Euro Vision: Can Iceland and Wales continue their astonishing streaks

Gulf News

Euro Vision: Can Iceland and Wales continue their astonishing streaks? Gulf News’ Sports Desk discuss expectations for the upcoming Euro 2016 quarter-final matches. Will Iceland and Wales continue to dominate?   See more at: http://gulfnews.com/gntv

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00:00Their country may have voted to leave Europe, but the football team have no plans on leaving

00:09the continent just yet. Wales are through to the quarter-final, and with them fellow

00:14underdogs Iceland after their historic win over England. Joining me to discuss it is

00:19of course our very own deputy sports editor and Iceland's newest fan, Duncan Hare, and

00:23our not-at-all-surprised sports reporter, Ashley Hammond. Gentlemen, at the start of

00:28this tournament we talked about Wales and Iceland and how they were underdogs, and here

00:32we are now talking about them in the quarter-finals. Do they deserve to be there? Undoubtedly deserve

00:37their place there. They say in league football that the table doesn't lie. I think in tournament

00:41football it can sometimes lie. Look at Portugal, I don't think they really deserve to be this

00:47far. We'll talk about that in a minute. But you can't argue with the fact that the spirit

00:53and the determination, the plucky underdog-ness of Iceland and Wales has just been supreme.

00:59It's been fantastic. It's been an amazing journey for both teams to watch. Undoubtedly

01:05deserve their place, and I could see one of the two going forward even further. They've

01:11both shown such spirit and there have been such positive influences on the tournament.

01:17The manner in which they've got to this, it's so unexpected the manner they've got to it,

01:21but undoubtedly they do thoroughly deserve it. So against the likes of Belgium and France,

01:26who here has got the fear factor? Is it going to be Iceland and Wales, or Belgium and France?

01:31Who here needs to be really looking over their shoulders? They both will take them very,

01:36very seriously. Didier Deschamps and Mark Wilmots will both be telling their players

01:41right now from the get-go, do not underestimate this opposition in the slightest. I think

01:47it's going to be a bridge too far for both Iceland and Wales, but the way the tournament

01:51has gone so far, you can never tell. Right from the start, I fancy Belgium. They're a

01:57very poor start to competition against Italy, but they have so many talented players. There

02:01are still question marks, but every single team in this tournament, there's not a single

02:05team that's run away with it, but in certain areas, I think Belgium have real quality.

02:10I think it's not a bridge too far for Iceland. If you look at how France played against the

02:15Republic of Ireland, they weren't that convincing, and France weren't that convincing in the

02:18group stages. I'm not 100% convinced by France. They didn't do enough against Ireland, although

02:24they did turn it around 2-1. I think out of the two, I'd back Iceland to pull off another

02:31shock over France rather than perhaps Belgium messing up against Wales. I can see Belgium

02:38going forward now. Where I think France might have the advantage

02:41is I think they'll be able to play those two banks of four a lot better than what England

02:44did. There's more creativity in the wider areas, and I think they will see more of the

02:49ball in the midfield to get it to them in the first place.

02:52Possibly, but I still think Iceland have got another trick up their sleeve.

02:55It's fascinating that we're even asking this question in the first place. Could Iceland

03:00have beaten England in the last 16 actually upset France in the quarterfinals? You'd never

03:06have thought before the start of this tournament, we're even pondering this question.

03:10Iceland football is all about momentum. A large percentage of it is momentum, it is

03:16spirit and it is the feeling you get coming off of a couple of games. Iceland have got

03:21that. I'm not sure France have got that in the same degree, even though they're at home.

03:26In the end, I think the quality will tell, but it'd be fascinating.

03:29We thought that against England that the quality would tell, but it didn't.

03:31Very true. Our first quarterfinal this Thursday sees

03:35Poland up against Portugal. I think we've got to be honest here, Portugal have been

03:38a bit underwhelming. It took them 117 minutes to score against Switzerland with their only

03:44shot at the game. They have been quite lucky. They're going up against the Poland side that

03:48do look quite well drilled. Do you think Portugal's luck is about to run out?

03:52Yes, in a word. I don't think anyone's been impressed with Portugal in the slightest.

03:57They've managed to get to this stage of the competition without actually winning a football

04:00match within 90 minutes, of course. They organise the words with Poland in the defence and the

04:06midfield areas. They look quite assured. Lewandowski's not even scored a goal in the competition,

04:10yet Poland have managed to get this far through. I like Krakowiak, the boy at Sevilla. He's

04:17impressed me any time I've seen him. He's a talented, talented midfield player. I think

04:21he can help take Poland further on. I think Poland would be a good dark horse out at this

04:26stage of the competition. I think Portugal are going to be one of those

04:29annoying teams, that they don't deserve to be this far, but they'll creep through and

04:34they're in an easy part of the draw as well. I wouldn't be surprised if you could see Portugal

04:39going on much further than they deserve. They shouldn't even have got out of the group.

04:44This best third place team, in my opinion, is a joke. They shouldn't be this far, but

04:48they probably can go forward.

04:50So, lastly, gentlemen, I want to talk about Germany. They look like they really came alive

04:54against Slovakia in this tournament. They're going up against a menacing Italian side.

04:59Do you think it's safe to say that Germany might now be the favourites in this tournament?

05:04I think that title has slipped slightly. I quite fancy Italy, after what Italy managed

05:11to do against Spain. As we were saying, every team in this tournament has had an off day.

05:18Germany drew against Poland. Italy lost their first game. Italy lost against Ireland. Everyone's

05:23had a good and a bad day. Can we outright say that Germany are still the favourites?

05:28I'm not sure we can. I don't think there's any favourites in this tournament, which is

05:31what makes it so interesting going forward.

05:34I think looking at the Germany-Italy match, I think it would be right to say that the

05:39favourites to win the competition may come from this match. Just in terms of performances

05:43in the tournament, and then also on reputations as well, past history. The Italians look so

05:48assured defensively. Unlike England, who didn't have a formation to actually work with the

05:54players they've got, the Italians know they don't have anyone special up front. So they

05:58play a 3-5-2, and they count on their defence. They know that the strength is the back line,

06:04and that's what they do. They keep it solid at the back, get it wide, and then try to

06:08get into the forward areas, and otherwise just defend the lead that they get.

06:12Germany have never beaten Italy in tournament football. I'm quite big on stats. Lars Lagerbeck

06:18had never lost against England last night.

06:20You all heard it here first.

06:22So I think, I reckon Italy. And I don't think Germany are necessarily the favourites that

06:27they came in as.

06:30Thank you very much, gentlemen. The quarter-finals begin on Thursday, and they run through to

06:35Sunday, with each match kicking off at 11pm. As ever, you can catch the latest news, views

06:40and results on golfnews.com, and don't forget to follow us on Twitter at Golf News Sport,

06:44using the hashtag Euro 2016.

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