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A highly competitive group featuring Poland, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden will see a mixture of youth and experience on display that’s for sure.
Paulo Sousa’s Poland, Štefan Tarkovič’s Slovakia, Luis Enrique’s Spain and Janne Andersson’s Sweden will go head-to-head in Euro 2020’s Group E.
A lot of surprises are definitely in store with this group as the Spaniard’s look like favourites to progress as group winners with Poland and Sweden the two that will most likely battle it out for the runners-up honour.
With that being said, let’s look at all the teams in a bit more depth and see the players that may prove pivotal for each side.
Poland
The White and Reds go into the tournament off the back of embarrassment at the World Cup in Russia. The Poles failed to make it out of their group after losing against Senegal and Columbia and recording a win in the final game against Japan.
Under the management of Jerzy Brzęczek, Poland made it into UEFA Euro 2020 with ease after recording eight wins, one draw and one loss.
Brzęczek was fired in January 2021 after 24 matches as national team head coach with Paulo Sousa his successor. The Portuguese manager has found it tough to get going, recording only one win in his first five games in charge of Poland.
Key Players
Captain Robert Lewandowski will look to break his international competition curse and will try to replicate his Bayern Munich goalscoring form.
Lewandowski will have the support of inexperienced international strikers Jakub Swierczok, Karol Swiderski and Dawid Kownacki after Arkadiusz Milik and Krzysztof Piatek were ruled out of the tournament due to injury.
Kamil Glik will also be crucial in quite a young defence featuring the likes of Kamil Piatkowski, Pawel Dawidowicz and Tymoteusz Puchacz.
The veteran defender’s experience in the national team setup will hopefully allow the youngsters to feel more at ease and grow in confidence game after game.
One final player that will be key is Piotr Zielinski. The Napoli midfielder has shown that he can bang goals for fun for the Italian side over the last season after scoring 10 goals and assisting on 13 occasions in all competitions.
His creativity, flair, passing and shooting ability will be important if Poland are to create chances in the final third and his link-up play with Lewandowski to create these scoring opportunities will be paramount.
Slovakia
The Slovakians had a very good last European Championships in France as they made it out of the group stage alongside England as they progressed into the Round of 16.
Their tournament did not go on any longer as they were beaten by Germany 3-0 as they were knocked out of Euro 2016.
After Jan Kozak failed to deliver World Cup qualification, they hired Pavel Hepal to guide them to Euro 2020. Slovakia finished third in Group E after winning four, drawing once and losing three times meaning that they went down into the play-offs.
Beating Ireland on penalties, Slovakia faced Northern Ireland for a place in the European Championships. Nepal was sacked after a loss in the Nations League against Isreal, but Štefan Tarkovič got his side over the line after an extra-time win against the Green and White Army.
Key Players
The midfield looks to be the place where Slovakia have the most quality and the passing and vision from the likes of Marek Hamsik, Robert Mak and Juraj Kucka will be crucial.
Combined the trio have close to 300 appearances for the national team and the experience that they possess is vital if the Slovakians want to have another successful European tournament.
Martin Dubravka is a solid goalkeeper and his presence alone will be a boost after he missed 16 Premier League fixtures with Newcastle this season, but he has shown during his time in England so far how much of a solid shot-stopper he is.
A youthful backline with the experience of Peter Pekarik and Tomas Hubocan will need a lot of guidance to do well. That being said, the quality that Milan Skriniar from Inter Milan brings is unreal.
Slovakia have a lot of players that are likely to be experiencing their first international tournaments but that will not discourage them from trying their best at Euro 2020.
Spain
Probably the favourites in the group, Spain are a very successful side in the European Championships after winning the 2008 and 2012 editions of the tournament.
In Euro 2016, they unsurprisingly made it out of the group stages beating the Czech Republic and Turkey but losing to Croatia in the final matchday.
Italy awaited in the Round of 16, and in a clash of the titans, the Italians came out on top beating Spain 2-0 and knocking them out of the tournament.
Spain easily qualified for Euro 2020 after recording eight wins and two draws which saw them go unbeaten in the qualifiers.
Key Players
David de Gea will look to have an amazing tournament as he faces the tight battle at Manchester United for the number one jersey with Dean Henderson.
The 30-year-old has declined ever so slightly and a clean sheet or two alongside making world-class saves may see his chances increase back at Old Trafford.
Sergio Ramos was not announced as one of the lucky players to play at Euro 2020, and new Spanish recruit Aymeric Laporte may fill that void.
The defender was fantastic throughout the 2019/20 season, but after a poor display against Tottenham Hotspur in November 2020, he was dropped for John Stones as he formed a formidable partnership with Ruben Dias. Laporte will hope to show Pep Guardiola what a defender he is and a European tournament is one way to do it.
A lot of creativity, flair and pace is in this team that Luis Enrique has called up, but it lacks experience with only three players reaching 50 or more appearances for the national team which could be a problem. Whatever the solution, Spain will be a dangerous side and one to look out for.
Sweden
The Swedes had a Euro 2016 to forget after only picking up one point in the group stages after their 1-1 draw against the Republic of Ireland.
World Cup 2018 was different however as they made it out of the group stages. They beat Switzerland in the Round of 16 and lost to England in the quarter-final, but they still surprised many people with their stellar tournament.
Coincidently, Sweden were in the same group as Spain for the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifiers and made it through to the European Championships as runners-up in that group.
After winning six games, drawing three and losing once, they were four points clear of third-placed Norway and made the tournament with relative ease.
Key Players
Dejan Kulusevski and Alexander Isak have been two bright stars that could have a breakthrough tournament at Euro 2020.
The two youngsters scored a combined total of 24 goals with Isak being a huge threat for Real Sociedad contributing to 17 La Liga goals and Kulusevski netting seven times in all competitions for Juventus.
Sweden also have experienced players all over the pitch with defenders Mikael Lustig and Andreas Granqvist, midfielders Sebastian Larsson, Albin Ekdal and Emil Forsberg and forwards Robin Quaison and Marcus Berg.
With all of these players, Sweden definitely have a chance to fight for a top-two spot in this group. They have a creative and well-oiled machine that is likely to take them out of the group stages.
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