By: Ruyi Lin
Proceeding to the final rounds of Euro 2024, Spain, England, France, and the Netherlands are all big names in football. With no clear victor among them, the semifinals are expected to be exciting.
Despite defeating the Netherlands to advance to finals, England’s matches have been tough, needing extra time and penalties to win in both knockout matches and winning in regular time only against Denmark out of five games against Croatia, Czech, Scotland, Denmark, and Switzerland. Inevitably, England was removed as one of the competition’s favorites by BetMGM, a popular sports betting site.
Surpassing England, Spain is now the top favorite to win Euros 2024 with +190 odds after beating host Germany in extra time in the quarterfinals. Spain’s great performance makes them the logical favorite, having won all their group games and beating Georgia convincingly before their extra-time win over Germany.
France, another team in the semifinals, has also had its challenges, although they are the former World Cup champions. Even though they have a talented team, they haven’t scored from open play yet, relying on two own goals and a penalty to get them to the semi-finals. However their defense had been strong, conceding only one goal, which was a penalty.
In the semifinals, Spain will play against France, bringing back the rivalry from the Euro 1984 final. However, key players for Spain Pedri, Dani Carvajal, and Robin Le Normand will not participate because of injury and suspension. England, even with previous unimpressive play, is favored against the Netherlands. Showing their consistency, England has reached the semifinals in three of the last four major tournaments including World Cup 2022. Meanwhile, the Netherlands, with Cody Gakpo as the current favorite for the Golden Boot (an award presented to the player who scores most) with three goals, is expected to play an open game and give a tough challenge.
As Euro 2024 moves to its final stages, the excitement is building. With top teams competing for the championship, fans can look forward to thrilling matches as the tournament goes on.