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sports Diamars 6 Juli 2021

Only 4 teams remain at Euro 2020, which is headed to Wembley

(AP) — The European
Championship is coming to DENMARK
Wembley Stadium for the fi-
nal three games of the tour- Denmark’s passage to the semi-
nament. finals has evoked memories of
the country’s unexpected title-
Italy will take on Spain on Tues- winning campaign at the Euro-
day in the first semifinal match pean Championship in 1992.
and Denmark will face England
on Wednesday in the other. That year, the Danes weren’t
even supposed to be playing in
The Euro 2020 final is sched- the tournament but got called
uled for next Sunday. up 10 days before the opening
game following Yugoslavia’s dis-
ITALY qualification as a result of sanc-
tions by the United Nations
After failing to qualify for the amid the war in the Balkans.
last World Cup, Italy has set a
national team record of 32 un- Denmark qualified on its own
beaten matches. this time but wasn’t among the
favorites — especially after mid-
Five of them have come at Euro fielder Christian Eriksen col-
2020. lapsed during the team’s open-
ing group game against Finland
The team earned victories over after suffering cardiac arrest. He
Turkey, Switzerland and Wales had to be resuscitated with a de-
in the group stage, but then was fibrillator on the field.
taken to extra time before beat-
ing Austria in the round of 16. That prompted an outpouring
of support and the team has been
An impressive 2-1 victory over riding that emotional wave ever
top-ranked Belgium followed, since, with Eriksen constantly in
giving Italy a record 13th con- the thoughts of the players and
secutive win. coach Kasper Hjulmand.
Italy has reached the semifinals Emotions aside, Denmark actu-
with a mixture of attacking flair ally has a very good team — it
and solid defense, which has was the last one to beat England
seen it concede only two goals at at Wembley Stadium — and
the tournament. has exciting players to watch in
wing back Joakim Maehle and
SPAIN playmaker Mikkel Damsgaard,
Eriksen’s replacement.
Lacking the ruthlessness and
hard edge of the country’s title- ENGLAND
winning team from 2008 and
’12, Spain’s class of 2021 has England is the only team re-
shrugged off its imperfections to maining to have also made the
move within two wins of being semifinals at the last World Cup.
European champion again.
Gareth Southgate is still the
History is on its side, too. Each coach but with a much changed
time the Spanish have advanced squad. Only nine of the 23 play-
from the quarterfinals, they ers from 2018 made the 26-man
have gone on to win the trophy, cut for Euro 2020.
having also won the European
Championship in 1964. Of England’s five games so far,
only the quarterfinal victory
In Luis Enrique, Spain has a over Ukraine was played away
perhaps the tournament’s most from Wembley Stadium. And
proven coach to come out of the it’s back to Wembley for the
club game — his Barcelona team semifinals with England yet to
achieved the Spanish league- concede a goal at the tourna-
and-cup double in 2015 and ’16, ment.
and also won the Champions
League in 2015 — and his young While Harry Kane didn’t score
team’s current unbeaten run is in the group stage, the strik-
at 13 matches. er now has three goals in two
games. Raheem Sterling also has
There are concerns, though. three.

Spain might be the highest- Among the decisions for South-
scoring team at Euro 2020 but gate are whether to stick with
has unconvincing strikers in Al- a four-man defense or go with
varo Morata and Gerard More- three at the back, and whether to
no. Central defense is also an bring Bukayo Saka back into the
issue, with Aymeric Laporte still starting lineup in place of Jadon
settling in after switching na- Sancho if the winger has recov-
tionalities from France in May. ered from a minor injury.