Net Nest at Euro 2024

What to Watch for at Euro 2024

For club football loyalists, this year’s Euros represents yet another grueling milestone in the ever increasing workload of football players. Several stars are already expected to miss time, and the injuries sustained in this tournament will likely have an impact on the upcoming domestic season. And while there is cause for concern that injured players will hurt our favorite team’s chances in the fall we are overloading athletes now more than ever, that’s a conversation for another time.

The Net Nest team is excited for another summer of international football when Germany kicks-off on June 14,^, in Munich, against Scotland. In what is expected to be another thrilling summer campaign and harbinger of the 2026 World Cup, here are the main storylines we will be watching for in this year’s tournament.

🏆 Is it finally coming home? | England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 (+300)

As Premier League fans who live and breathe English football, it certainly feels like now or never for Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions to achieve international glory. After having come just a few penalty kicks away at Wembley, captain Harry Kane, who is coming off a trophyless 🫥 successful first season at the Allianz, will be expected to deliver a first ever European Championship to the island.

Despite Kane’s fitness level, along with that of his former North London rival Bukayo Saka, in question, Southgate will still have an embarrassment of riches to choose from. Expect the likes of Premier League Player of the Year Phil Foden and guaranteed 👀 Ballon D’Or finalist Jude Bellingham to step up and replicate their domestic form for country. Questions persist at the back but the veteran leadership of Harry Maguire and John Stones will help provide stability in front of net for Jordan Pickford. The slabhead 🪨 jokes will be short-lived as Maguire, who plays his best football for county and who we predict will have a great tournament, will have youngsters Marc Guehi and Jarrad Branthwaite waiting in the wings should there be trouble.

To overcome the bottler narrative, Southgate’s squad will need to dethrone the strongest team in Europe, Les Bleus 🇫🇷 (+340). Led by Madrid-bound Kevin Durant Kylian Mbappe and a “rebooted: Antoine Griezmann, who showed shades of his former self for Diego Simeone’s Atletico this year, expect Didier Dechamp’s men to rebound from their disappointing 2020 exit and make a deep run in this tournament. With both teams expected to win their respective groups, we expect a mouthwatering Qatar rematch in this year’s semi-finals, with the winner taking home the trophy.

 🏠 Will Die Mannschaft re-emerge as a global power? | Germany 🇩🇪 (+275 to Final, +550 to Win)

 Germany will attempt to be the first team in forty years to accomplish what France last did in 1984: win it all on home soil. Julian Nagelsmann will look to breathe new life into a nation and squad looking to change their disappointing fortunes since 2014 (7-1 was 10 years ago people) on the international stage. 

In his first major competition with Die Minecraft, Nagelsmann will rely on a mix of veteran presence and young talent to usher in a new wave of national German success. He’ll have a pair of hungry 21 year-old phenoms in Florian Wirtz, coming off one of the most impressive domestic campaigns in history with Bayer Leverkusen, and Jamal Musiala of Bayern Munich in the midfield. Joining them will be veterans Ilkay Gundogan and Toni Kroos who is looking to win yet another trophy before hanging his boots up for good. (seriously, is it just us or is anyone else sick of Real Madrid? 👋)

Under the helm of Naglesmann and with the stellar supporting play from compatriots Joshua Kimmich, Mat Hummels and Manuel Neuer, expect the Germans to make a deep run on home soil. As tournament favorites France and England are both predicted to finish on the other side of the knockout bracket, we like Germany to make a deep run to the semi-finals or finals backed by a population hungry for success again on the international stage. 🌍 

Fine wines 🍷 or raisins 🍇

Although many of the athletes this summer may play again in two years at the World Cup, this year’s tournament can’t help but feel like a changing of the guard. 👑 The timeless Cristiano Ronaldo is playing in what is likely to be the final European tournament of his illustrious career. Will the Portuguese team rally around their retiring star to make one final push for a trophy, as we saw happen with Argentina in Qatar two years ago?

Euro 2024 will also likely spell the end for Luca Modric, Toni Kroos, Manuel Neuer, Olivier Giroud, and Jordan Henderson (no not a Liverpool fan, yes he deserves his flowers - don’t @ me). With the aging stars looking for a final curtain call in Germany this summer, look to the young athletes to rise to the occasion. The finalists of this tournament will need to receive support from the younger players on their rosters, which brings us to our next point

 🦸 Aging Siuu-perstar Can Only do so Much

Portuguese manager Roberto Martinez has heaped praise on the importance of Cristiano Ronaldo in the Portuguese squad after the superstar was exposed 🫢 (Ronaldo fans read: unfairly scapegoated) two years ago in Qatar. Martinez himself will have a chip on his shoulder as the Spanish manager went trophyless managing the world’s top-ranked Belgium squad from 2016 to 2022. 🍼

Despite the plethora of young talent on the Portuguese squad 🇵🇹 (+800), there’s been too much noise since Qatar with Ronaldo in the lineup with squad’s future held up by his presence. We’ve seen the Portuguese team play better without Cristiano in Qatar two years ago and while we’re expecting a decent run, we just don’t see enough for them to lift the cup this year 😕. Similarly, we’ve learned not to underestimate Croatia 🇭🇷 (+4000) in major tournaments but are skeptical that Modric’s magic or a newly emerging Josko Gvardiol will be enough to dethrone one of the great European powers.

🏇 So who will be this Year’s Dark Horse?

If there’s one thing we’ve all come to expect in this international tournament, it’s an unexpected team or player capturing the continent by storm. Türkiye in 2008, Wales in 2016, Denmark in 2020. Euro 2020 also gave birth to Gianluigi Donnarumma on the biggest international stage, earning him a massive Qatari contract the coveted starting keeper role at Paris Saint-Germain.

There are some tempting sleeper picks on paper:

• Spain 🇪🇸 (+350 to Final | +700 to Win): Arguably the most talented roster of young players in the world (likely favorites for North America 2026, but not this year)

• Italy 🇮🇹(+600 to Final | +1600 to Win): The reigning champions will look to make a statement in this year’s tournament following a failure to qualify for Qatar.

• Turkiye 🇹🇷(+275 to Quarters | +750 to Semis): Unassuming, but the team may benefit from the same home field advantage that Germany will receive.

Though far from a dark horse, the Net Nest pick is for Netherlands 🇳🇱 (+135 to Quarters | +300 to Semis) to make an impressive run at the tournament. We expect a second place finish in Group D (behind France, ahead of Poland) to finish on Germany’s side of the knock-out bracket, pitting them in a favorable matchup against the 2nd Place finisher in Group E (likely Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania). Even without Louis Van Gaal to talk shit to his opponents a 💯Frenkie De Jong and Memphis Depay, the Dutch’s overall size, speed, and physicality will frustrate any side and make them a difficult out in this year’s tournament. Expect the new look Oranje, under former Barcelona manager Ronald Koeman, to do just enough to maintain their positive momentum from Qatar and make a decent run in the knockout stage to face a talented, yet vulnerable, Portuguese squad in the quarterfinals. 

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