England have been confirmed as group winners, while Spain and Ukraine are also through. France has a good chance of reaching the quarter-finals of the U21 European Championship. Like Germany, Portugal is threatened with an early end.
On Monday (June 26th, 2023) football will be suspended at the tournament, which will be held in Georgia and Romania until July 8th. The group phase will be concluded on Tuesday and Wednesday with parallel games.
Some teams can start the day relaxed, others are almost through, with Portugal, a second highly traded team besides Germany is about to be eliminated quickly. The initial situation:
Group A
Georgia leads the table with four points and has a very good chance of reaching the quarterfinals. A draw against the Netherlands (2 points) is enough for the hosts. But even a defeat could lead to the next round if Belgium (2 points) don’t win against Portugal (1 point) in the parallel game.
The Portuguese, who started the tournament as one of the favourites, can only finish second in their group and will definitely end up behind Georgia because the direct duel was lost. So Portugal would be through if they won their own game and Georgia clinched at least a point against the Netherlands.
Group B
In Group B it’s easy. Spain and Ukraine have won their previous games and are now in the quarter-finals. The direct duel at the end is about winning the group. A draw would be enough for Spain on goal difference to finish top of the group.
As hosts, Romania should have the ambition not to lose the third game against Croatia.
Group C
England are already the group winners with six points. That could be an advantage for the German team, who only have one point and must win against England on Wednesday (June 28, 2023, live from 6 p.m. on the radio report on sportschau.de) in order to still have a chance , to get ahead. Even a win would not guarantee participation in the quarterfinals.
The selection of the DFB depends on the help of Israel, which must win against the Czech Republic. However, Israel could then overtake Germany itself. It would depend on the goal difference and maybe even on the fair play rating. The scenarios are detailed here.
Group D
France are six points ahead, so they only need one point from the final game against Switzerland to win the group.
Should the French lose, however, there could well be the case that three teams finish the preliminary round tied on points, as Italy are favorites in the parallel game against Norway. Which criteria then apply is listed in the FAQ under “What is the tournament mode like?”.