Euro 2020 simulated: Can England deny French Euro and World Cup double?
.png "Euro 2020 simulated: Can England deny French Euro and World Cup double?")
With Euro 2020 officially postponed until 2021, we've looked into what the latter stages of the tournament might have looked like if the top teams were decided by WhoScored.com player ratings from the 2019/20 season.
Now #Euro2020 has officially been postponed, we've simulated how the tournament might have gone had the best XIs based on https://t.co/ooXzmfX2Vp league ratings from 2019/20 gone head-to-head...
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) March 17, 2020
Format 👇 pic.twitter.com/kLO80CJOZD
Simulating the tournament from the quarter-finals onwards based on the team with the higher average rating progressing, this is how it panned out!
QUARTER-FINAL 1 - France vs Spain
The World champions progress from a hard fought match against the 2012 winners. Star man Mbappe exposes the weakness at the heart of Spain's defence to send a youthful France side through to the semis.
QUARTER-FINAL 2 - Belgium vs Netherlands
Despite Ballon d'Or runner-up Virgil van Dijk putting up a spirited showing at the heart of the Netherlands defence, Belgium eased into the semi-finals, with creative force Kevin De Bruyne shining.
QUARTER-FINAL 3 - Italy vs England
Tournament debutant Jack Grealish was a creative force for England as the Three Lions' electric attack put Italy to the sword to set up a semi-final meeting with Belgium.
QUARTER-FINAL 4 - Germany vs Portugal
Bernd Leno was in inspiring form between the sticks as he made world class stops to deny Cristiano Ronaldo and Bruno Fernandes to ensure Germany secured the last semi-final berth at Portugal's expense.
SEMI-FINALS
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) March 17, 2020
🇫🇷 France 🆚 Germany 🇩🇪
🏴 England 🆚 Belgium 🇧🇪
So we had the four semi-finalists in place as France, Germany, England and Belgium battled to secure glory.
SEMI-FINAL 1 - France vs Germany
World champions France secure their spot in the final as Kylian Mbappe and Wissam Ben Yedder run rings around the Germany defence in their bid to hold both the World Cup and European Championship for the second time.
SEMI-FINAL 2 - England vs Belgium
Is football coming home? After twice losing to Belgium at the 2018 World Cup, Harry Kane and co. make no mistake at the third time of asking and England are one game from glory...
FINAL - France vs England
So, France defeated Germany and England overcame Belgium with Euro 2020 glory up for grabs. Wembley awaited the pair... was football about come home?
World champions France struck first through Kylian Mbappe.
⚽️ GOAL! FRANCE 1-0 England
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) March 17, 2020
Kylian Mbappe caps a fine counter-attacking move from France to score his fifth goal of the competition; He has now scored at least two more goals than any other player at #Euro2020 pic.twitter.com/u5FvzAga3w
Marcus Rashford came perilously close to England level only to strike the woodwork!
CLOSE!
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) March 17, 2020
Marcus Rashford cannons a fine 25-yard strike off the crossbar -- He hit the woodwork more times than any other Premier League player last season 😖 pic.twitter.com/mObEAiv1q4
Half time came and went...
⏱️ France 1-0 England HT:
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) March 17, 2020
The break comes at a bad time for England, who had been upping the ante in the build up towards half time pic.twitter.com/cz6ivr6LCU
Jack Grealish, the most fouled player in Europe's top five leagues, was brought down the box...
PENALTY!
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) March 17, 2020
Jack Grealish is brought down by Raphael Varane and the ref points to the spot -- The Aston Villa star was the most fouled player in Europe's top five leagues last season
Harry Kane to take...
Of course Harry Kane made no mistake from 12 yards!
Raheem Sterling came on and thought he'd put England ahead... pesky VAR denied the Manchester City winger, however.
⚽️ GOAL! France 1-2 ENGLAND
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) March 17, 2020
The super-sub has done it! Raheem Sterling latches onto a Jadon Sancho pass and buries past Larsonneur to put England ahead
🎶 It's Coming Home 🎶 echoes around Wembley pic.twitter.com/3n9NnwRw3v
France, though, had the last laugh as a mix up in defence daw Wissam Ben Yedder notch the winner and it saw Les Bleus crowned Euro 2020 champions.
⏱️ France 2-1 England FT:
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) March 17, 2020
Wissam Ben Yedder's late goal seals victory for France at Wembley as Les Bleus, who, for the second time in their history, hold both the World Cup and European Championship pic.twitter.com/XgajVlzdYB
.png "Euro 2020 simulated: Can England deny French Euro and World Cup double?")
