5 Euro 2024 Storylines that you should watch for this summer
As the tournament starts this week here are 5 storylines you should watch out for in this year's tournament
As of writing, Euro 2024 will kick off today as the host country, Germany and Scotland open up the 17th edition of the tournament. For those of you who don’t know what the Euros are, (cough cough Americans and Canadians) think of it as a mini version of the world cup but hosted in Europe. 24 teams which have qualified for the tournament will be battling it out to be champions of Europe. Just like in Euros past there will be interesting storylines to watch, so here are just 5 of them that you should watch out for heading into the tournament.
Also at the same time, Copa America, the South American counterpart of the Euros, will be underway as well, with this year’s Copa America including North American teams. So if you want me to write about the Copa America storylines, then let me know in the comments below also let me know if you’re cheering for someone in this tournament.
Also if you’re interested in all 622 players playing, check out the guardians guide on all of them.
#5: Georgia are in their first Euros.
The recent protests in the country in recent months might have overshadowed the Georgian national team’s first Euros, but back in March, when the country qualified for the tournament through beating Greece in play-off match, beating them in a penalty shootout, the country was in a party mood. Many people probably would not have predicted this country of 3.7 million people to beat out Greece, a team which had been in the Euros past, and even won it in 2004 despite the recent upheaval that the team has been dealing with.
Considering what the country has gone through since its independence from dealing with civil war and lack of political stability in the 1990s and 2000s and then being invaded by Russia in 2008, which occupies 20 percent of Georgia’s territory, through the breakaway states of Abkhazia and South Ossetia to this year’s protests over the Georgian government’s bill on “foreign agents”. Many in the country will be hoping that their national team will make them proud this summer in Germany.
In terms of the team itself, it’s very sporadic in terms of talent with only one player currently playing in Europe’s top 5 leagues. That player being Khvicha Kvaratskhelia who plays for Napoli in the top Italian league, Serie A. Kvaratskhelia is no doubt the star and key player for this team as his talent has proven him to be one of top young players playing in Europe as he is known for his goal scoring abilities as he scored 11 goals this season for Napoli, and a season prior, when the team won their third Serie A trophy, it was his goals 12 goals along with the 26 goals from his fellow teammate, Victor Osimhen which proved crucial for the team.
Georgia’s coach, Willy Sagnol, has also been proven crucial to the success of the team as the Frenchmen who had a decent career as a player having been a defensive mainstay in Bayern Munich and for France, has used his experience to help motivate this underdog team to achieve its potential in qualifying for their first Euros.
The team will have to overcome the odds again in this year’s tournament as they are in a group with Portugal, who won the tournament in 2016, along with Czechia, who won the tournament in 1976 as Czechoslovakia, and the usual tournament powerhouse, Turkey. According to the bet makers, the betting odds are that Georgia will be favourites to be one of the first teams to be knocked out of the tournament. So if you are looking for an underdog to support, then you can’t go wrong with Georgia.
#4 Can England finally win a tournament after 58 years?
Poor Britain man. It has been a mess of a few years ranging from complaints over the degradation of quality in their services to raw sewage polluting the rivers that many Brits used to swim in, it’s tough to say the least. Enthusiasm this summer has not arrived for them as many Brits will be heading to the election polls on July 4th. At the time of writing this, the governing Conservative Party under Rishi Sunak will most likely be kicked out of power after 14 years in place of the leader of the Labour Party, Keir Starmer, who for many Briton’s is the last person they would probably look for in terms of charisma and enthusiasm.
The England national team has been no less of a disappointment as their politics as the Three Lions have not won a tournament, either the Euros or the World Cup, since 1966, that’s one year prior to the Toronto Maple Leafs winning their last stanley cup. Since then it’s been disappointment after disappointment. From Maradona’s hand of god at the 1986 world cup in Mexico, to the series of unfortunate events ranging from Beckham’s red card against Argentina at the world cup in 1998 in France to Frank Lampard’s disallowed goal at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, and who cannot forget the team’s failures when it comes to penalty shootouts most recently at last Euro’s finals in 2021 (bonus points to anyone if you can guess every tournament where England has lost on penalties).
This year, England fans are expecting much more of the same as pressure is on their coach, Gareth Southgate who has been manager of the team since 2016, to prove them wrong. This year’s team is full of talent thats for sure as the team boasts young stars such as Jude Bellingham, who has been a key player for Real Madrid this season as they won their 14th champions league last month, along with Bukayo Saka of Arsenal, who has played his best football in the last few season since missing that penalty back in the previous Euros, Phil Foden, who was one of the players that helped Manchester City win the premier league last season, and Cole Palmer of Chelsea who had the second most goals in the Premier League in that same season. Don’t forget the team’s captain, Harry Kane, who has continued his prolific goal scoring at Bayern Munich. There isn’t a better time to win the tournament than right now with this current crop of players.
England is placed in Group C where there opponents include Denmark, who they faced in the semi final of the last Euros in 2021, along with Serbia, and Slovenia, who qualified for the tournament after a 24 year hiatus.
#3: Curtain call for Cristiano Ronaldo?
Cristiano Ronaldo’s first Euros was in his home country of Portugal in 2004, at just 19 years old, the young Portuguese winger at the time impressed everyone with his performances which led to the team heading to the final to face surprise package, Greece. The game did not end with a fairy tail ending as Greece shocked everyone by winning the final by a score of 1-0. The image of Ronaldo crying on the pitch would be used by his detractors to make fun of him at the time for not having won a major trophy on the international stage.
20 years later, and Ronaldo is the veteran of the Portuguese national team who has an international trophy on his CV, when Portugal won the tournament in 2016. He will now be entering in his sixth and potentially final Euros as a player. It is hard to think of a Portugal team without Ronaldo, since bursting on the scene in 2003, Ronaldo has proven to be a constant in every single Portugal team since then. There have been many great Portuguese players who have played for the team, from Luis Figo to Eusebio to Deco, none of them can compete with what Ronaldo has achieved with this team, as he has beaten almost all of the records on the Portuguese national team.
This year’s Euros will see Ronaldo being accompanied by a few familiar faces with Pepe returning to the Portuguese squad as he has played alongside Ronaldo for over 16 years and has been known in the past for being one of the most brutal defenders to ever play against. Goalkeeper, Rui Patricio is another notable face on the team having been with the team for 14 years. Ronaldo will also have help from other great players such as Rafael Leao, former wonderkid Joao Felix, Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva, and Bruno Fernandes who plays for Silva’s rival team, Manchester United.
There will be hope for many in Portugal that Ronaldo can call time on his career in terms of the international stage by winning his second and last Euros. He will be starting his quest for the Euros on June 18th when Portugal plays against Czechia.
#2: Ukraine’s national team tries to bring joy for their country.
It’s been two years since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and as the war has grinds on, and less eyeballs have been on the country as other world events take focus. However, Ukrainian athletes have been trying to bring some joy to their fellow citizens through their impressive sports performances such as Ukrainian boxer, Oleksandr Usyk’s victory over Tyson Fury back in May. The Ukrainian national team wants to bring some further joy for Ukrainians with a good performance in this year’s Euros.
Since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the national team have had to play their games home games in another country, during the qualifying stage of the tournament, Ukraine played their home games in four different countries. Despite this Ukrainian fans have turned up for the team and cheer them on all the way as they beat Bosnia and Herzegovina in a playoff match. Expect those same fans to come in full force at Germany when they take on Romania on June 17th and for the two later matches against Slovakia and Belgium.
In terms of key players, Ukraine has a few players they can rely on from the big leagues such as Oleksandr Zinchenko, Mykhailo Mudryk, IIlya Zabarnyi and Vitaly Mykolenko, who all play for teams in the English Premier League. Another player who will have a big impact is Artem Dobvyk who was the top scorer in the Spanish La Liga, for his team Girona.
They also have a legend in Andriy Yarmolenko, the 34 year old captain of the team who had previously played for English team, West Ham United, where he emotionally celebrated a goal against Aston Villa a few weeks after the start of the war, has been compared to Croatia’s captain, Luka Modric, in terms of his impact on the team. He has donated money to the Ukrainian armed forces and has made efforts in rescuing not just his family from the conflict, but also his teammate Roman Yaremchuk’s in laws as well.
The team released a video to address the world of the ongoing war in the country still happening. Definitely suggest you guys give it a watch.
#1: Can Germany handle the pressure of being the host country
It has been a tough few years for Germany. Early round exits in the 2018 and 2022 world cups along with getting beat by their Arch nemesis England in the Round of 16 in Euro 2020 is what has been the record the nation. Heading into the tournament the expectations were high for a good performance in the tournament given that they are the hosts. Along with the overall mood of Germans these days who are dissatisfied with many things, more specifically, dissatisfied with the state of the economy and the country’s politics.
As of writing, the team seen to have tentatively met those expectations thrashing Scotland by 5-1 in the opening game of the tournament. Although there are two more matches left, so don’t get too over excited about the results. There has been improvement with the team thanks to their young coach Julian Nagelsmann and the young talent coming out of the team such as the 21 year olds, Jamal Musiala and Florian Wirtz who have had excellent seasons individually at their respective teams, Bayern Munich and Bayer Leverkusen. The team will also rely on the help of veteran players such as Manuel Neuer and Toni Kroos, who will be playing his final games at this tournament as he has announced he will retire from playing altogether.
The record of host countries winning the tournament is not that encouraging with only 3 out of the 16 host nations winning the tournament in their own backyard, the last being France in 1984. Germany should not take any match for granted if they want to win one of the biggest prizes in football.