LIVE: Czech Republic vs England | EURO 2020
15:00 ET Canada-USA | 21:00 Cairo Local Time
Referee: Artur Dias (Portugal)
Venue: Wembley
We’ve arrived at the final set of group stage fixtures and things are starting to move pretty fast now. We already know the identity of quite a few Round of 16 teams but in Group D, the actual order in which they’re going to head through remains a mystery.
As Scotland and Croatia battle it out for the right to even feature in the next round at all, Czech Republic and England have the small matter of deciding who will finish top of the group to settle at Wembley.
Czech Republic
Behind the brilliance of Patrik Schick, the Czech Republic have been one of the surprise packages of Euro 2020 up to this point. Between beating Scotland and getting a point against Croatia they seem to have rediscovered the confidence that consistently made them dark horseback in the noughties. Whether or not they can go deep into the tournament remains to be seen but even managing to qualify from this group will be a triumph in itself.
Provod is out through injury with one of the only other big questions being who will start alongside Soucek – Holes or Kral. Up top, of course, Schick will lead the way as he continues to hunt down the Golden Boot.
England
Gareth Southgate’s men came into Euro 2020 as one of the favourites but based on what we’ve seen over the course of the last few games, we’d be very surprised if that title manages to stick as we look ahead to the knockout stage.
There are so many lethal attacking players within this squad’s ranks and yet, despite all of that, there doesn’t appear to be a consistent creative flair or cohesion – which makes us feel like we’re repeating history all over again.
Dean Henderson is officially out of the squad but the big news is that Chilwell and Mount are both self-isolating after coming into contact with Billy Gilmour who tested positive for COVID-19. Elsewhere, the overwhelming expectation is that Grealish will receive his first start of the summer.
LIVE: Czech Republic vs England | EURO 2020
15:00 ET Canada-USA | 21:00 Cairo Local Time
