Euro round up

By @Elitesolskjaer, published on 09/06/21

This summer, several the MUFC squad will be at the Euros, held in several different cities across the continent. In this weekly article, I will be looking at how all the boys are doing with their respective national team's. For this first article, I will be talking about the groups one by one and talking about who else will be in that Group and what other players you should be keeping an eye out for this year's tournament.

Group A is where we start with Dan James and Wales; The Welsh National team are in their second consecutive Euro after the success of 2016 with their tally's man Gareth Bale who, even though is having a terrible time at the club, is still the key man for his country. The other three teams in the Wales group are Italy managed by the former City manager Roberto Mancini. The Azzurri didn't qualify for the tournament five years ago, but because the new crop of players have come back and now could be seen as one of the outsiders for the competition.

The main men for Italy are goalkeeper and formed AC Milan player Gianluigi Donnarumma, the old guard in defence with Chiellini and Bonucci and players like Belotti and Immoblie leading the attack. Turkey is a very decent side with some promising young talents; the right-back Celik is coming to the euros on the back of a title-winning season with Lille. The CBs are familiar to the prem audience, with Leicester's defender Soyuncu and former Liverpool loanee Kabak being the best known to the English audience. Switzerland is the last team in this Group. They have a good core of Bundesliga talent that play for the national team, including Gladbach's CB Elvedi and Wolfsburg Right-back Kevin Mbabu. The more familiar names to BPL fans are Liverpool winger Xherdan Shaqiai and Arsenal midfielder Granit Xhaka. This Group will be tough for James and the rest of the Welsh national team to get through, but hopefully, they give it their best try.

Group B has no players from Mufc involved but still has work class talent on show. Belgium has a name familiar to Mufc fans in the Romalu Lukaku. The Inter man has had the best season of his life in the Italian city, finishing top scorer as his team went on to win their first league win in 10 years. The ex-Chelsea shot-stopper Courtois will look to give good performances for his national team. Other players of interest to English or British audiences are the Leicester duo Castange and Praet and the ex-Chelsea winger now Madrid star Eden Hazard. He will want to prove the doubters wrong with his performances after two terrible years in the Spanish Captial.

Denmark hosts a bunch of talented players who play for clubs across Europe. The pick of the bunch being the ex-Spurs man Christian Erikson who, like Lukaku, is now playing for the Nerazzurri but, unlike the Belgium, hasn't had the best time in Millan with struggles trying to fit into Conte's system. Players from Tottenham (Pierre Emile Højbjerg), Leicester (Kasper Schmeichel) and ex Fulham loanee (Joachim Andersen) are all involved with the Danish system. However, Finland is best known for the Norwich City striker Teemu Pukki; other players from Finland are Rangers player Glen Kamara and Bayer Leverkusen goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky. These are Finland's best and most well-known players.

The last team from the Group in Russia, the only team in this Group with no players playing in the Premier League. The main man on the team is Monaco's Midfield Aleksandr Golovin, who hasn't lived up to the hype yet at the age of 25. He still is the best player for his country, along with Valencia playmaker Denis Cheryshev. The latter, at 30, will be looking for an impressive euro campaign to go along with his exceptional 2018 world cup campaign, which Russia had hosted. This Group will be tight and balanced, with three teams battling for two places, so it should be a group to keep an eye on.

Group C

This Group has Holland in it, they will be without Man United Midfielder Donny Van de Beek who is ruled out with a groin injury after a rookie first season in the North west of England . The Oranje will be competing in their first tournament since 2014 and will be also without captain Virgil Van Dijk. He is still recovering from an injury he sustained against Everton for Liverpool last October. This injury will be a massive blow for Frank De Boer, but in Matthijs De Ligt and Daley Blind, they will cope with the Liverpool man's absence. They also have multiple other talents in Frankie De Jong of Barca and the former United boy Memphis Depay, looking to complete a move to Barcelona before the euros begin after his contract expired with Lyon. The dutch will be a team that could cause a few upsets in this year's tournament.

Austria will join Holland in Group C, Austria boaster the likes of David Alaba and Konrad Laimer in their squad, with Alaba being the country's best player. They also have former West Ham striker Marko Arnautovic up top, who will give opposition defenders a lot to think about in the box. The Austrians have a good core, so I expect them to get out of Group C, and Holland Ukraine will also be in group C and will be hoping to upset a few odds. The most notable for Premier League fans are Man City fullback Oleksandr Zinchenko and the West Ham striker Andriy Yarmolenko.

Still, the best player for Ukraine is the Atalanta midfielder Ruslan Malinovskyi who will be hoping to continue his excellent form into the Euros for his country. North Macedonia complete Group C and are the least well known out of all the teams in the Group. There is only one Premier League player in the setup. This player is Egzijan Alioski, who plays for Leeds. The best player, in my view, is the young midfielder Eljif Elmas who plays in Serie A with Napoli. Elmas will be the one who moves the ball out of midfield and tries to get his teammates set up for goals. This Group will be a tight competition between Ukraine, The Netherlands and Austria, but in my view, Austria and Holland will be the two to get out of the Group.

Group D

Group D has old rivals England and Scotland facing each other and Croatia facing the team they knocked out in Russia in 2018. This Group has so many storylines and so many players that play in England, which will make it even more intriguing. England host a trio of united players, Harry Maguire, Marcus Rashford and Dean Henderson. The trio will be hoping to make an impact for the Three Lions in this year’s euros. Other players from England to keep an out for are Tottenham Striker and talisman Harry Kane and Jadon Sancho, who has been a Man United target for two years now. England's northern rivals Scotland are in the group with their fierce rivals as they are hoping to upset the odds and make it out of the group.

The three leading players for the Scots are Kieran Tierney from Arsenal, Andy Robertson from Liverpool, and our own Scott McTominay. He will be trying to impress in the midfield or Centre Back, where his manager often deploys him. The main concern for the scots will be whether or not those three players alone with Chelsea's young midfielder Billy Gilmour will be enough to get them through the group. World Cup Finalist Croatia will be trying to go one step further than 2018, where they got beat in the final by France. The vital players you need to know about from this side are Luka Modric; the Madrid man hopes to go one better than the world cup, inter duo Marcelo Brozovic and Ivan Perisic, who were exceptional for their country in the World cup. I have heard good things about Bronzovic and hope to see more of him over the next month.

The Czech Republic are the last team in the group and are hoping to cause an upset to the other three teams; The two West Ham men will be important for the team's success. If you play FIFA career mode, you know of the two wonder kids Alex Kral and Adam Hozek, who both seem to be promising talents and who could help their country help on the big stage. This team is on the up and could shock a few in Euros.

Group E

This group has two members of the Man United team in it as Sweden Victor Lindelof will be going head-to-head with Spain’s David De Gea. Sweden has an exciting group of young players going into this summer’s competition. However, it will be without Zlatan Ibrahimovic as he is still recovering from injury but will have Real Sociedad star Alexander Isak lead the line in the Millan striker’s absence. With the young attacker impressing La Liga, Dejan Kulusevski is another talent for the Swedish setup in the last couple of years. The Juve man is looking to excel at this year's competition; with the return of Allegri, Kulusevski is hoping for more game time than last season under Pirlo. The Spanish team hopes to reclaim their throne after losing it in 2016, with former Barca boss on the bench Luis Enquire trying to get them back to their glory days. Saul is one of Spain’s most crucial players. With the Atletico man reportedly up for sale and Munich rumoured to be interested, this could be a massive summer for the Spanish man.

Poland is up next in this group, and their main man needs no introduction at all. Robert Lewandowski is Poland's all-time top goalscorer and Bayern Munichs main goal threat upfront. If Poland has any chance of winning, RL9 will have to be at his swashbuckling best. The other players to keep an eye out for Poland are Juve Goalkeeper and former Arsenal player Wojciech Szczesny, reportedly fighting for his Juve future, and Arkadiusz Milik will be Lewa's strike partner up top. This Poland team is filled with attacking talent but isn't as good in their backline but with the best striker in the world up top; never rule anything out. Slovakia is the last team in Group F but not the least. With quality in defence and the Slovs will be looking to cause an upset; as previously mentioned, they have Inter Millan Defender Milan Škriniar, one of the most sought-after defenders in world football. These euros could be the tournament that puts Skriniars name out there. The other recognisable player from this team is Newcastle goalkeeper Martin Dubravka. The toons goalkeeper is a reliable shot-stopper and hopes to make some quality saves for his country. This group has two standout favourites in Spain and Sweden and an underdog in Poland; it could get interesting

Group F

Finally, the group of death, the group that includes the world cup winners, the euro winners and the 2014 world champions and then Hungary, who need a miracle to get through, but let us start with the Hungarians and talk about them. Hungary is a decent side with two quality Bundesliga players in the Leipzig duo Will Orban and Peter Gulacsi. These two are Hungary's most notable players. Orban and Gulaccsi were sold at the back for Leipzig as they came second in the league behind Bayern. They will be hoping for similar results this summer. Next up in Group F is Germany. The 2014 champions have somewhat fallen from grace since that victory. In 2016, they got to the semi-finals, where they got beaten by France, with who they share a group this time. The 2018 world cup was a disaster for them, and they will be hoping to make things right this time around with a fresh-faced side. The player I am highlighting is returnee Thomas Muller who I think could lead the Germans to victory after a fantastic campaign with Munich.

France and Paul Pogba are up next in this group. The French will be hoping to do what they couldn't do in their home country five years ago. Pogba is a key man for Les Bleus and will have a significant role to play if they want to win it. Kylian Mbappé and Karim Benzema are the two attacking threats that other teams need to be worried about with Benzema coming back into the first team for the first time in 6 years. This French team are the favourites for a reason, and if they play the way, they should be champions. The last team I'll be speaking about in the group is Portugal and our star man Bruno Fernandes. The European champions are trying to hold on to the crown they won in 2016, with Bruno and former MUFC winger and Juve man Christiano Ronaldo. Portugal will be hoping to repeat the success of 2016. This group will be full of shocks and surprises, and one of the big three won't make it through. This group should be the most enjoyable to watch and let's hope it turns out like that.

That's it for the groups. I hope that you have enjoyed my analysis of each group of this year’s Competition. This article will be a weekly column going over how our boys are doing for their countries and keeping tabs on transfer targets, so I hope you all stick around.