The World Cup groups are ready to go and boy oh boy are there some tantalizing games awaiting the soccer world this winter. In case you missed the draw, here is how the eight groups look.
Wolrd Cup group stage official draw #WorldCup #WorldCupDraw
Who’s gonna win? ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/wt8v2pccTY
The last time Belgium’s national team missed a major tournament was Euro 2012. Since then, the nation of 11.5 million has quickly become the best international team in the world per FIFA’s somewhat arbitrary ranking system. Despite the success, the last time Belgium was in a final was Euro 1980, losing to Germany 2-1.
Belgium’s chances of seeing a final for the first time in 41 years was blown spectacularly on Thursday when France came roaring back from two goals down to defeat the Belgians in the UEFA Nations League semifinals.
Days before a highly anticipated England-Italy final, UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin admitted the Euro 2020 format was unfair and said he wouldn’t do it again in the future.
Obviously. How else would England have reached a major final for the first time since 1966? (Kidding, maybe.)
International tournaments often seem like a red carpet event for the biggest names in world football, yet often the most intriguing players on the pitch are the up-and-coming stars, the b-listers of the footballing world, if you will.
Euro 2020 introduced us to a wide range of talented young players. Some were familiar by name and statistical output, but this was the first chance for them to prove themselves on such a large stage. Others were relative unknowns, ony entering the public footballing consciousness within the last month.
MUNICH, Germany — Belgium midfielder Kevin De Bruyne said he had played in Friday's Euro 2020 quarterfinal defeat to Italy with a tear in his ankle ligaments.
Manchester City's De Bruyne was a doubt for the game after picking up the injury in the last-16 win over Portugal but said he had been determined to play.
"For me personally it has been four or five weird weeks. But I especially want to thank the medical staff," he said.
No hay dudas de que Leonardo Spinazzola ha sido una de las grandes revelaciones de Italia durante la Euro 2020. El lateral es una constante amenaza ofensiva por la banda izquierda y además hace la chamba en labores defensivas. Lo demostró en la fase de grupos y ahorita, en los cuartos de final del torneo, donde la Azzurra eliminó a Bélgica. Es más, su presencia fue salvadora y es una lástima que se pierda el resto del torneo por una rotura del talón de Aquiles.
Italy is back. The masters of the dark arts who won the 2006 World Cup with defense, grit and hand waving missed the 2018 World Cup, sparking a rethink of the national team. Now Roberto Mancini has Italy two wins away from another major title, with the Azzurri combining a ruthlessly efficient attacking style with Italy’s timeless defense and shithousery.
Italy keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma was busier than he had been in four prior matches in the first half of his team’s Euro 2020 quarterfinal, but it was a Nicolò Barella goal vs Belgium that gave Italy the lead in the first half. The Barella goal was so great it cured Ciro Immobile’s leg, the striker miraculously getting up unharmed after having been seemingly shot in the leg moments earlier.
The Euro 2020 quarterfinal between Belgium and Italy on Friday is full of intrigue. Romelu Lukaku goes up against friends and foes from Serie A. The Italian defense is once again looking like an Italian defense, with Gianluigi Donnarumma taking the torch from Gianluigi Buffon. Thorgan Hazard has stepped out of the shadow of his older brother Eden. Italians are pushing for Jorginho to win the Ballon d’Or. And, of course, we have a coaching rematch from the 2013 FA Cup Final. All of these facets will weigh heavily on our Belgium vs Italy prediction and preview.
The18’s renowned data scientist introduced the team to an API (application programming interface) that gave predictions for games in the European Championship. We naturally took that as a challenge to see if we could predict the outcomes of games better than the algorithm. We’ll show the results from the Round of 16 before sharing our Euro 2020 quarterfinal predictions.
Five of our staff, including Grant the data scientist, took the challenge to outsmart the algorithm. After eight games in the Round of 16, this is what the leaderboard looks like.