzig star Youssef Poulsen in the team.
Russia: Participates in the finals for the twelfth time (1960, 1964, 1968, 1972, 1988, 1992, 1996, 2004, 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2020).
The Russian level was far from the circle of candidates in the big tournaments before the 2018 World Cup, which his country hosted, but the team’s reaching the quarter-finals in this World Cup raised the morale of the Russian bear and its ambitions, led by its national technical director Stanislav Cherichov.
The easy group in the qualifiers helped the Russian team to reach “Euro 2020” effortlessly with a team that relies mainly on active players in the local league, so that the tournament would be a strong and real test for this team.
Among the players of the Russian national team currently are Valencia’s Denis Cheryshev, Monaco’s Alexandre Golovin, veteran Yuri Zhirkov and Artem Djuba.
The Russian team reached the semi-finals at Euro 2008, but it has not yet repeated the success of the former Soviet Union, which won the European title in the first edition of the tournament in 1960, and reached the final in 1964, 1972 and 1988.
Finland national football team: participates in the finals for the first time (2020).
The Finnish team became the first new face to qualify directly for “Euro 2020”, as it booked its qualification ticket by occupying second place in the tenth group behind its Italian counterpart, before the North Macedonia team reserved its place in the finals for the first time, through the play-off.
Coach Marco Kanerva has worked with the Finnish Football Association since 2004, when he initially coached the youth team (under 21 years), then worked as an assistant coach in the first team before taking charge as coach of the team in 2016.
The Finnish team lacks a world-class player like its former star, Jari Litmanen, the former defender of Liverpool, but the team includes among its ranks a distinguished striker, Timo Pukki, who scored 9 goals for the team in the qualifiers and shines in the ranks of Norwich City.
The Finnish team relies a lot on goalkeeper Lukas Radeki, who is active in German Bayer Leverkusen, while the team also includes players from modest clubs such as Cypriot Pafos and Sweden’s Haken.
The Finnish team is looking forward to using its first participation in the tournament to appear well, but it faces a difficult and important challenge, which is the need to improve its level.