Who are the worst-performing teams at Euro 2024?

Euro 2024 has lived up to expectations in some quarters, even though there were no surprises at the beginning of the competition.

Italy, Spain, England and Germany all won their first game of the competition, just as most supporters had expected them to do.

Germany has been poor in international competitions since they won the 2014 World Cup, but Julian Nagelsmann’s side looks in terrific shape in this competition.

After playing two games, several countries have already met expectations, while some have struggled.

The Euros is probably the continental competition with the best talents in the world after the World Cup, so several top players are on show in every match.

There are many favourites to win the competition, including England, France, Germany, and Spain. These four teams look set to make the knockout stages of the competition.

However, there are other countries whom we expected to at least do well, but they head home immediately after the final group game.

It has been a competition that springs a few surprises, and this means there would be big casualties, so in this article, we cover the countries that have failed to meet expectations so far.

Croatia

Most fans who bought Euro 2024 tickets expected Croatia to be one of the countries to watch in the competition because of their largely experienced squad.

They have done well in the last few international competitions, including reaching the final of the 2018 World Cup, finishing third place in Qatar 2022, and finishing as the runner-up in the 2022/2023 Nations League.

With Luka Modric as their leader, the Croats arrived in Germany as one of the countries that can truly make things happen at the Euros.

They are in the same group as Spain, Italy and Albania and it is considerably a tough group for any of the teams in it.

However, we all expected Albania to be the struggling team while the other three battle for the top three spots.

But after two matches, Croatia has failed to win any of its games, and it is at the bottom of the group after a loss and a draw.

They are on course to finish at the bottom of their group unless they win their match against Italy.

Hungary

Hungary is not one of the most popular footballing nations in Europe, so it might be a surprise that they have ended up on this list.

However, the Hungarians were expected to do a lot better than they have fared at the Euros so far.

With a young and dynamic team, they came to Germany having not lost any competitive game since 2022, and they also lost just one match in their previous 16 games.

However, they quickly folded in their first game against Switzerland and were beaten 3-1 before losing 2-0 to Germany, which kept them on the brink of an early return home before a 1-0 win against Scotland means they can still make the next round.

This has been one of the best Hungary teams we have seen in several decades, so they will hope they can make the knockout stages.

Scotland

Scotland has enjoyed some resurgence under Steve Clarke and was in fantastic form during the qualifying games for Euro 2024.

This raised the hopes of their fans that they could make an impact at the competition and at least get away from the group stage.

However, having been placed in the same group as Germany, we expected them to fight to finish second behind the host.

However, if they had won their match against Hungary, they would have finished among some of the best third-place teams, but Scotland crashed out following a 100th-minute winner for the Hungarians.

They were in better form in the 1-1 draw against Switzerland, but they still did not convince enough to suggest that they can beat Hungary to take the third spot in their group.

Serbia

Serbia risks not making good use of one of the best generations of players it has had in recent times as it struggles at Euro 2024.

The Serbs qualified for the 2022 FIFA World Cup as one of the most talented teams, yet they did not make any meaningful impact in that competition.

They have qualified for the Euros again and are on the verge of exiting at the group stage despite boosting talented players like Dusan Vlahovic, Aleksandr Mitrovic, and Nikola Milenković.

They lost their first Euro 2024 game to England by a narrow margin, and we all thought they could beat Slovenia in their next game.

However, Serbia failed to meet expectations, and they required a very late Luka Jovic strike to earn a 1-1 draw.

This is not the performance we expected from the Serbs, and the quality of their group makes it obvious that they have to do better.

They now have to beat Denmark in their final group game of the tournament, and the Danes are one of the toughest sides to face.

England

England is on the verge of ending another international competition in disappointing form as they struggle against their group opponents.

Serbia, Slovenia and Denmark are countries that England should easily beat, considering the quality of their squad.

Gareth Southgate has been tasked with leading arguably the strongest squad at the Euros, but his team is struggling.

Having dropped some big names at home when he named his squad, Southgate seems to be missing some of the stars he has left at home.

His team won their opening game against Serbia by 1-0, and that was one of the most uninspiring performances we have seen from an England team.

It did not get better in their next game against Denmark, and the Danes were the better side, leaving English fans feeling lucky that they did not lose that match.

The Three Lions are set to progress to the next round of the competition, but if their performance does not improve, they will not come close to winning Euro 2024.

Belgium

Belgium suffered a shock 1-0 loss to Slovakia in their opening match of Euro 2024, and there is no worse way they could have started the competition.

The Red Devils remain one of the highest-ranked teams in Europe, and they boast some of the continent’s biggest names, including Romelu Lukaku and Kevin de Bruyne.

However, they looked uncoordinated in the loss against Slovakia, and it threatens to be another poor competition for them.

They were similarly dismal at the 2022 World two years, and their start to Euro 2024 has been nothing but depressing.

They won their next game against Romania, but they now have to beat Ukraine in their final group game, but the Ukrainians also need a win.