Euro 2020... Sound bites from the game ahead of kickoff

  Euro 2020 kicks off on Friday exactly a year after its original due date with Turkey visiting Italy for the curtain raiser. (Photo credit:...

 

Euro 2020 kicks off on Friday exactly a year after its original due date with Turkey visiting Italy for the curtain raiser. (Photo credit: UEFA.com)

Euro 2020 is upon us and we have to begin our daily dose of tit bits from the competition that survived the horrific pandemic that took the world by storm.

For a moment it felt like the game was cancelled, but like the Olympics, resilience and fighting spirit of everyone involved, the tournament is upon us and to make it more interesting, we have eleven host cities, safe grounds only, the world is ready for arguably the most interesting tourney ever!

Ukraine insists on offensive slogan despite protests

Where do we start from? Ukraine and Russia are at it, an inscription on the shirt of the Ukrainians has a part of Russia on the map and reads: “Glory to the Heroes”, a military term that the Russians find offensive and immediately reported to UEFA.

As at the time of filing this, talks are ongoing but Ukraine as a nation have now adopted the line as a slogan for their national team, to be tweaked and hidden, but it will fly;

Ukraine has said the shirt was a symbol of national unity. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy posted a selfie on Instagram this week that showed him wearing the new shirt and his office defended the slogans as "absolutely correct."

Bousquets COVID situation keeps tourney in check

Many believed the games will not hold, but it starts on Friday with Italy and Turkey going head to head, but the camp of 2012 champions Spain is still in disarray after Barcelona midfielder Sergio Bousquets tested positive to Covid last weekend.

The team hasn’t met together since, holding isolated training sessions in a bid to contain the situation and not making a bad situation worse but everything should be fine ahead of their tournament opener against Sweden next Monday.

Spain are in Group E, clear favorites ahead of Poland, Slovakia and Sweden.

Is this the year of the 3 Lions?

Beyond the paparazzi of the squad announcement and the shocking revelation that Ben White will replace Trent Alexander Arnold instead of a midfielder, England has the exact balance to go all the way in this year’s tournament.

Perennial underachievers as they have been know to be, they did punch above their weights at the 2018 World Cup, finishing fourth after a heroic run that was halted at the semifinals by Croatia.

The amount of quality in the 3Lions side, led by Gareth Southgate is amazing and no one would take anything less than a semifinal berth from this team and in all honesty, the only potential impediment on the way of this talented England side will the tinkering of Southgate