FRANKFURT, Germany — Reigning champions Italy were drawn on Sunday
to face England, the team they beat in the final last year, in qualifying for
the
2024 European Championship.
اضافة اعلان
Euro 2024,
hosted by Germany, will be Italy’s chance to regain some pride after they
failed to qualify for the World Cup finals which kick off in Qatar in six
weeks’ time.
Italy beat host
nation England in a penalty shootout in the Covid-delayed Euro 2020 final at
Wembley last year after the match ended 1–1 following extra time.
Italy have made
it through to the final four of the Nations League and sent England down to
League B, which led to the two countries being drawn in the Euro 2024
qualifying Group C alongside Ukraine, North Macedonia and Malta.
England’s
relegation put them in Pot 2 for the draw in Frankfurt while Italy were among
the top seeds for qualifying for the tournament.
Italy coach
Roberto Mancini said: “I knew that we’d get either England or France, but
that’s OK. It’s a decent five-team group, no easy matches, all ones we can have
a go at.”
Italy will be
wary of facing North Macedonia, the Balkan nation which knocked them out of the
World Cup in the playoffs in Palermo in March.
“It’s one of
those matches that you get every now and again, and as we saw in Palermo we
have to take every match seriously, even those that seem the simplest,” Mancini
told RAI Sport.
England coach Gareth Southgate told the BBC: “It’s ironic when you’ve had
a fixture like we’ve had and then played them again already so recently that
you seem to have these sort of things.”
‘A killer in the
box’
France, who will attempt to retain the
World Cup in Qatar, will play
the Netherlands, the Republic of Ireland, Greece, and Gibraltar in Group B.
The French have
bad memories of playing the Irish, who they only beat to reach the 2010 World
Cup finals thanks to what appeared to be a clear handball by Thierry Henry.
“It’s a pretty
weighty group, a group with value,” France coach Didier Deschamps said.
Spain’s
opponents in Group A will include Scotland and Norway, who will be spearheaded
by prolific Manchester City forward Erling Haaland.
The Spanish
football federation’s president Luis Rubiales said: “He’s incredible, a killer
in the box, a reference point in world football. It’s very good to face these
type of players. But Norway is not just Haaland.”
Portugal and
Cristiano Ronaldo, who will be 39 by the time the finals kick off, are in a
Group J that includes Bosnia-Herzegovina and Iceland.
Croatia, the
losing World Cup finalists in 2018, were placed in Group D with World Cup
qualifiers Wales as well as Turkey.
Denmark, another
team going to Qatar, have Finland, Slovenia, and Northern Ireland among their
opponents in Group H.
Russia are
excluded from the competition because of the invasion of Ukraine.
As hosts,
three-time European champions Germany qualify automatically.
The Euro 2024 finals
will be played in 10 German cities from June 14 to July 14 as the tournament
returns to a single host country following the multi-country format used for
Euro 2020.
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