I love the European Championships. Far more than the World Cup, which has too many teams, too many meaningless matches and goes on too long. The Euros are just about perfect for a football competition. Nearly every day there is a mouth-watering fixture such as Germany v Portugal, Italy v Spain or England v France. OK I can’t get excited about Poland v Greece but on the whole most of the games have a lot riding on them. Apart from the England games the one I’m looking forward to the most is Germany v The Netherlands next Wednesday. Two sides full of attacking talent with the added spice that the two nations really don’t like each other. I expect the winner to come from one of those two.
As well as the Germans and the Dutch the other potential winner is of course the holders Spain but I think that they may come unstuck as other teams have learnt how to play against them. As England showed in last year’s friendly and Chelsea did in the Champion’s league (OK that was Barcelona but they’re pretty much the same) you can let them have all the possession in the world but if you defend deep they don’t do much with it. They will still be tough but I think the other two have more of a cutting edge. The surprise package may be Russia again who have been given the easiest group with Poland, Greece and the Czechs. Some of the lesser teams may benefit from their players not having played so many games. Germany and Spain may suffer from this more than most as a lot of their players were involved in the latter stages of the Champion’s League.
So onto England. This time we have a new weapon that we have not tried before in recent times…Low Expectations. Since Fabio left , Roy got the job instead of Harry and the squad began to lose a player a week there are few people really talking up the England team’s chances. The lack of Wayne Rooney for the first two games may be crucial and we need to avoid defeat early on to still be in with a shot against the Ukraine. I think with all the disruptions to our build up our chances are about as high as Denmark in 1992 or Greece in 2004. Maybe that’s a good omen. At least we don’t have to worry about the Lampard/Gerrard problem this time. Best wishes also to the Republic of Ireland. It’s great to see them in a tournament again although it’s disappointing that Keith Fahey won’t get to play due to injury.
Against France I expect England to play with one up front (Probably Wellbeck) and defend deep. France will dominate possession so England will look to catch them on the break or snatch a goal from a set piece. A draw would be an excellent result for the first match and I think that’s what England will play for. Playing France brings back horrible memories of our first game in 2004 where we surrendered two goals in Injury time to lose 2-1. I rather we get hammered than do that again. At least we have a better goalkeeper this time. Going forward Ashley Young will be a crucial player linking the deep lying midfield players and the front man. We may have to put aside our usual feelings and agree to like him for the next few weeks no matter how hard that is to do. It’s the Euros so we need to make sacrifices. I’m even going to go against principles and watch a game on ITV! It’ll be hard but I’ll do it for my country.
It’s nice for a change that the England chances haven’t been built up so high and may well work to their advantage. France had an equally bad World Cup so will have a point to prove. They are much better than two years ago and the likes of Nasri, Ribery and Benzema will cause us a lot of problems. They outclassed us when the two side met at Wembley in 2010. However on the big stage anything can happen.
C’mon England!
Prediction for the game – England 1 France 1
Prediction for the tournament – The Netherlands.
I always think it is a bit of a negative attitude to say “Don’t lose your first match”. Win your first match and the pressure is off for the second match.
I’d much prefer to be in Russia’s or Denmark’s position after one match than Greece or Poland’s.