England must beat Kosovo or face possible Euro 2020 Group of Death with both Belgium and Portugal

ENGLAND have qualified for Euro 2020 but could face a potential Group of Death against both Belgium and Portugal next summer.

A draw or defeat against lowly Kosovo could see Gareth Southgate’s side drop down into the second pot of seeds.

Southgate has said he will make changes for Kosovo… despite horror Euro 2020 group threatCredit: Getty – Contributor

Six of the 10 group winners will head into the tournament as top seeds, and England need a win to guarantee their place in the top pot.

If they beat Kosovo on Sunday, they will give themselves the best chance of a reasonably soft initial passage.

But if they end up in the second pot, they would face an anxious time ahead of the draw on Saturday November 30 in Bucharest.

England could face defending European champions Portugal, who won their first major trophy four years ago led by superstar Cristiano Ronaldo.

And they could also come up against Belgium, who beat Southgate’s Three Lions twice at the 2018 World Cup – 1-0 at the group stage and 2-0 in the third-place play-off.

Qualifying for the finals as winners means England now know they will play their three group games at Wembley.

For the first time since Euro 96, England have home group games on Sunday June 14, Friday June 19 and Tuesday June 23.

However the identity of their possible opponents is less clear.

Eden Hazard and Co beat England at last years World CupCredit: EPA

That is because Uefa have decided to seed the entire Finals draw – on the basis of qualifying.

The 10 group winners will be the 10 top seeds, followed by the 10 sides that emerge as runners up, with the final four seeding slots given over to the Nations League play-off winners in March.

But with only six groups in the 24-team tournament, all the qualified teams will be ranked from 1 to 24, with the best-performing six sides the top seeds.

England are currently second in that table, a point behind Ukraine and ahead of Belgium and Italy on goal difference, with Spain fifth, France sixth and Holland seventh.

But Southgate’s men have only one game left, while Belgium and Italy have two to play.

Failure to win in Pristina would mean opening the door for the five teams below them in that table to leapfrog England, dropping them into the second seeding block.

Portugal, runners up to Ukraine in their group, can only gate-crash the second seeding group if Germany fail to win either of their last two home matches against Belarus and Northern Ireland AND the Czech Republic cannot win in Bulgaria.

But the added complication is that Uefa have already declared all 12 host nations will play at least two games in their “home” stadium if they go through.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal are looking to defend their crownCredit: AFP or Licensors

Alongside Wembley and Hampden, hosts cities are Rome, Munich, Bilbao, Amsterdam, Dublin, Copenhagen, St Petersburg, Bucharest, Budapest and Baku in Azerbaijan.

If the teams currently on course for qualification stay there by winning their remaining games, it would mean England would only have two potential “pot two” opponents – World Cup semi-final conquerors Croatia and Poland.

They could then draw any of the Pot Three teams – Portugal, the Czechs, Austria, Turkey, Denmark and likely debut finalists Finland – apart from the Danes.

Scotland’s potential qualification through the Nations League means that the fourth team in the Group will be one of the play-off winners.

But it will only definitely be the League C winners if the Scots progress.

Both Romania and Hungary could yet end up if the League C play-off – Uefa will confirm the arrangements ahead of the planned draw in Nyon on Friday – and as they are host nations, should they win then another play-off victor would come into England’s group.

Winning Group D will give England a path through Dublin and Rome – where Spain would be the likely quarter-final opponents.

Going through as runners up means Copenhagen and St Petersburg, where Germany would be favourites to lie in wait, before the tournament returns to Wembley for both semi-finals and the July 12 final.

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk