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szdaily -> Sports -> 
Italy wins Group A at Euro 2020
    2021-06-22  08:53    Shenzhen Daily

THE first 2020 UEFA European Championship pool has now been finalized with Italy finishing top of Group A ahead of Wales and Switzerland with three consecutive wins. Meanwhile, former dark horse Turkey was sent packing with three losses and one solitary goal.

The Azzurri beat the Welsh 1-0 in Rome on Sunday through a Matteo Pessina strike to confirm their strong finish and they are yet to concede this tournament with three clean sheets to Gianluigi Donnarumma’s name after their Stadio Olimpico stint.

Elsewhere, the Swiss made light work of the Turks with a 3-1 victory in Baku, Azerbaijan, to boost their chances of advancing as one of the best-placed third-ranked teams. Xherdan Shaqiri scored twice as Steven Zuber bagged a hat trick of assists with Haris Seferovic also on target.

Irfan Kahveci had given Senol Gunes’ men hope at 2-1 but that was swiftly extinguished by Shaqiri. Turkey exits with a whimper, while Wales was always going to find it hard to equalize against Italy after Ethan Ampadu had seen red.

The final standings make Roberto Mancini’s men strong favorites to go deep with Group C’s runners-up to come while Wales in second is now going to go up against whoever finishes second in Group B. Switzerland currently leads the wave of teams in third heading toward the latter stages.

Italy has been impressive so far with 3-0 wins over Turkey and Switzerland followed up by a 1-0 success against Wales with several alterations in a show of strength on home soil that sets the side up nicely to face Ukraine or Austria in London to start the knockout stage.

Welsh results have been a mixed bag, but the side finishs second and Rob Page’s men can thank their 1-1 draw with the Swiss and 2-0 success over the Turkish for their second spot as their Baku run paid off with a knockout phase berth against Russia or Finland.

Switzerland will feel aggrieved to have finished third when the side was unlucky not to beat Wales, but the players can have no complaints with their loss to Italy and they did what was asked of them against a Turkey side that was fancied by many before the tournament.

It is hard to put a finger on exactly what made the Turks so poor with Gunes citing inexperience but perhaps it was all the pre-Euro hype, which was largely based on some exciting performances in 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifying and Burak Yilmaz’s incredible form with Lille OSC.

Regardless, Turkey is now going home while Italy marches on, Wales takes another step forward and Switzerland waits for confirmation that the side will be continuing its adventure as one of the chosen third-placed sides.

(SD-Agencies)

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