The Golazo 100 at Euro 2024: Three players to watch as European Championships begin on Friday

Our Golazo 100 is finalized and – as if we planned it ourselves – you’ll be scrutinizing and debating the final list just days before the biggest football tournament of the summer begins. Yes, the Copa América may have many important games to come, but by sheer star power there is simply no way to beat the European Championship, which starts on Friday.

In total, 59 players from the Golazo 100 will take the field in the tournament, a number that would be slightly higher if it weren’t for the surprising absences of Norway (which has Erling Haaland and Martin Odegaard in our top 20). ) and Sweden. And even if the tournament isn’t quite the brutal showdown between some of the best national teams on the planet that it has been in its eight or even 16 team iterations, the Euro 2024 group stage will still provide some clashes between high-level talents right from the start. . .

The third match of the tournament pits a sextet of Spanish Golazo 100 representatives, including fifth-placed Rodri, against a Croatian team led by Luka Modric (No. 40) with youngster Josko Gvardiol (No. 51) in defense. Virgil van Dijk (No. 21) will have the chance to prove why he was the world’s highest-rated central defender in the group stage when the Netherlands face first Robert Lewandowski’s Poland (No. 19) and then the combined talents of Antoine Griezmann (No.13), Kylian Mbappe (No.1) and the rest of France attack.

All this and England will launch an attack with four players from the top 11 in our ranking. Stars will appear at the Euros, here are three that could be among the most intriguing:

1.Harry Kane, England

Almost all of England’s attack has something to do with Euro 2024. Bukayo Saka and Phil Foden could prove to be the next big capital “S” stars of the Premier League and beyond, the latter with some work still to be done in terms of translation his club form onto the international stage. If Jude Bellingham plays an outsized role in England’s victory in their first major tournament in 58 years, the Champions League and La Liga winner could immediately become the favorite to win the Ballon d’Or, depending on how his teammate plays. at Real Madrid, Vinicius Junior, if he succeeds in the Copa América.

In fact, as has been the case in every major tournament England have played in over the last 30 years bar 2002, it is the star striker that matters. Harry Kane still needs that trophy and is still as capable as any other player in Gareth Southgate’s team of making a difference in key moments. He will score goals with the same regularity as he has in his 91 international appearances. In that time he scored 63 goals. No one else on this team made it to 12 years old.

The Bundesliga’s top scorer should feel comfortable on German soil, but everyone else hears the clock ticking, the young man who will soon turn 31 and who could be in his prime, but whose remaining international tournaments at level elite become smaller and smaller. If not now, will he still be the same player in North America two summers from now? Even in an era where the best of the best maintain their level well into their 30s, could Kane be able to guide England to home glory in 2028?

The time has come for the Three Lions’ top scorer. Never before has he been surrounded by so much elite talent. If he wants to go deep, it doesn’t matter, Jude Bellingham has proven himself at home at the tip of an attack. Phil Foden would also be perfectly happy to attack the space he vacates. These two, Saka, Cole Palmer, Anthony Gordon, Eberechi Eze, Trent Alexander-Arnold: this constitutes the best supply line Kane has ever had. If he delivers and takes England to the end, immortality beckons.

2. Florian Wirtz, Germany

A somewhat unknown German collective, welcoming the best the world has to offer their country, at a time when few expect them to leave an important mark on the tournament? We already saw this script in 2006, the year in which Mannschaft dies was so close to a World Cup final with Jurgen Klinsmann on the bench. This time they have perhaps the best coach on the pitch in Julian Nagelsmann, while hopes have been steadily rising following impressive results in pre-tournament friendlies. In fact, this could be a team that performs even better than it did 18 years ago.

If that is the case, then Florian Wirtz is as well placed to be the face of the German cause as anyone else. Star of Bayer Leverkusen’s unbeaten national record and player of the season in the Bundesliga, the 21-year-old still doesn’t receive the hype that once again deserves something so much for a player whose 15th place in the Golazo 100 places him between Bernardo Silva and Declan Arroz. In 49 club games last season, Wirtz scored 18 goals and 19 assists, averaging a goal contribution every 93.4 minutes. For the national team, he scored a brilliant goal in the 2-0 victory over France, a game in which he looked even more effective with Toni Kroos in the supply line behind him.

The only compelling reason one can think of for Wirtz not to be the face of this tournament is the other No. 10 Nagelsmann could try to deploy, Jamal Musiala (No. 18 in the Golazo 100). These two are the archetype of the new German football: technically excellent, fearless with the ball at their feet and diligent when the opponent has the ball. Either way, the future of any team with these two looks iridescently bright. The present can be too.

3. Alessandro Bastoni, Italy

Both Kane and Wirtz have a certain advantage as players to watch at Euro 2024: it is very likely that both will remain in Germany for a long time. The group stage draw was kind to both sides, who avoided the kind of beasts that often face each other in this tournament. Champions Italy were not so lucky against Spain and Croatia, and even their opening game against Albania is a major headache given the pressure that will be on them not to slip behind the eight ball in Group B.

The three years since their shock Euro 2020 victory have not been good for the Azzurra with many of those who shone in the last tournament retiring – Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci the most notable – or diminishing strengths of the players they were in that remarkable summer. If Italy wants to achieve something special, it will be through a new generation. Few of them look as ready to excel this summer as Inter’s Alessandro Bastoni (No. 67 in the Golazo 100). A member of the Euro 2020 squad, the reigning Serie A Defender of the Year will now be tasked with organizing a defense that will have to keep games low scoring to mitigate the relative weaknesses of the Italian front line.

If Luciano Spalletti uses Bastoni wisely, he will try to exploit more than his numerous defensive qualities. As Francesco Porzio noted in his profile of the 25-year-old: “He is not only one of the most influential defenders of this season, he is a playmaker who plays on the left of a defense of three defenders, an assistant and also a goalscorer when he gets the chance.”