Italy look the best of the rest: Neil Humphreys
We continue our countdown to Euro 2020 with an assessment of the dark horses
THE AZZURRI STRIKE BACK
The Italians are in a wonderful position. They boast the talent to win the whole lot and folks are struggling to notice.
An artist at his peak (Marco Verratti), two ageless human shields (Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini), reliable midfield support (Jorginho) and an experienced No. 9 (Ciro Immobile), the Italians have a solid spine and a transformative manager.
Roberto Mancini has gone about his business with extraordinary efficiency and consistency. Ten wins in 10 qualifying matches helped to give Mancini the highest win rate of any Italy manager (70 per cent).
Not surprisingly, the Italians are favourites in Group A and should see off the respective challenges of Switzerland, Turkey and Wales.
But nobody really knows how far Mancini's men can go. His obvious lack of squad depth, particularly up front, makes the Italians such unknown commodities.
Of all the traditional heavyweights, they seem the most shadowy, content to concede the current limelight to England, France and Belgium and so forth.
Right now, there's nowhere else that Mancini would rather be.
THE DANES COULD BE GREAT
The greatest story in Euros history still belongs to Denmark.
Sitting on a beach before the tournament kicked off in 1992, the players were called in after Yugoslavia's expulsion - at 10 days' notice - and wandered off with the trophy.
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The air of romance remains. Goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, Denmark's spiritual leader, already has a Cinderella legend in his locker, having won the English Premier League title with Leicester City, and he'll quietly fancy his chances.
Their route to the knockout stage is not the most inhospitable, sharing a group with Belgium, Finland and Russia.
Their coach, Kasper Hjulmand, adopted a more attacking game in recent World Cup qualifiers, pushing his fullbacks further forward, knowing that he had solid cover in AC Milan's Simon Kjaer and Chelsea's Andreas Christensen.
In central midfield, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg takes care of the heavy industry to liberate the mercurial Christian Eriksen.
He's one of the few to benefit from the tournament's delay. After a shaky start at Inter Milan, he settled and played a pivotal role in winning the Serie A title. He needs to repeat the trick for his country.
CHERISH THE GIFT OF SCOTS
Yes, the inclusion of Scotland tests the limits of whatever constitutes a dark horse. Can Steve Clarke's men win the tournament? No.
But can they spring an upset, sneak into the knockout stages and add a splash of colour after a drab season? Absolutely.
If you haven't already marked June 18 in your Euros diary, then you don't know your history.
The Scots like beating England. Scotland defeated England in 1967, when the Three Lions were world champions. It's pretty much been their raison d'etre for decades, only now they've got a better defence.
Playing a back three allows the pragmatic Clarke to select Andy Robertson and Kieran Tierney, regular left-backs, in the same defence.
With Scott McTominay either alongside them, or just ahead of them, Scotland have an excellent backline. Harry Kane has his work cut out in Group D.
A smaller nation can't beat England and go through? Remember Iceland?
POLES SET FOR LONG RUN
Euro 2020 arguably represents Robert Lewandowski's last chance to avoid joining George Best, Ryan Giggs and George Weah in that unwanted category of "great players in poor national sides".
Luckily, the striker leads the best Polish side in years in Group E, which also comprises Slovakia, Sweden and Spain.
The defensive experience of goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski and centre-back Kamil Glik blends well with the attacking zeal of Napoli's Piotr Zielinski, who will float behind the main man.
As always, Poland's fortunes will mirror those of their all-time scorer. Poland's run to the quarter-finals in 2016 was their best Euros effort. Lewandowski will be hoping to go one better.
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