Euro 2020: France and the Netherlands are both out giving England an excellent opportunity

With France and the Netherlands both out Euro 2020 just got a bit easier for England as long as they can overcome Germany tonight at Wembley.

There is some contrast for France from three years ago when they won the World Cup and Kylian Mbappe was their star – he picked up the award for best young player.

Last night he went from hero to zero when he missed the crucial last penalty in the tense last-16 battle between France and Switzerland.

The game finished 3-3 after 90 minutes after a spirited comeback by the Swiss when they were 3-1 down.

Switzerland took the lead through Haris Seferovic after 15 minutes and could have extended that lead in the second-half only for Ricardo Rodriguez’s poor penalty to be well saved by Hugo Lloris.

But the game saw a complete turnaround when Karim Benzema scored twice in two minutes to give the French the lead.

Paul Pogba added a third 15 minutes before the end and the tie looked over but Seferovic pulled one back and then substitute Mario Gavranovic hammered in a last-minute equaliser to send the game to extra-time after a delightful through ball from man of the match Granit Xhakka.

The first nine penalties were excellent with neither keeper getting close to the spot kicks until Yann Sommer made an excellently saved Mbappe’s effort.

The French won the group of death but they never found their best form like three years ago and now they are going home!

After the game Didier Deschamps commented about his future to BeIN Sports: “That is not the question. There is a unity and solidarity in this squad. I am responsible when things go badly – I am with them, they are with me. We will need to time to manage this, it hurts tonight”.

On Sunday the Netherlands suffered a shock last-16 exit from Euro 2020 at the hands of the Czech Republic with the blame falling on Juventus’ Matthijs de Ligt after he was sent off for handball when he denied Patrik Schick a clear goalscoring opportunity.

Goals from Tomas Holes and Schick gave the Czech Republic the 2-0 win but afterwards De Ligt said, “we basically lost the match because of what I did”.

But the defender was given support by his manager Frank de Boer, “you can always blame it on me”.

This result was significant because the Dutch were on England’s side of the draw and has now made the road to Wembley look easier …. if the Three Lions can beat Germany.