“I would not want the Italian national team to lose their game tone” – European Championship 2020 – Kommersant

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In the final matches of Group A at Euro 2020, Italy beat Wales 1-0, while Switzerland beat Turkey 3-1. Italy and Wales have secured a ticket to the playoffs. Kommersant asked football experts about their impressions of the game of the members of this group.

Konstantin Kleschev, editor-in-chief of Tele-sport.ru and correspondent for Russia of the weekly “France Football”:

– Group A surprised – pleasant and unpleasant. I was pleased with the Italian national team, which became a contender for the victory of EURO 2020. For some internal reasons, the Turkish national team failed all their performances. There are very strong players from the leading European championships gathered there, but they could not become a team. I was not surprised by the good play of Wales, who performed well 5 years ago in France at the European Championship 2016. And the Swiss are a strong middling team that can surprise any favorite. But, in my opinion, according to the game shown in the group matches, only Italy will reach the semifinals.


Oleg Vlasov, sports commentator, independent bookmaker analyst, ex-member of the RFU commission on the prevention of fixed matches:

– I think Italy is the future champion. I personally really like the way she plays. And if they continue in the same spirit further, I consider them the main contenders for victory. From the very first game they looked very powerful and competent. At that moment, no one knew about Turkey’s problems. Italy won beautifully and confidently. Subsequent games confirmed they were favorites.

In the Switzerland-Turkey game, the result was very important for our team. A draw was more profitable for us. In certain scenarios, this would give the Russian national team a chance to get into the playoffs even if defeated by the Danish national team (I assess our hopes for a draw with the Danes as very illusive. game and will do some kind of miracle). But nothing good happened for Russia – Turkey did not have a single chance. Their game was scattered, every man for himself, shots from afar, no combinations. The Swiss were stronger and deservedly won. With the scored number of points, they will come out in 1/8 confidently. Turkey disappointed.

The second place of the Wales national team turned out to be somewhat unexpected. For example, they showed that they can fight in the minority, when 5 minutes before the end of the match they almost equalized the score with Italy.


Konstantin Genich, NTV + TV commentator:

– Italy has shown one of the juiciest, brightest football games so far. But there is a trap, I would not want the Italian national team to lose their game tone, this has already happened with many teams. Wales went further, but not convincingly, I liked the Swiss more, this team is more experienced, more confident – it was not lucky, they lost a lot to the Italians. I think Wales is unlikely to repeat the achievement five years ago, when they reached the semifinals, the 1/8 is the edge for them, here age is important, and they do not leave a vivid impression in the game. For the Turks, it happened again like in the League of Nations – high expectations, and a good selection team could not play, make a result, plus the leaders played below their capabilities.


Timur Zhuravel, blogger, commentator:

– The tournament received, in the person of the Italian national team, one of the main favorites to win the championship. The Italians were good in the group, did not concede a single goal, scored in all matches, showed fast attacking football. If we take the group stage, then Italy made the strongest impression along with the German national team in terms of attack. But there is a nuance – as a rule, the teams that become champions do not play so brightly at the start of the tournament. It is worth noting that the Italian national team beat the “middle tier” teams, it will be interesting to watch the games against the teams of the first echelon, France and Germany. So, these 9 points and three wins in three matches should be a little embarrassing – Italy played so brightly and so cool in the group.

Switzerland might not have felt the need to win the third game. They had a good match with Wales but didn’t win. We played normally with Italy, but got under the Italian ice rink. But today, for Turkey, the Swiss national team itself has become a skating rink, Seferovic, Embolo, Shakiri, all played well. Team Turkey is by far the worst team in Euros to score their first and only goal today. Switzerland initially aspired to qualify for the group, and is now practically guaranteed to get out of the third place.

But do not forget about Wales, in 2016 this team played in the semifinals, and now, the team had a high-quality group stage, they can go to the 1/8. Italy is undoubtedly one of the favorites of the tournament with a flamboyant attacking football. And Switzerland, a solid average team that constantly plays in big tournaments and breaks out of the group. It turned out to be a good company to “populate” in the playoffs.

Group “Direct speech”

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