European Championship Prediction – Group D

06/02/2021 4051

Group D of the 2020 European Championship will begin on the 13th of June and this group consists of England, Croatia, Czech Republic, and Scotland.

The two venues being used to stage the matches are Wembley Stadium in England and Hampden Park in Scotland.

However, it is worth pointing out Scotland will be forced to travel to Wembley Stadium for their meeting with England, thus handing England home advantage in all three of their group fixtures.

Therefore, it should come as no surprise to find England are the favourites to win Group D. They begin with arguably their toughest fixture of the group against Croatia and this is a rematch from the 2018 World Cup semi-final.

Croatia tasted success in that game, winning 2-1 after extra-time and England will be out for revenge in this tournament.

There is no doubt the England squad is the strongest in the group and they have made a convincing start to their 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign, winning each of their three matches.

There will be at least 22,500 fans inside Wembley Stadium for all three of England's group games and that will be a huge boost to the players.

Croatia enjoyed a successful 2018 World Cup but they have failed to hit the same heights since that event. They are currently top of their 2022 World Cup qualifying group having won two of their three fixtures to date but they were defeated 1-0 in Slovenia and defeated Cyprus by just a single goal at home.

At the time of writing, Croatia have won only two of their 8 most recent games and their star players are getting older, with Luka Modrić at 35, Ivan Perišić 32, and Domagoj Vida 32.

Still, Croatia will look at Scotland and Czech Republic and believe even if they lose their opening match against England, they will still win enough points to reach the knockout stages of the competition.

Czech Republic qualified for this tournament by finishing in second place in the same group as England. They suffered a convincing defeat when playing England at Wembley which does not bode well ahead of their meeting in this tournament but Czech Republic did manage to defeat the English team when playing them at home.

Czech Republic are currently second in their 2022 World Cup qualifying group but suffered a 1-0 loss in Wales, who have a game in hand.

Czech Republic failed to get out of their group in the 2016 European Championship and will be hoping to go one better in this competition.

Finally, we come to Scotland, who have qualified for their first European Championship since 1996. Scotland qualified as the Play-off Path C winner and have made an undefeated start to their 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign, including draws against Austria and Israel.

There is plenty of English Premier League experience in the Scottish squad including Andrew Robertson, Kieran Tierney, Scott McTominay, John McGinn, Ryan Fraser, and Ché Adams.

The opening match against Czech Republic will be key to the chances of Scotland reaching the knockout stages of the European Championship and they certainly have the personnel to get a positive result, especially at home.

Predictions:

1.England

2.Croatia

3.Scotland

4.Czech Republic