Will England win Euro 2024?

06/14/2024 01:00 AM

With the tournament drawing nearer, we asked our writers to pick a potential winner, and for their thoughts on the Three Lions' prospects!

Ewan Bowman says…

The bookies have England as slight favourites, but for me, France are the team to beat.

They have strength in depth across all areas of the pitch, as well as tournament experience, dynamism, and Kylian Mbappe.

I would've had England as favourites but due to defensive issues, I have to say that France are stronger. William Saliba, for example, isn't first choice, which says it all considering he was arguably the best defender in the Premier League last season.

Elsewhere, I think Portugal are dark horses in this tournament.

They're another team who can boast tremendous squad depth after a rebuild, but France are the favourites for me and will take some stopping.

England can win it. They'll need some luck with injuries and have quality up top, but I think they'll only make the semi-finals. ‎

Jon Guy says…

I had high hopes for England but unless we step up considerably, I think we'll fall in the quarter-finals as we could potentially face Spain.

The draw has us likely to face France in the semis, and I haven't seen anything in recent performances that say we can go one better than Qatar and beat them.

I think France are the team to beat, but you can't write off the Italians, who are my dark horses.

Jonny Hawley says…

I struggle to look past England, France, and Germany when deciding who I think will get their hands on the trophy come July.

I'll come back to England, but I'd hope the reasons for France and Germany are fairly obvious.

France have arguably the best player in the world in their squad. They've won and come second in the previous two World Cups, and have talent throughout the squad as well as a proven operator leading them in the form of Didier Deschamps.

Should we end up facing them in a semi-final, it would be one of the sternest tests since… well, the last time we played a major tournament!

Germany have struggled in tournaments recently, by contrast, but home advantage can be a hell of a drug.

We basically rode that wave to Wembley last time out, and although Germany aren't the star-studded ensemble of years past, they've got plenty of Champions League winners in the squad, and even a couple of players who haven't tasted more than one defeat all season.

Coming back to England, it's obvious why we stand a chance, as a forward line containing a choice of Harry Kane, Phil Foden, Bukayo Saka, Jude Bellingham, and Cole Palmer would be up there with any team in world football.

The worry, as usual, is the defence.

Jordan Pickford is clearly a capable stopper but in front of him, we look bereft even where we were once seemingly overflowing with quality full backs.

Now shorn of options, it could be an untested and potentially unfit centre half partnership of John Stones and Marc Guehi, with a left back in the shape of Kieran Trippier who isn't actually a left back or even left footed.

If we make it to the semi-finals and get beaten by an eventually successful France team, I think that'll be a fair reflection when all's said and done.

Malc Dugdale says…

As the hosts, I think Germany are going to be hard to beat.

France are up there too of course, and having Spain and Italy in one group will give others a chance or hope of one of them going out early.

However, having played so poorly in the run up, maybe England can enter the tournament as other teams have done in the past: with a breath of fresh air and new blood, and maybe less pressure than might've been the case if Gareth Southgate and his players had won every recent game.

He could've gone for the predictable squad rather than more of the in-form players and potential England stars of the future, but he's changed it up and for that, he deserves some credit.

It's a big gamble for Southgate and a big chance for the new lads who've been given a shot, and if England make the semis with so much churn, I think that would be a good outcome, but if they get further? Great.

Something to make the summer interesting and exciting is more than welcome, as well as an acceptable distraction from all the panic and faff about what's going on at the Stadium of Light.

Paddy Hayes says…

Parking my natural England bias and inner urge to prematurely announce that 'It's coming home', I'd have to say my pick would be Portugal.

The 2016 winners have been quietly assembling a squad that could genuinely be considered equal to France in terms of both seasoned experience and raw talent.

England's mid-2000s bogey team are stacked going forward, with the likes of Rafael Leão, Bernardo Silva, Bruno Fernandes, João Félix and, of course, Cristiano Ronaldo.

With a relatively unchallenging group stage campaign ahead, and a preferable last sixteen draw as well, they'll most likely need to overcome a beatable Netherlands side in the quarter-finals and then either Spain or misfiring hosts Germany in the semis.

As for England, although you can take as much from a non-competitive warm-up game as you can from a pre-season run out at Gateshead and South Shields, I think we'll once again fall short.

I firmly expect us to top our group and progress to the semi-finals, but that's where our luck of the draw runs out, with France likely to be standing in the way of another shot at European glory.

France have been there and done it consistently over the last few tournaments and have the wherewithal to rise to the occasion. As such, a respectable semi-final farewell would be my prediction for England.