Holland will follow.

Invincible German – against the finalists of the last European Championships

The Belgians play with extreme confidence under the leadership of Domenico Tedesco. In the qualifying group for Euro 2024, they should have been the favorites: they had to fight with the teams of Austria, Sweden, Azerbaijan and Estonia. In such a situation, the “Red Devils” did not lose once and dropped points only twice – rather, they became leaders. In total, the streak reached 11 games – the team won 8 of them, the overall score was 26:6. Quite tempting to extend the contract.

Domenico knows how to organize work even in a scandalous and unhealthy team. This was the case with Spartak: he quickly brought the Muscovites to the top 3, brought medals and left. I also made progress from Leipzig over the course of the season. The magic also extended to the Belgian national team. ON world Cup-2022 the team literally fell apart. Internal conflicts and a terrible atmosphere in the locker room were reported. Now the team shows unity.

Although there are precedents, Thibaut Courtois has lost his place in the lineup (even before the injury). This is because after De Bruyne’s injury, Tedesco gave the captain’s armband to Lukaku instead of the goalkeeper. Domenico underlines that he did everything for Thibault to go to the Euro and responded with three “liar” emojis.

The Belgians will face England, who showed the same class in the qualifying tournament. Only with more difficult opponents: Italy and Ukraine. The Three Lions prepare once again to break the curse of the talented losing generation and remember the joy of winning a major tournament. To do this, you need to be in optimal shape. True, two leaders – Harry Kane and Harry Maguire – will not be able to play against Belgium.

The hosts of the tournament will face the Netherlands

The Germans are tormented by doubts about the prospects of the Bundesteam, but they are preparing for a unique match by the standard: a couple of days ago they confidently beat the finalists world Cup-2022 and winners world Cup-2018 French national team. Experienced midfielder Toni Kroos celebrated his return impressively: he assisted Wirtz a few seconds after kick-off. The second goal was scored by Kai Havertz. The footballer also solved the problem of the lack of a striker in Arsenal, and for the “German machine” he can become an antidote in this position.

The Bundestim decided to prepare for the big tournament, including a home one, by playing matches with serious opponents. Just a couple of days after the match against the French there will be the match against the Netherlands. The “Orange” flirted with the Greeks in the qualifying round for the European Championships – in the end they booked the second ticket. In a recent match they defeated Scotland – 4:0. But the overall conclusion regarding the national team is disappointing: the team is nice, but its level is clearly lower than the favorites of the next championship. The Netherlands did not beat France in the group stage, now they will have to face another top team.

The Brazilians need to rehabilitate after their failure in 2023

Traditionally among the favorites in major tournaments, the Selecao suffered a serious stalemate last year. After two round victories at the beginning of the selection for world Cup-2026 suddenly scored only 1 point in games with Venezuela, Uruguay, Colombia and Argentina. And now they are already in 6th place in the standings: it still gives a direct ticket to the World Cup. But there is serious competition: Paraguay and Chile are 2 points behind. And for a team of Brazil’s caliber, this is a deafening failure.

The problems lie in a number of reasons, including the stagnation of some leaders. But the main one seems to be the situation with the position of head coach. After the last world forum, Tite left: he had been working with the “pentakampeons” since 2016. And the Brazilians wanted to replace him with another eminent coach: Carlo Ancelotti. A generational change was taking place at Real Madrid and they were going to update the mentor position. But Carlo suddenly found a common language with the new managers so quickly that the club decided not to break what was working. And the Selecao was left without a top coach.

Continue the fight for world Cup-2026 – in September. Until this time, you need to keep yourself fit and look for a quality mentor. In March we had already played against England and won, Spain will be the same test.

Another 3 Euro tickets will be drawn

At the same time, the fight for access to the euro is coming to a head. Only 3 tickets remain, which are played at the joints. Georgia and Greece, Wales and Poland, Ukraine and Iceland reached the final in their own way.

All the teams, without exception, have good prospects of qualifying for the European Championships and can aim for high-profile performances. Georgians have great talent around which others can rally. And even without him the team is capable of achieving results, as happened in the semi-final against Luxembourg.

Icelanders and Greeks are workhorses. There is no such thing as a brilliant leader, but this is compensated for by an effective backbone. This allowed them to pass through Israel and Kazakhstan.

Ukraine does not lose ground and consistently qualifies for the European Championships: in the last edition they even reached the quarter-finals and played with the English team. It will be the “Vikings” who will oppose them – and those who show discipline and character will advance.

There is no favorite in the Wales-Poland pair. Two teams disappointed in previous matches world Cup. The Welsh were orphaned without Gareth Bale, the Poles showed bland and uninteresting football. At the same time, the former now have another talented performer – Brennan Johnson is making progress at Tottenham. But the “white eagles” have not lost their core and are ready to rehabilitate.