LONDON: EURO 2024 will take place across 10 world-class stadiums in Germany from the Olympiastadion Berlin to the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg.Here is a look at some of the players expected to light up the European Championship in Germany which kicks off on June 14.

Phil Foden (England)

Nurtured with care by Pep Guardiola, Foden has taken some time to break through to world-class level. He’s there now — and the Manchester City forward is heading into a major international tournament as a certain starter for England for the first time and as the Premier League’s best player this season. While defenses occupy themselves with Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham, it might be Foden who benefits the most with his quick feet and eye for goal. Where he starts — as an attacking central midfielder or on one of the wings — will be interesting to see. But he will start, and that’s exciting for England fans who have been waiting for Foden to blossom.

Florian Wirtz (Germany)

A player in the mold of Foden — and maybe another Man City player in Jack Grealish because of his low-slung socks — is Wirtz, who has established himself as a standout in the German league at newly crowned champion Bayer Leverkusen. At age 21, Wirtz is a No. 10 with amazing balance, technical ability and creativity who dovetails that with a relentless pressing game – something demanded of attacking players in the modern era. Once the youngest scorer in Bundesliga history (at age 17), he was one of the youngest ever players for Germany and scored against France after seven seconds in March. It was thought to be the fastest international goal ever before that record was broken later that day. This is his first major international tournament — a knee injury ruled him out of the 2022 World Cup — and surely won’t be his last.

Lamine Yamal (Spain)

The old saying “if you’re good enough, you’re old enough” certainly applies to Yamal, the Spain winger who was 15 years, 9 months and 16 days when he made his debut for Barcelona and will still be 16 when Euro 2024 begins. Yamal, born near Barcelona to a mother from Equatorial Guinea and a father from Morocco, is the latest prodigy to come out of Barcelona’s famed La Masia academy and he hasn’t stopped breaking records. The youngest player to debut — and score — in the Spanish league, the youngest to start in the Champions League, the youngest to score for Spain’s national team and the youngest to score in a European Championship qualifier. Fast and direct, Yamal already has quite a presence despite his age.

Rafael Leao (Portugal)

Portugal will one day arrive at the post-Cristiano Ronaldo era and the team will need an attacking star to build around. Leao has the ability to be that player, even if his standout performances have been rarer than many at AC Milan would have wanted this season. Leao’s talent is clear — he is one of the world’s most exciting wingers and few are able to run with the ball with such pace, power and athleticism. A reported release clause of €175 million ($190 million) is testament to that but there’s certainly room for improvement with Leao, particularly when he hasn’t got space to run into and he is tasked with breaking down packed defenses.

LONDON: England were booed by some of their own fans after losing 1-0 to Iceland on Friday in their last friendly before the European Championship, while host nation Germany recovered from a goal down to beat Greece 2-1.

Jon Dagur Thorsteinsson left defender John Stones standing as he scored for Iceland in the 16th minute to bring back memories of one of England’s lowest points of recent years, its 2-1 elimination by Iceland at Euro 2016.

England created few clear-cut chances against Iceland and nearly conceded a second goal when a promising Icelandic counterattack ended with Thorsteinsson slipping as he shot.

“We learned a lot and we know the performance wasn’t good enough,” England manager Gareth Southgate told broadcaster Channel 4. “Equally we needed the game; there’s a lot of players that we’re managing their minutes and it was obviously a disjointed and disappointing performance and we didn’t show enough character.”

England, who beat Bosnia-Herzegovina 3-0 on Monday, get their tournament under way June 16 against Serbia in Group C.

Germany needed substitute Pascal Gross’ 89th-minute goal to secure the win over Greece a week before they open Euro 2024 against Scotland in Munich.

Georgios Masouras gave Greece the lead in the 34th on the rebound after goalkeeper Manuel Neuer failed to hold a shot from Christos Tzolis. Arsenal forward Kai Havertz leveled in the 56th when he shot on the turn and it went in off Manolis Siopis.

After Benjamin Henrichs sent a shot off the bar in the 83rd, Germany finally took the lead when Gross hit a fierce shot from outside the box.

With a flat first-half performance and a late recovery, the win over Greece continues a mixed bag of form for Germany, who beat France and the Netherlands in friendlies in March but have also lost to Japan, Turkiye and Austria within the last 12 months.

Neuer’s error for the Greece goal came shortly after Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann confirmed he was cutting Stuttgart goalkeeper Alexander Nubel as he finalized the 26-player squad for the tournament. Barcelona’s Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Hoffenheim’s Oliver Baumann are the two other goalkeepers in the squad.

Nagelsmann committed in March to having Neuer as his first-choice goalkeeper for Euro 2024, even though injuries meant the Bayern Munich goalkeeper only played his first game under Nagelsmann for Germany in Monday’s 0-0 draw with Ukraine.

Also Friday, Poland beat neighbor Ukraine 3-1 with three goals in the opening 30 minutes and Scotland drew 2-2 with Finland after giving up a 2-0 lead.

Romania failed to beat one of Europe’s smallest nations, Liechtenstein, in a 0-0 draw. The Czech Republic cruised to a 7-1 win over Malta. Albania beat Azerbaijan 3-1.