In November 2019, in Bucharest, Romania, the draw for Euro 2020 (finally played in 2021) did not spare France, Germany and Portugal. The last three winners of major international competitions (the 2014 World Cup for Germany, Euro 2016 for Portugal and the 2018 World Cup for France) were placed in the same group, which had never happened before.
Group F, known as the "group of death", promised viewers some great matches from the start of the competition, but was a headache for the coaches. You had to be ready from the start, perhaps too early to go all the way. After all, the top players are programmed to build up their strength over the course of the competition, so that they are in top form from the quarter-finals onwards.
Proven organisations
While it didn't kill anyone, with all three teams qualifying for the 8es of the final, the nervous and physical strain required from the start of the competition proved fatal in the knockout phase. As if the group wasn't already tough enough, the second and third-placed teams came up against England, at home at Wembley, and Belgium, number 1 in the Fifa rankings. Other round-of-16 games featured less "glamorous" opponents, such as Denmark and Wales, and Sweden and Ukraine.
In theory, only France seemed to be spared, even though they probably inherited the worst possible third place when they came up against Switzerland, a team that is always very difficult to play against, and 13e in the international rankings.
Paradoxically, it was Portugal, third in the group, who came closest to qualifying in the end. Cristiano Ronaldo's team-mates had plenty of chances and possession, but sometimes lacked a clear finish, luck and physical fitness. No wonder. Their bodies were put to the test. The Portuguese, like the French, played two of their three matches in Budapest, the only stadium at the Euros with no spectator restrictions, in stifling heat. It's not the same to play in 35 degrees in Hungary as in 15 degrees in London or Amsterdam.
As well as playing each other, they also played their away games, in Munich against Germany and in Budapest against Hungary. And if all that wasn't enough, all three teams had two or three days less to recover.
Equity problem
With that in mind, it was hard to imagine any of the three teams going far in the competition, even if the French seemed to have done the hard part against Switzerland, taking a 3-1 lead with ten minutes remaining. Portugal's lack of physical fitness was obvious on Sunday, France's on Monday and Germany's on Tuesday. Of course, this in no way detracts from the performance of the Belgians, Swiss and English. But they didn't have to play finals in the group phase. The eleven-country Euro has its good points, but it also has its bad ones, particularly in terms of fairness.
The story began for Les Bleus in Bucharest one evening in November 2019 with a twist of fate. It ended one evening in June 2021 in Bucharest with a penalty shoot-out lottery. The story has come full circle.
Text by Ouest-France
FR 
EN 
DE