EURO 2020 PREVIEW

According to a recent survey carried out through Bud Light’s ‘Officially Official England Census’ 28 per cent of England fans would miss the birth of their first-born child to see England win the Euros. 

The American beer brand is firing on all cylinders this summer, with its recent Boxhead's campaign where Bud Light boxes have blown-up images of England players’ faces. The idea being that once the beer is gone, fans ‘wear’ the empty boxes of bear on their head. Very simple and relatively funny.

Turkey kick-off the Euros this evening and are likely to be an interesting team to follow this summer. They sit alongside Italy, Switzerland and Wales in what appears to be quite an open Group A but their recent form has been strong. They finished second in qualifying, just two points behind France and secured a 2-0 win and a 1-1 draw in their two games against the world champions. 

They have enough fire-power upfront having scored 22 goals in their past 10 games, with an xG tally of 18.5 across their qualifiers. At 66/1 to win, it’s slightly ambiguous but I quite like 9/1 for them to reach the semi-finals. Their talisman, Burak Yilmaz has scored 15 goals in 26 appearances for Lille, his three appearances for Turkey in 2021 have brought for goals. At 50/1 to win the Golden Boot, it represents some interesting each-way value.

Having recently led Chelsea to Champions League glory, with man-of-the-match performances in both semi-finals and the final, the very likeable figure of N’Golo Kante will be key in any chances that France have to lift the trophy. France join Germany and Portugal in the ‘Group of Death’ which will help Kante’s chances to win player of the tournament at 20/1. As previously advised to my loyal followers, Kante is still available to win the Ballon d’Or at 5/1 and strong performances across the tournament will only enhance his chances of winning the coveted prize.

As for England (2nd favourites), it’s the hope that kills you… fingers crossed.