4 Tips for Euro 2020’s Quarter-Finals Action – 2/7/21

On Friday night Switzerland take on Spain in the quarter-finals of Euro 2020 following dramatic round of 16 ties for both sides.

Switzerland provided arguably the shock of the tournament, knocking out France on penalties following a 3-3 draw after extra time, which remarkably saw the Swiss recover from 3-1 down with just nine minutes remaining, thanks to goals from Haris Seferovic and Mario Gavranović, before Yann Sommer save the decisive penalty from Kylian Mbappe in the shootout.

Meanwhile, Spain avoided the same fate as France, as they conceded two late goals against Croatia having also had a 3-1 lead, but, goals from Alvaro Morata and Mikel Oyarzabal in the first-half of extra-time sealed Luis Enrique’s side a place in the quarter-finals of the competition.

On the basis of each of these sides last match, the both teams to score market is likely to land, having conceded a combined total of six goals as well as scoring eight. Switzerland have been involved in two other games at the Euros which have seen both teams score in a 3-1 win against Turkey and 1-1 draw with Wales in Group A, whilst Spain drew 1-1 with Poland in Seville on matchday two.

The later kick-off on Friday night sees Belgium face Italy in a mouth-watering clash at the Allianz Arena in Munich.

Belgium advanced to the quarter-finals having scraped past Portugal via a long-range strike from Thorgan Hazard which caught out Portugal goalkeeper Rui Patricio, but, did see key players such a Kevin De Bruyne and Eden Hazard limp off with injuries. Italy scraped past Austria 2-1 at Wembley thanks to extra-time strikes from Federico Chiesa and Matteo Pessina.

Italy come into this match as slight favourites and with Belgium manager Roberto Martinez claiming that De Bruyne and Hazard won’t be 100% fit coming into this match, there will be more emphasis on Italy to get a result and to advance into the semi-finals.

The Azzurri have conceded just one goal in their last 12 matches across all competitions which came last time out at the hands of Stuttgart striker Sasa Kalajdzic and haven’t scored more than two goals in their last two outings against Wales and Austria, as well as in five of their seven matches in the run-up to this summer’s European Championship.

Roberto Martinez’s side only managed one shot on target against Portugal from their six shots and will likely have to do a lot more in front of goal if they are to stand any chance of getting a result against the Italians.

Saturday’s early kick-off sees the Czech Republic go head-to-head with Denmark in the quarter-finals in Baku with both teams citing each other as an excellent opportunity to reach the semi-finals of the Euros.

The Czech Republic advanced to the quarter-finals having stunned the Netherlands in the last round, capitalising on a rare error from Juventus defender Matthijs de Ligt which saw the 21-year-old sent off just before the hour mark, which then prompted goals from Tomas Holes and Patrik Schick.

Denmark hammered Wales 4-0 in the last round thanks to goals by Kasper Dolberg, Joakim Maehle and Martin Braithwaite, and became the first team to score four goals in back-to-back European Championship matches, having hammered Russia 4-1 in Copenhagen on matchday three in Group B.

Kasper Hjulmand’s sides last two results mean that they have been involved in three matches with over 2.5 goals in them having also lost 2-1 to Belgium, despite the Danes having 21 shots to the Belgian’s six.

The last time the Czech Republic were involved in a game with over 2.5 goals was back on 8th June when they beat Albania 3-1 in a warmup match ahead of the Euros, but, what must be noted is that the Czechs have scored in three of their four Euro 2020 matches, scoring twice against the Netherlands and Scotland, as well as in a 1-1 draw with Croatia in the group stages, with England being the only side that they have failed to score against.

The final game on this list of tips is Ukraine against England at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome.

Ukraine pulled off a dramatic win against Sweden at Hampden Park in the round of 16 as Manchester City left-back Oleksandr Zinchenko put Andriy Shevchenko’s side into a first-half lead before Emil Forsberg scored a deflected equaliser for Sweden just after half-time. The game then went to extra time of which Sweden centre-back Marcus Danielson was shown a red card which led to the Swedes being put under pressure which was converted by Artem Dovbyk in the 121st minute.

Gareth Southgate’s England managed to beat Germany in the knockout rounds of a major competition for the first time since 1966 on Tuesday night thanks to two late goals from Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane, giving the Three Lions their first knockout round win at the Euros since they beat Spain in the quarter-finals of Euro 96.

The Three Lions come into this match as firm favourites due to the quality which they possess, as well as the fact that they have not conceded a goal in all competitions since they beat Poland 2-1 at Wembley in March, meaning that they have conceded just one goal in their last 900 minutes.

City winger Sterling is the player in focus for this game, having scored three of England’s four goals at Euro 2020, doing so against Croatia, the Czech Republic and Germany, meaning that the 26-year-old has found the back of the net 13 times in his last 19 matches for England.