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England drawn with Croatia in Euro 2020 group phase

:Headline: England drawn with Croatia in Euro 2020 group phase: ID:381244: from db_amp
The Three Lions are in Group D.

England will face their 2018 World Cup semi-final conquerors Croatia in the group phase of Euro 2020.

Croatia beat England 2-1 after extra-time to deny Gareth Southgate’s team a place in the World Cup final, and they will meet at Wembley on June 14.

England will also take on the Czech Republic, who beat them in qualifying for this tournament.

Their third opponent will be the winners of play-off path C, which includes Scotland. The other possible opponents from that path are Israel, Norway and Serbia. The outcome of the play-offs will not be known until the end of March next year.

The Three Lions will play all three of their Group D games at Wembley.

England will face the winner of play-off path C on June 19 and the Czechs on June 23.

Wales were placed in Group A alongside Italy, Switzerland and Turkey.

Italy, coached by former Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini, won all 10 of their qualifiers, having failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.

England manager Gareth Southgate was in Bucharest for the Euro 2020 draw (Mike Egerton/PA)

The last two times the sides met in Italy, the Azzurri won 4-0.

Wales won their last meeting with Switzerland, a Euro qualifier in October 2011. Aaron Ramsey and Gareth Bale were the scorers.

The last time Wales played Turkey, in a qualifier for the 1998 World Cup, it ended 6-4 to the Turks with Hakan Sukur scoring four.

If England win Group D they would come up against the runner-up from Group F in Dublin. Group F looks an extremely tough one, containing Germany, France and Portugal.

Wales manager Ryan Giggs’ side have been drawn in Group A (Mike Egerton/PA)

If England come through that match, they would play a quarter-final in Rome.

The Italian capital will host the opening game of the tournament, with Italy
taking on Turkey on June 12.

The semi-finals and final will all be at Wembley, with the final itself being
played on Sunday, July 12.

England will take on Croatia in their opening game as they prepare to face the
World Cup finallists for the fourth time in two years.

The Three Lions slipped to defeat in the semi-final in Russia before seeing off
the Croatians in their Nations League group and Southgate is expecting another tough test.

England manager Gareth Southgate is wary of the opposition in Group D (Mike Egerton/PA)

“I thought that maybe 12 months ago but they recovered really well in their
group,” the England boss told BBC 2.

“We know the quality of their midfield players when they can leave (Mateo)
Kovacic on the bench, that tells you the story and it is a really top-level
fixture.”

The Czech Republic were the only team to beat England during the qualification campaign having earlier been thrashed 5-0 at Wembley – but Southgate is not using that as a yardstick for their meeting in next summer’s finals.

“We were very poor in Prague and they have improved, there is no doubt about that,” he said.

“We have to be on our game and it won’t be like our first game at Wembley that is for sure.”

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