By: Myles Herbert
When looking at the groups at Euro 2020, Group C is not one which immediately stands out. Only one side has progressed past the group stage and none of the sides have a player which anyone would fancy to dominate the group. The Netherlands, Ukraine, Austria and North Macedonia all must fancy their chances to at least make it into the round of 16 and play more than three matches.
Netherlands
Matches:
June 13 vs Ukraine
June 17 vs Austria
June 21 vs North Macedonia
Last Euro Performance: bottom of group at Euro 2012
Going into the Euro’s the Netherlands will not be as happy as they would have been had the tournament been held in 2020 as planned. Ronald Koeman had le Oranje firing on all cylinders and captain Virgil Van Dijk was coming off a title winning season with Liverpool. Fast forward a year and the leadership of new manager Frank De Boer has not inspired confidence and when compounded with Van Dijk being left out of the squad due to injury, things don’t look as bright for the Dutch as it once seemed.
Squad:
Goalkeepers: Tim Krul (Norwich), Maarten Stekelenburg (Ajax), Marco Bizot (AZ)
Defenders: Patrick van Aanholt (Crystal Palace), Nathan Ake (Manchester City), Daley Blind (Ajax), Denzel Dumfries (PSV), Matthijs de Ligt (Juventus), Jurrien Timber (Ajax), Joel Veltman (Brighton), Stefan de Vrij (Inter Milan), Owen Wijndal (AZ) Midfielders: Ryan Gravenberch (Ajax), Frenkie de Jong (Barcelona), Davy Klaassen (Ajax), Teun Koopmeiners (AZ), Marten de Roon (Atalanta), Georginio Wijnaldum (PSG) Forwards: Steven Berghuis (Feyenoord), Cody Gakpo (PSV), Luuk de Jong (Sevilla), Donyell Malen (PSV), Memphis Depay (Lyon), Quincy Promes (Spartak Moskva), Wout Weghorst (Wolfsburg)
Ukraine
Matches: June 13 vs Netherlands June 17 vs North Macedonia
June 21 vs Austria
Last Euro Performance: failed to make it out of group stage at 2016 Euro
For the third time since its independence, Ukraine will navigate the group stage at the Euros. The Eastern European nation will be lead into battle with its top scorer in history, Andriy Shevchenko, as manager. Ukraine topped a difficult group to qualify which included the likes of Portugal and Serbia without losing a single match. The players who will dictate how well they perform are Manchester City’s Oleksandr Zinchenko and Atalanta’s Ruslan Malinovskyi. The pair will dictate the ball in the midfield and ultimately their sides fate.
Squad:
Goalkeepers: Georgiy Bushchan (Dynamo Kyiv), Andriy Pyatov (Shakhtar Donetsk), Anatolii Trubin (Shakhtar Donetsk)
Defenders: Eduard Sobol (Club Brugge), Illia Zabarnyi (Dynamo Kyiv), Serhiy Kryvtsov (Shakhtar Donetsk), Denys Popov (Dynamo Kyiv), Oleksandr Tymchyk (Dynamo Kyiv), Vitaliy Mykolenko (Dynamo Kyiv), Oleksandr Karavaev (Dynamo Kyiv), Mykola Matviyenko (Shakhtar Donetsk)
Midfielders: Serhiy Sydorchuk (Dynamo Kyiv), Ruslan Malinovskyi (Atalanta), Mykola Shaparenko (Dynamo Kyiv), Marlos (Shakhtar Donetsk), Yevhen Makarenko (Kortrijk), Oleksandr Zinchenko (Manchester City), Viktor Tsygankov (Dynamo Kyiv), Taras Stepanenko (Shakhtar Donetsk), Andriy Yarmolenko (West Ham), Oleksandr Zubkov (Ferencvaros), Heorhii Sudakov (Shakhtar Donetsk), Roman Bezus (Gent)
Forwards: Roman Yaremchuk (Gent), Artem Besedin (Dynamo Kyiv), Artem Dovbyk (Dnipro-1)
Austria
Matches:
June 13 vs North Macedonia
June 17 vs Netherlands
June 21 vs Ukraine
Last Euro performance: failed to make it out of group stage at 2016 Euro
Another side which is making its third appearance at the European Championship, Austria too will hope that time around will prove to be more successful than previous endeavours. The clear leader on this team is David Alaba who slots in at midfield for Das Team. Other major contributors for the side will be Marcel Sabitzer and Marko Arnautović, who will look to impress for a potential move back to Europe.
Squad:
Goalkeepers - Pavao Pervan (Wolfsburg) Alexander Schlager (LASK) Daniel Bachmann (Watford)
Defenders: Aleksandar Dragovic (Bayer Leverkusen) David Alaba (Bayern Munich)Martin Hinteregger (Eintracht Frankfurt)Stefan Lainer (Borussia Monchengladbach) Andreas Ulmer (Red Bull Salzburg) Christopher Trimmel (Union Berlin) Stefan Posch (Hoffenheim) Philipp Lienhart (Freiburg) Marco Friedl (Werder Bremen)
Midfielders - Julian Baumgartlinger (Leverkusen) Stefan Ilsanker (Eintracht Frankfurt) Valentino Lazaro (Inter Milan) Alessandro Schopf (Schalke 04) Florian Grillitsch (Hoffenheim) Konrad Laimer (Leipzig) Louis Schaub (Luzern) Xaver Schlager (Wolfsburg) Christoph Baumgartner (Hoffenheim) Marcel Sabitzer (RB Leipzig)
Forwards - Michael Gregoritsch (Augsburg) Karim Onisiwo (Mainz) Saša Kalajdzic (Stuttgart) Marko Arnautović (Shanghai Port)
North Macedonia
Last Euro performance: Debut
Matches:
June 13 vs Austria
June 17 vs Ukraine
June 21 vs Netherlands
The newly renamed North Macedonia will make its debut at its first ever major international tournament. Led by 2010 treble winning Goran Pandev, the small nation will hope to make a good first impression. While the team will be emotionally led by Pandev, Elif Elmas will control the strings in midfield and look to playmake on the frontfoot.
Squad:
Goalkeeper - Stole Dimitrievski (Rayo Vallecano) Damjan Siskovski (Doxa) Risto Jankov (Rabotnichki) Defenders - Stefan Ristovski (Dinamo Zagreb) Kire Ristevski (Ujpest) Gjoko Zajkov (Charleroi) Ezgjan Alioski (Leeds United) Visar Musliu (Fehervar) Darko Velkovski (Rijeka) Egzon Bejtulai (Shkendija)
Midfielders - Ferhan Hasani (Partizani) Stefan Spirovski (AEK) Enis Bardhi (Levante) Boban Nikolov (Lecce)
Midfielders - Tihomir Kostadinov (Ružomberok) Elif Elmas (Napoli) Arijan Ademi (Dinamo Zagreb) Darko Curlinov (Stuttgart) Marjan Radeski (Akademija Pandev) Daniel Avramovski (Kayserispor)
Forwards - Goran Pandev (Genoa) Aleksandar Trajkovski (Mallorca) Krste Velkoski (Sarajevo) Vlatko Stojanovski (Chambly) Ivan Trickovski (AEK Larnaca) Milan Ristovski (Spartak Trnava)