General Euro 2024 Discussion
For me it's hard not to look beyond Spain. Especially if they can keep the Euros and Olympic momentum going. Their team is stacked with talent. They seem to have a conveyor belt of potentially great talents coming through. Their squad has a good mix of youth and experience. They will come into their prime in the next 2 or 3 years I'd imagine.
Germany could be up there too. They played well in the Euros and were unlucky against Spain. They were the only nation to bring Spain to ET. However the retirements of Gundogan, Muller and especially their engine Kroos are a concern. It will be interesting to see if young players like Maximilian Beier and Aleksandar Pavlovic can replace Muller and Kroos respectively. I do like how Nagelsmann has revitalised the Germany squad during the Euros.
France are still dangerous but for me are a bit stale and aging. They do have some potential coming through though. I think they need a change of manager maybe to revitalise the squad. Deschamps has been there a hell of a long time now. Similar with Low for Germany, he's stayed for too long.
Italy have a good defence and keeper. Califiori and Bastoni is a good defensive partnership. However the Italian squad badly needs to unearth a proper striker. It will be interesting to see if any breaks through this year. I also think Spalletti got his squad selection all wrong for the euros but that's for another day.
Portugal could be up there too. They have a talented squad but I wasn't impressed with them at all during the Euros under Martinez. Maybe the whole Ronaldo situation is impacting the squad in a negative way. If Ronaldo is part of that squad going forward he needs to accept that he can't play the full 90mins. If he can't then he should retire.