UEFA Euro 2024: Know why top 7 teams might face difficulty playing in Germany

The UEFA Euro 2024 is set to begin in just a couple of days. The European Championship has seen some of the greatest football teams competing against each other and the footballers also giving their best to be crowned the champions across the whole of Europe. The footballers have already joined their respective camps for the upcoming mega event and started playing the international friendlies as well. 

The 24 teams have been divided into 6 groups with the group of death being Group B where Spain, Croatia, Italy and Albania have been drawn together. France, Portugal, Spain, and England, are the favourites to win the tournament. There will be some dark horses with Italy being one of them as the reigning champions will be looking to win and defend the trophy in Germany. The tournament is scheduled to take place from the 15th of June where the home country Germany takes on Scotland. 

But there will be teams that will face difficulty playing in Germany. In this article, we will be looking at the big teams that might struggle to play in the atmosphere of the Deutschland. 

Here are the 7 teams that might face difficulty playing in Germany for various reasons

7. Italy

A lot of changed for the Gli Azzurri, since they won the Euro 2020 in England. They failed to qualify for the 2022 FIFA World Cup and then Roberto Mancini left the squad as well. Luciano Spalletti has taken over after his success at Napoli. The team has also gone through a significant transition. They will be looking to finish high in a group which is quite tough to get through with Spain and Croatia in that. 

6. Belgium 

Belgium is the dark horse coming to the tournament as Romelu Lukaku's side has passed their golden generation when they should have won at least one major silverware. But they failed to and Kevin de Bruyne who is almost past his prime will look to change the fortunes for the side in the upcoming tournament, however, they will have tough times in the knockout stages, with the amount of quality other teams possess.

5. Netherlands

The Dutch always come up with their best side across generations. They have done this for several years, the closest they reached in the Euro was back in 1992 when Marco van Basten missed a penalty in the shootout against Denmark losing the game. This time they have a good backline and midfield as well, but they suffered from injuries with Frenkie De Jong and Teun Koopmeiners have been knocked out. They will also suffer upfront as the strike force looks a little weak. 

4. Portugal

Portugal won the trophy back in 2016 but since then they have failed to perform as per expectations. As the team has always more relied on Cristiano Ronaldo than playing as a team, this time they have a bunch of young talents coming into the squad along with the experience of CR7 and some other footballers as well. But if they rely more on their captain for only him to score goals then it will be difficult for them to get through the knockouts and reach the final. 

3. Spain 

Spain's golden era was from 2006 to 2014 as La Roja won every possible trophy in that era. They were the first team to do a double Euro in 2008 and 2012 as well. This time they have a young squad with lots of talents on their side, this will be their main problem in pressure and in crucial games as the young guns might fumble to handle pressure. The attack for the side also looks very weak with no other proper striker than Alvaro Morata. 

2. England 

England have always been the favourites coming to any tournament. But they could not live up to their expectations and failed to perform at their best under pressure getting knocked out in the semi-finals or losing in the final. They have a star-studded squad this time around and the last edition finalists' problem is the chemistry between the footballers. This is where they might get a backlash in Germany.

1. France 

France has the best squad and chemistry in them. The Les Blues have always been a dominant side throughout the tournament since Didier Deschamps took over in 2012 and slowly he worked on the side and made them World Champions in 2018 then they failed to win the silverware in 2022 losing to Argentina ahead of that they were knocked out of the Euro 2020 RO16, in penalties. With much expectation, they might have a problem in the young defence and a midfield where they might suffer in Germany.