The draw for Euro 2020 took place at the end of last month and with 20 places out of the 24 already filled, football fans will be anticipating the outcome of the play-offs, which will confirm the final groups. Early Euro 2020 odds favour England to win the tournament and Gareth Southgate’s side have been drawn in Group D alongside Croatia, the Czech Republic and the winner of play-off Path C (either Scotland, Israel, Norway or Serbia).
Every time the European Championships come around, there’s always a shock or two. Whether it’s countries failing to qualify, not making it past the group stage or getting knocked out by a minnow, the tournament is anything but predictable. Ahead of Euro 2020, let’s take a look back at some of the most memorable shocks from recent editions.
1. England frozen out by Iceland
Fans of the Three Lions will hate to be reminded of the last tournament in France. After finishing second to Wales in Group B, England faced Group F runners-up Iceland in the round of 16. On paper, it should have been a comfortable victory against a team ranked 34th in the world at the time. But the humiliation of the defeat was enough for manager Roy Hodgson to resign.
Described as “one of England’s worst ever defeats”, many deemed it as shocking as the 1950 World Cup loss to the USA. Despite taking the lead through Wayne Rooney’s penalty in the fourth minute, Iceland immediately hit back. After England failed to deal with a long throw-in routine, Ragnar Sigurdsson was on-hand to bundle home. The night in Nice got worse for England when little over 10 minutes later, Kolbeinn Sigthorsson’s shot when through the hands of Joe Hart.
Iceland went on to lose to eventual runners-up France in the quarter-finals.
2. ZutAlors – France can’t escape the group of death
Most major tournaments have a group of death, but they don’t come more deadly than Group C at Euro 2008. Comprising of the Netherlands, Italy, France and Romania, it was always likely to be three teams contesting progression to the knockout phase.
Sadly, for France, it wasn’t them. One point in their 0-0 draw against Romania and just one goal scored in three games was enough to send them home at the earliest stage. If their opening match wasn’t bad enough, Raymond Domenech’s side were humbled by the Netherlands 4-1 before losing 2-0 against the Italians.
It was their worst finish since Euro 1992, when again they couldn’t make it out of the group. At least on that occasion, they picked up two points and scored two goals!
3. 2004: anything but a Greek tragedy
Greece stunned the world at Euro 2004, which was hosted by Portugal. Prior to the tournament kicking off, Greece had only ever qualified for two major tournaments (Euro 1980 and the 1994 World Cup). They were considered massive outsiders, with Latvia the only nation deemed worse.
After beating the hosts in their opening game, the Greeks advanced to the knockout stages by finishing second in Group A, holding Spain to a draw and losing their final game against Russia. A string of narrow victories led plucky Greece to the final – a 1-0 win over the holders France was followed by the same scoreline against the Czechs (with the silver goal rule being employed).
The final saw Greece take on Portugal once more and again they were victorious via Fresh Football. Angelos Charisteas’ headed goal before the hour mark was enough to crown Otto Rehhagel’s side the Kings of Europe!