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London, June 9
Spain’s group of young debutants beat Lithuania 4-0 in a warm-up match for the European Championship.
The Spain team was made up of players from the under-21 squad, as well as its coach, after captain Sergio Busquets tested positive for Covid. From the 20 players called up for the match, 19 had never played for the senior national team.
The friendly counted as a first-team match, with players getting caps and an official debut for coach Luis de la Fuente with the main squad.
De la Fuente named 10 debutants plus Bryan Gil in the starting line-up.
Benzema concern
Karim Benzema’s return to international soccer continues to go awry as the France forward limped off injured in his team’s 3-0 victory over Bulgaria.
Benzema had a penalty saved and hit the post last week in his first appearance for France in nearly six years.
He lasted just 41 minutes on Tuesday before being forced off. But France coach Didier Deschamps has brushed off concerns, indicating that it is just a dead leg. — AP/PTI
Fans rewarded for UEFA’s multi-country event
It seemed ambitious nine years ago when UEFA said it would organise the Euro 2020 in 13 different cities around the continent. It seemed optimistic last year when UEFA decided to stick to a 12-city plan after postponing Euro 2020 when the coronavirus pandemic was declared. Now Euro 2020 will kick off in 11 cities, separated by four time zones and up to 4,700km. Yet the quirky, one-time-only hosting plan looks to be the best result fans could hope for with the coronavirus continuing to limit international travel. Nine of the 11 hosts — all except Azerbaijan and Romania — qualified for the 24-team tournament, giving tens of thousands of fans the chance to see at least two home games. That’s a better outcome than having a single host nation, like France in 2016 and Germany in 2024, which most likely would have had to shut borders to many visiting fans. ap/pti
UEFA EURO 2020 match schedule
Pool stage
June 12
Turkey vs Italy 00:30am*
Wales vs Switzerland 6:30pm
Denmark vs Finland 9:30pm
June 13
Belgium vs Russia 00:30am
England vs Croatia 6:30pm
Austria vs N Macedonia 9:30pm
June 14
Netherlands vs Ukraine 00:30am
Scotland vs Czech Rep. 6:30pm
Poland vs Slovakia 9:30pm
June 15
Spain vs Sweden 00:30am
Hungary vs Portugal 9:30pm
June 16
France vs Germany 00:30am
Finland vs Russia 6:30pm
Turkey vs Wales 9:30pm
June 17
Italy vs Switzerland 00:30am
Ukraine vs N Macedonia 6:30pm
Denmark vs Belgium 9:30pm
June 18
Netherlands vs Austria 00:30am
Sweden vs Slovakia 6:30pm
Croatia vs Czech Rep. 9:30pm
June 19
England vs Scotland 00:30am
Hungary vs France 6:30pm
Portugal vs Germany 9:30pm
June 20
Spain vs Poland 00:30am
Italy vs Wales 9:30pm
Switzerland vs Turkey 9:30pm
June 21
N Macedonia vs Netherlands 9:30pm
Ukraine vs Austria 9:30pm
June 22
Russia vs Denmark 00:30am
Finland vs Belgium 00:30m
June 23
Czech Rep. vs England 00:30am
Croatia vs Scotland 00:30am
Slovakia vs Spain 9:30pm
Sweden vs Poland 9:30pm
June 24
Germany vs Hungary 00:30am
Portugal v France 00:30am
KNOCKOUT PHASE
Round of 16: June 26-30
Quarterfinals: July 2-4
Semifinals: July 7-8
Final: July 12
Live on Sony Ten | *All times IST
Group A (Rome/Baku): Turkey, Italy (hosts), Wales, Switzerland
Group B (Copenhagen/St Petersburg): Denmark (hosts), Finland, Belgium, Russia (hosts)
Group C (Amsterdam/Bucharest): Netherlands (hosts), Ukraine, Austria, North Macedonia
Group D (London/Glasgow): England (hosts), Croatia, Scotland (hosts), Czech Republic
Group E (Seville/St Petersburg): Spain (hosts), Sweden, Poland, Slovakia
Group F (Munich/Budapest): Hungary (hosts), Portugal (holders), France, Germany (hosts)
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