Italy has reached the round of 16 of Europeans. With effort, an immense effort. In a daring way, when no one believed it anymore. Just the way we like it, one might say considering our tradition. For the Azzurri, however, completely unexpected scenarios are now opening up, especially with regards to the coupling of the board which will take the national teams to the final on 14 July.
The idea is now bouncing from many quarters in recent hours that perhaps, almost quietly, without attracting too much attention, the path of these Europeans of Luciano Spalletti’s Italy everything is yet to be written. The reason? Because the regulations and the evolution of the tournament have now put the Azzurri in one quite favorable position given that all the “big” teams will face each other, slowly eliminating each other, on the opposite side of the board. Provided, of course, that we start playing better than we have seen so far.
Euro 2024 scoreboard: which matches are missing? The pairings of the eighths
In the meantime, let’s start with the group matches that are missing, which are four in total. They will all be played tonight and therefore today, Wednesday 26 June 2024we will have the complete picture of the round of 16. It starts at 6.00 pm with Slovakia-Romania and Ukraine-Belgium (group E) while in the evening it will be the turn of Georgia-Portugal and Czech Republic-Türkiye (group F).
The rankings
In the group E, the most balanced of all, anything can still happen given that the 4 teams are tied on 3 points. A final day of fire is therefore expected. In the other grouping instead the Portugal he is already certain of first place while waiting to find out the second qualifier. Then pay attention to whirlwind of the best national thirds considering that 4 out of 6 will be fished out.
Italy’s path to the final: the scenarios
The best news for Italy then was to discover that all the strongest national teams will be in the opposite side of the board. Let’s talk about France, Germany, Spain and Portugal. This means that, possibly, a direct clash against one of these teams will only take place in the final. Which opponents could Italy then face if they were to beat the Swiss in Saturday’s match, the only certain match for the Azzurri at the moment?
In the quarterfinals the possible intersection could be with England who is now waiting to find out their opponent (it will be a third-placed team from groups D, E or F). The other national team already included in the draw on the Azzurri’s side is Austriawho perhaps could meet the team in the round of 16 Türkiye of Montella. Finally, the last slot is still empty: here they will face the first of the hard-fought group E (perhaps the Belgium at this point) and another of the third-placed teams in groups A/B/C/D.
The possible semi-final of the Azzurri at Euro2024
If Spalletti’s national team were to be able to move forward, today we can hypothesize a probable semi-final with Austria or Belgiumobviously provided that you first pass the Swiss (given the recent precedents the challenge is still to be played) and possibly England then, with the rematch of the final of the last edition of the European Championships. Obviously everything is virtual but, as we know, dreaming costs nothing. And in the meantime we like to observe that the greatest dangers have in any case ended far from us…
