Euro 2020 absurdly unpredictable

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This article was published 29/06/2021 (1861 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There’s a sad sort of clanging from the clock in the hall as Euro 2020 sounds some major round of 16 exits.

Portugal? Adeus.

The reigning European champions snuck their way into the knockout rounds — just as they did five years ago — and then actually dominated Belgium in Seville, only for a Thorgan Hazard rocket to puncture their hopes of repeating.

France? Au revoir.

World Cup winners in 2018, they were 3-1 up on Switzerland with nine minutes to play in Bucharest when Haris Seferovic and Mario Gavranovic forced extra time and eventually penalties, where France lost on a saved spot-kick by Kylian Mbappe of all people.

They may have been pre-tournament favourites, and for good reason, and Karim Benzema and Paul Pogba may have scored spectacular goals in Romania, but Les Bleus were ultimately a team of moments, failing to turn up for a complete game in any of the four they ultimately contested.

Germany? Auf wiedersehen.

It might have been a clear road to the final for Die Mannschaft had they managed to beat England on Tuesday. In the end, however, roaming wing-backs Joshua Kimmich and Robin Gosens were well-contained at Wembley, and they didn’t muster nearly enough through the middle to pose much of a problem for the English defense.

The past four days have also wished vaarwel and dovidenja to the Netherlands and Croatia — the former bowing out meekly to a strong, surprising Czech Republic side and the latter fighting back admirably against Spain before being blasted off by the cork of La Roja’s champagne football.

Spain now have to be considered a major contender, if they weren’t already, and ditto England. And the winner of Friday’s Belgium-Italy quarter-final will likely be tipped to win it all — at least for a few days. Such has been the wild, wonderful unpredictability of this competition.

Where England perhaps have the advantage is their location in the bottom half of a play-off bracket that looked, at least at the outset of the round of 16, to be unusually top-heavy.

After vanquishing rivals Germany, the Three Lions will now face Ukraine in Rome. If they prevail at Stadio Olimpico, they’ll return to London for a semi-final against one of Czech Republic and Denmark. The Euro 2020 final is also in the English capital, where they happened to play their three group stage matches.

Officially, this is a pan-European event, although England will no doubt see it as almost a home tournament — one in which they’ve made their headquarters in familiar surroundings, played in front of partisan Wembley crowds, and largely avoided the cross-continental travel of their opponents.

It’s a far cry from Belgium’s prospective route to the final.

World football’s top-ranked team flew back and forth between Saint Petersburg and Copenhagen — about 1,100 km — then travelled to Seville — another 3,200 km — and are now in Munich — add yet another1,800 km — to take on Italy.

Win that, and it’s perhaps Spain in the semis in a fifth city — London — although Switzerland will have something to say about that in St. Petersburg.

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Examining the knockouts on paper, it all seems to converge with an England-Italy final at Wembley on July 11. Italy have certainly held up their end of the bargain to date and can deploy the best midfield of Euro 2020 each time out. But they also struggled to eliminate Austria in extra time.

The past few days have served as a reminder that tournaments don’t always play out the way they look on paper, that European football is enjoying a moment of parity, that anything is possible in one-and-done scenarios.

In other words, we might easily be saying “goodbye” and “arrivederci” by Sunday, or perhaps “au revoir” and “adios.”

The clock has more exits to ring. The absurd little bird that is Euro 2020 is popping out to say “cuckoo.”

jerradpeters@gmail.comTwitter @jerradPeters