For a big fan of the beautiful game, which I call football, but you might call soccer, Friday might be akin to Christmas morning.
If it was canceled for a year, and you had to wait for 12 agonizing months for the next summer tournament to appear.
As someone who will always be club over country (United>), I know that there will be some down time before I get to see my beloved Red Devils take to the pitch. But I do very much appreciate the summer tournaments, and the 2020 UEFA European Championships (EURO 2020) might be the best of them all.
It is clear right now that Europe dominates the landscape of the sport: by the time the next World Cup will be played in Qatar next fall, it will have been two decades since a team from outside Europe has held the World Cup. Since Brazil won in the USA in 1994, France has won twice (1998, 2018), Italy once (2006), Spain once (2010), and Germany once (2014): only Brazil (2002) has broken the hegemony of the European continent.
But take a closer look at the 2018 World Cup: 11 of the 16 Round-of-16 teams were European, as were six of the eight quarterfinalists, all four semifinalists, and both finalists. It basically WAS EURO 2018.
This is the best tournament in the world, and it opens Friday with Italy hosting Turkey in Rome.
There is a lot of buzz around this Italian side, who have been dominant under Roberto Mancini. I think they get a big result today, and do it in stirring fashion.
Check Fubo.TV for schedules
UEFA EURO 2020
GROUP A
Turkey (+700) vs. Italy (-195), draw (+285), 3 p.m. EDT (ESPN and Fubo.TV)
THE PICKS:
Italy -1 AH (-105)
Italy win to nil yes (+118)