I've always liked the Euros because you get straight down to business. Not like the World Cup where you have a load of dead rubbers to sit through until the competition starts in earnest. No Congos or Hondurases to clog up the fixture list. Also, there are no weird time zone differences to interfere with your viewing time, like watching Brazil v England at the 2002 World Cup while eating breakfast. No, no, the Euros get down and dirty from the off and at a reasonable hour.
With no Northern Ireland at the tournament, I'll not be supporting anybody in particular. England will no doubt be the main focus on national TV, and as usual I expect them to have a reasonable tournament and then get beat at the pointy end. It is always thus with Southgate at the helm. Even though he has an attack of Kane, Foden, Bellingham and Saka I expect nothing good to come from them. In the last Euros they stumbled through the group phase, including a boring win over the Czechs and a 0-0 draw with a poor Scotland at Wembley.
They beat Germany well in the knock-out phase before stumbling past Denmark in extra time and finally getting beaten by a poor Italy in the final. World Cup 2022 wasn't a whole lot better, losing a quarter-final thriller to France. The inescapable fact is that they should have won a tournament with the squad they have, but haven't due to the manager. But the have opted to persist with Southgate despite his obvious failings. I wonder will Pep take the job after leaving City. It seems like a good fit to me.
This time around they face Slovenia, Denmark and Serbia in their group. I think they will win the group without shining, a 1-nil and a draw among the scores. They may get far into the tournament but they won't win it. If not them, then who? Well, don't rule out the hosts, Germany. You can never right off the Germans in a tournament. And France have a squad to win any tournament, Mbappé, Griezeman et al have the extra motivation after losing that World Cup final classic to Argentina just a year and a half ago. Belgium, Spain and Italy could also do well, you can never rule them out either.
Whoever lifts the trophy, I'm really looking forward to a feast of footy and a national crisis when the inevitable happens to England!
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| Peter Anderson is a Unionist with a keen interest in sports |
Sorry to hear you're leaving, Peter.
ReplyDeleteI've always enjoyed your writing.
Thanks Ramon
DeleteNo Norn Iron so I will be following France due to having them as In-Laws.
ReplyDeleteNot sure about England. The FA realised about 15 years ago they were very far behind Europe and changed the grassroots up a bit, to increase the standard.
The National team also now has several players playing across Europe, I remember previous tournaments when they were 99% home based players..and they invariably never ceased to underwhelm. I think they have a team capable of winning it...just not the manager to do it.
They missed out when they didn't make an approach to Mourinho.
After their last outing I said to my son that England could take the Euros. I still think that despite Iceland.
DeleteSouthgate did well to get them to gel properly after the cliques under Sven and Cappello, but they should have dumped him after the WC.
DeleteIf Pep goes into international management would he consider England?
I've a feeling Pep wants an Italian job after City, whether that's the Azzurri or Juve/Milan I'm not sure, but it's clear he has in his mind a legacy to leave. Failing that Brazil/Spain national teams.
DeleteI'd be unsurprised if England won it..but the gloating if they did would be unbearable.