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Group A (Italy, Switzerland, Turkey, Wales)


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Friday 11th June 2021
Turkey ?? v ?? Italy 20:00 (BBC)

Saturday 12th June 2021
Wales ??????? v ?? Switzerland 14:00 (BBC)

Wednesday 16th June 2021
Turkey ?? v ??????? Wales 17:00 (BBC)
Italy ?? v ?? Switzerland 20:00 (ITV)

Sunday 20th June 2021
Italy ?? v ??????? Wales 17:00 (ITV)
Switzerland ?? v ?? Turkey 17:00 (ITV)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Wales squad

Aaron Ramsey, Wayne Hennessey, Ben Davies, Joe Rodon, Chris Mepham, Ethan Ampadu, Connor Roberts, Adam Davies, James Lawrence, Matt Smith, Joe Morrell, Joe Allen, Harry Wilson, Neco Williams, Kieffer Moore, Jonny Williams, David Brooks, Danny Ward, Gareth Bale, Daniel James, Dylan Levitt, Tyler Roberts, Ben Cabango, Rhys Norrington-Davies, Chris Gunter, Rubin Colwill

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Switzerland

Goalkeepers: Yann Sommer (Borussia Monchengladbach), Jonas Omlin (Montepllier), Yvon Mvogo (RB Leipzig)

Defenders: Manuel Akanji (Borussia Dortmund), Loris Benito (Bordeaux), Eray Comert (FC Basel), Nico Elvedi (Borussia Monchengladbach), Jordan Lotomba (Nice), Kevin Mbabu (Wolfsburg), Becir Omeragic (FC Zurich), Ricardo Rodriguez (Torino), Fabian Schar (Newcastle), Silvan Widmer (FC Basel)

Midfielders: Christian Fassnacht (Young Boys), Edimilson Fernandes (Mainz), Remo Freuler (Atalanta), Xherdan Shaqiri (Liverpool), Djibril Sow (Eintracht Frankfurt), Ruben Vargas (FC Ausburg), Granit Xhaka (Arsenal), Denis Zakaria (Borussia Monchengladbach), Steven Zuber (Eintracht Frankfurt)

Forwards: Breel Embolo (Borussia Monchengladbach), Mario Gavranovic (Dinamo Zagreb), Admir Mehmedi (Wolfsburg), Haris Seferovic (Benfica)

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Italy

Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Donnarumma (AC Milan), Alex Meret (Napoli), Salvatore Sirigu (Torino)

Defenders: Francesco Acerbi (Lazio), Alessandro Bastoni (Inter Milan), Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Giovanni di Lorenzo (Napoli), Emerson Palmieri (Chelsea), Alessandro Florenzi (Paris St-Germain), Leonardo Spinazzola (Roma), Rafael Toloi (Atalanta)

Midfielders: Nicolo Barella (Inter Milan), Bryan Cristante (Roma), Jorginho (Chelsea), Manuel Locatelli (Sassuolo), Lorenzo Pellegrini (Roma), Stefano Sensi (Inter Milan), Marco Verratti (Paris St-Germain)

Forwards: Andrea Belotti (Torino), Domenico Berardi (Sassuolo), Federico Bernardeschi (Juventus), Federico Chiesa (Juventus), Ciro Immobile (Lazio), Lorenzo Insigne (Napoli), Giacomo Raspadori (Sassuolo)

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Turkey

Goalkeepers: Altay Bayındır (Fenerbahce), Mert Gunok (İstanbul Başaksehir), Ugurcan Cakır (Trabzonspor)

Defenders: Zeki Çelik (LOSC Lille), Çaglar Soyuncu (Leicester), Kaan Ayhan (Sassuolo), Merih Demiral (Juventus), Mert Muldur (Sassuolo), Ozan Kabak (Liverpool), Rıdvan Yılmaz (Besiktas), Umut Meras (Le Havre)

Midfielders: Yusuf Yazıcı (LOSC Lille), Dorukhan Tokoz (Besiktas), İrfan Can Kahveci (Fenerbahce), Okay Yokuslu (West Brom), Orkun Kokçu (Feyenoord), Ozan Tufan (Fenerbahce), Taylan Antalyalı (Galatasaray), Hakan Çalhanoglu (AC Milan)

Forwards: Burak Yılmaz (LOSC Lille), Cengiz Under (Leicester), Enes Unal (Getafe), Abdulkadir Omur (Trabzonspor), Kerem Akturkoglu (Galatasaray), Halil İbrahim Dervisoglu (Brentford), Kenan Karaman (Fortuna Dusseldorf)

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Italy's main problem is the lack of a reliable striker (at international level) and not a lot of game-changing pace out wide. For that reason I'm pretty surprised Kean didn't make the cut as a wildcard - especially over somebody like Raspadori. The latter is promising - but it seems a stretch at this stage of his career to expect a lot at a major tournament.

Another player who is unfortunate to miss out is Matteo Pessina of Atalanta, who unfortunately plays where the team is strongest. I also think Manuel Lazzari would have been a shoe-in for almost any Italy team of the last 10 years where back threes were in-vogue. One of those who is a great wing-back, but cannot really play in a back four at all. 

Will otherwise be very interesting to see how form under Mancini transfers to the tournament. Not just a case of being 27 games unbeaten, but they have been generally very entertaining to watch over the last 3 years.

 

 

Edited by ponsaelius

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I really like this group. Very competitive. Can be an argument made for all of the teams to go through. Italy should go through but still wouldn't be shocked if we had Turkey & Swiss or Turkey & Wales go through or something. Wales have a decent defence, they don't concede too many.

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53 minutes ago, black_n_white said:

Robert Page is taking charge of Wales for the tournament. I don’t see Giggs returning tbh.

I doubt he'll get off from the charges he's facing by the sounds of things

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On 02/06/2021 at 11:38, ponsaelius said:

Italy's main problem is the lack of a reliable striker (at international level) and not a lot of game-changing pace out wide. For that reason I'm pretty surprised Kean didn't make the cut as a wildcard - especially over somebody like Raspadori. The latter is promising - but it seems a stretch at this stage of his career to expect a lot at a major tournament.

Another player who is unfortunate to miss out is Matteo Pessina of Atalanta, who unfortunately plays where the team is strongest. I also think Manuel Lazzari would have been a shoe-in for almost any Italy team of the last 10 years where back threes were in-vogue. One of those who is a great wing-back, but cannot really play in a back four at all. 

Will otherwise be very interesting to see how form under Mancini transfers to the tournament. Not just a case of being 27 games unbeaten, but they have been generally very entertaining to watch over the last 3 years.

Sensi out injured so Pessina comes in afterall.

I actually think that's a good thing. Sensi a more talented footballer but fragile. 

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19 hours ago, ponsaelius said:

Sensi out injured so Pessina comes in afterall.

I actually think that's a good thing. Sensi a more talented footballer but fragile. 

 

Will be interesting to follow Italy. For a national team of the stature of Italy I can barely recognize half the players. 

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Yep. A combination of very few Italian players playing abroad, the big clubs not really going far in the CL and not making it to the last World Cup means that there's a lot of names that will be unfamiliar. The squad is almost completely different to that from 2016 apart from the Juventus old guard. Unless you follow Serie A there will be a number who will be a mystery.

Despite the lack of household names and not having many genuine world class players, I think the overall squad is stronger than all the teams since 2012.  Some good young players, and other players who are finding a niche with a system built to their strengths (e.g. Verratti and Insigne). It's amazing that Verratti hasn't really had a tournament yet and only has 40 caps. Unfortunately yet again he goes into this one carrying an injury.

 

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On 04/06/2021 at 19:39, ponsaelius said:

Yep. A combination of very few Italian players playing abroad, the big clubs not really going far in the CL and not making it to the last World Cup means that there's a lot of names that will be unfamiliar. The squad is almost completely different to that from 2016 apart from the Juventus old guard. Unless you follow Serie A there will be a number who will be a mystery.

Despite the lack of household names and not having many genuine world class players, I think the overall squad is stronger than all the teams since 2012.  Some good young players, and other players who are finding a niche with a system built to their strengths (e.g. Verratti and Insigne). It's amazing that Verratti hasn't really had a tournament yet and only has 40 caps. Unfortunately yet again he goes into this one carrying an injury.

 

 

Aye I think a lot of people are writing them off just because the front line isn't the list world renowned super strikers like Vieri, Del Piero, Inzaghi, Totti, ect they're used to seeing with Italy. 

 

The ones they have are no slouches though. Berardi has been putting up decent numbers for Sassuolo.  Belotti hasn't hit the heights of that one banger season he had but he's been decent enough since. Insigne and Immobile are far too overlooked when talking about the elite strikers of Europe imo.

 

I want to see Chiesa and Barella do some damage. They've both got the ability to smash it if Italy go on a deep run.

 

The defence is the bit I fear for looking at that squad but then again, they've not conceded in like the last 8 games or something so obviously they're doing something right.

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