Euro 2020 Group Stage Review and Knockout Stage Predictions

I talked about some early Euro 2020 predictions back when the 2020–21 Champions and Europa Leagues were still in their quarterfinals stages. Normally, I wait until squads are announced to make predictions, but my opinions didn’t drastically change once they were revealed. Let’s see what came of those predictions as well as reviewing the biggest events of the group stage. Then it’s time to look forward to the Knockout Stage and navigate those predictions knowing how the 16 advancing teams will be positioned.

Group A

There’s no being cocky about predicting Italy to finish first, given their quality and the luxury of playing all three group stage games in Rome. The rest of the group had their merits, but Turkey surprised a lot of people by losing all 3 games. Turkey managed to beat Netherlands in a World Cup qualifier in March, but perhaps their lack of success in recent tournaments was a factor. I was able to foresee Wales holding their own against Switzerland, and keeping it tight against Italy assured the Dragons stayed ahead of them in the group, just with both of them advancing ahead of Turkey.

Prediction: 1st Italy 2nd Turkey 3rd Wales 4th Switzerland

Results: 1st Italy 9 points; 2nd Wales 4 pts; 3rd Switzerland 4 pts; 4th Turkey 0 pts

Group B

Belgium faced some resistance from Denmark and Finland, but like Italy, they ultimately passed every group stage test to finish top of…