The Euros are well underway with some exciting games coming from the initial round of the tournament. Many international fans had been welcoming the return of a summer competition, with passionate fans lining the streets, coloured shirts in the hundreds, and stadiums erupting when a goal goes in.
The passion of the European Championships is unmatched and it has been a great start from the favourites, with the likes of Germany, France and England all getting three points on the board, while sides that have perhaps gone under the radar like Spain and Portugal have also recorded wins to start this year’s tournament in style.
Indeed, amongst the great goals and shock upsets there are still some sides that have gone under the radar so far. Everyone loves backing a dark horse, with many neutrals turning to them once their side has been eliminated from the competition.
In this article, we take a look at some of the dark horses at Euro 2024. Those sides that could either produce some shock results or snatch a spot in the round out 16 thanks to a best third place position. Over the years we have seen Denmark and Greece shock the continent, whilst Wales and Croatia have gone on some fairytale runs of their own. Everything is possible in international football. Read on to find out more.
Netherlands
The Netherlands boast a strong pre-tournament side on paper, possessing some world-class players. However, this generation of talent in Holland lacks real tournament experience, with the group unable to make it to Euro 2020 before losing to Argentina on penalties in the quarter-final of the 2022 World Cup.
This time around the squad look far more experienced and picked up their first win of the group stage, coming from behind to beat Poland 2-1. With the likes of Cody Gakpo and Virgil van Dijk, the Dutch have an outside shot of winning their first international trophy since 1988.
Denmark
Every year Denmark seems to be considered as a dark horse but after reaching the semi-finals of Euro 2020, narrowly losing late on to England, the Danes have a squad with the right blend of experience and academy talent.
Despite drawing their opening game 1-1 with Slovenia, a win against Serbia should be enough to ensure they progress to the round of 16, which would come as a bit of an upset to the top Irish bookies especially after the majority of the side played in Northern Ireland’s 2-0 win over the Danes in November last year.
With top players like Christian Eriksen and Kasper Schmeichel might be approaching the twilight of their international careers, but there are plenty of youngsters to pass the baton onto including Jesper Lindstrøm and Manchester United striker Rasmus Højlund. This makes it an extremely interesting time to watch Kasper Hjulmand’s side, with the draw adding more fuel to the fire.
Turkey
Wonder goals have defined Turkey’s start to Euro 2024. Their disappointing campaign last time out, which was overshadowed by injury and managerial uncertainty at Euro 2020, has almost definitely been forgotten after they beat Georgia 3-1 courtesy of two long range strikes and a devastating counter attack.
Goal of the tournament contenders from Mert Muldur and Real Madrid wonderkid Arda Guler helped but the Turks in the lead before Muhammed Kerem Aktürkoğlu sealed the win.
There has always been plenty of talent locked away in that Turkey side, and while beating Georgia, a side who are the lowest in the FIFA world rankings and playing at their first Euros, is hardly ground-breaking, they look to be getting the best out of their side under Italian Vincenzo Montella, who praised his side for their work ethic after getting three points in the board.
“We’ve never got beyond the group stage in the last three Euros; we didn’t even pick up a point last time,” he said. “Our first target was to win this match. Now we’ve won it, the dream is to win the next one and reach the knockout stage.”
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Overall, it has been a great start to Euro 2024. The likes of Romania and Switzerland also held good accounts of themselves and it will be interesting to see if either nation will progress to the round of 16 following their good starts.
Their challenging groups led them to omission as dark horses in the tournament but if they can make it to the knockout rounds in some capacity, they will surely win over neutral fans. It will take grit and determination to get there but those are the key characteristics of the best international sides, almost as much as natural talent.