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Where it All Went Wrong for France at the Euros

It didn't take much to see that Group F at Euro 2020 was unequivocally the competition's Group of Death. Yet none of the sides in it have reached the quarterfinals of the tournament, which might be taken as evidence that in football, as William Goldman said of show business, nobody knows anything.

Except we did know Hungary was game for a challenge despite its limitations. And we did wonder about the integration of this Portugal side, even if nobody expected the complete capitulation against Germany. And we’d seen Germany fall apart at the last World Cup and in some significant, subsequent losses; that Joachim Löw should not have been allowed to continue as coach after Russia 2018 had been increasingly apparent with each passing week.