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Previewing Euro 2016 Group E

By Anthony Gallo

BORDEAUX, FRANCE - June 09 : Batshuayi Michy forward of Belgium and Benteke Christian forward of Belgium and De Bruyne Kevin forward of Belgium and Lukaku Romelu forward of Belgium and Origi Divock forward of Belgium during an open training session of the National Soccer Team of Belgium as part of the preparation prior to the UEFA EURO 2016 phase final match between Belgium and Italy at the Chateau de Haillan training center in Bordeaux, France on 9/06/16 . ( Photo by Jimmy Bolcina / Photonews via Getty Images)
BORDEAUX, FRANCE - June 09 : Batshuayi Michy forward of Belgium and Benteke Christian forward of Belgium and De Bruyne Kevin forward of Belgium and Lukaku Romelu forward of Belgium and Origi Divock forward of Belgium during an open training session of the National Soccer Team of Belgium as part of the preparation prior to the UEFA EURO 2016 phase final match between Belgium and Italy at the Chateau de Haillan training center in Bordeaux, France on 9/06/16 . ( Photo by Jimmy Bolcina / Photonews via Getty Images) /
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A quick look at how Euro 2016 Group E could look like when the tournament kicks off.

Belgium

The Red Devils are the second ranked country in the recent FIFA rankings, and finished first in their qualifying group for Euro 2016. They are also favorites to win it all this summer, which makes sense. They have one of the best midfields with Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne, Chelsea’s Eden Hazard, Roma’s Radja Nainggolan, and Manchester United’s Marouane Fellaini. However, they are down a key player in Vincent Kompany, who will miss the whole tournament after he sustained a groin strain in the Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid.

There is a lot of pressure on Belgium to succeed in this tournament. This is the first Euro they are participating in since 2000 and are going through a golden age of football with top class players overflowing the talent pool. That could mean youngsters like Divock Origi, Michy Batshuayi, Yannick Carrasco and Mousa Dembele could feature and play big roles for this team, should manager Marc Wilmots want a change.

The one area Belgium will need to look at is at center back. With Kompany out, that could mean Montreal Impact defender Laurent Ciman, or Manchester City’s on loan center back Jason Denayer could be the man to fill the big hole left by their captain.

Even with one of their best players out, Belgium should easily get out of this group and move on to the later stages of this tournament.

Italy

The Azzurri have been having an up and down roller coaster of events since their World Cup win in 2006. They would fail to leave the group stage in both the 2010 and 2014 version of the World Cup but go all the way to the finals in 2012, losing to Spain.

Manager Antonio Conte has taken a lot of slack from MLS fans, for not including New York City FC’s Andrea Pirlo and Toronto FC and MLS MVP Sebastian Giovinco. Conte said that the players knew what they would be missing if they joined the MLS, and fans of both teams have been slamming the Italian. Giovinco would be a key part of this team, should he have gone. He has been Toronto FC’s best player, hands down and Pirlo’s experience in big games would be of great value to Conte.

Italy should be okay, at least in the group stage. Their back line of Giorgio Chiellini, Andrea Barzagli and Leonardo Bonucci and ageless wonder Gianluigi Buffon bring a great amount of understanding, as they all play for Serie A champions, Juventus.

The Azzurri’s biggest issue is striker, as they are far beyond the forwards they use to have. Gone are the days of Alessandro Del Piero, Luigi Riva and Roberto Biaggio. Conte will need to rely heavily on Southampton’s Graziano Pelle and Inter’s Eder for goals. If these two can prove to be goal scorers, than Italy could just make it out of the group.

Republic of Ireland

The Boys in Green will be looking to shock the world, by getting out of the group stages. That may look for fetched, but hey, it could happen. Martin O’Neil will rely on Southampton’s Shane Long, Norwich City’s Wes Hoolahan, and Los Angeles Galaxy striker Robbie Keane to push this team ahead in Group D.

Ireland do lack depth, as their best bets off the bench could be Aiden McGeady and James McClean. Still, they gave up the fewest goals in their qualifying group, one which had German and Poland and one that has plenty of experience internationally. John O’Shea and Ciaran Clark will be key reasons if Ireland can log jam shots from going on goal.

They may not be favorites, but they could shake things up against Italy and Sweden.

Sweden

The one, the only, Zlatan Ibrahimovic will grace the fields of France when his Sweden side tries to overcome the naysayers that are giving his nation very bad odds of moving on in the group. Those people saying Sweden wont get by, kind of make sense. Take away Ibrahimovic, and you have a team that lacks depth and players to make a real push.

They do have six players from their 2015 U-21 European Championship squad that went on to beat Portugal on penalties. Those players will all likely see rotation numbers, but can make a real difference if they are given time.

Besides that, they have ageing players that will make this Sweden team lack speed. They just made this competition by defeating Denmark on aggregate and failed to beat the two best teams in their group, Austria and Russia. Still, when you add a 35-year-old Ibrahimovic to this team, after scoring 38 goals in Ligue 1 alone, than any team should be scared of what he can do.

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Predictions:

  1. Belgium
  2. Italy
  3. Republic of Ireland
  4. Sweden

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