Euro Vision: Gulf News UEFA Euro 2016 preview

Gulf News

Analysis and breakdown of the action ahead of UEFA Euro 2016. The Gulf News Sports Desk break down the favourites, underdogs and potential dark horse squads, and fill us in on teams to watch out for at this years UEFA Euro 2016.  See more at: http://gulfnews.com/gntv

Transcript

00:00Euro 2016 gets underway this Friday at the Stade de France Saint-Denis as France take

00:10on Romania in Group A. Joining me here is Duncan Hare, Golf News Deputy Sports Editor

00:16and Sports Reporter, Ashley Hammond.

00:18Ok guys, so the first thing I think we need to talk about is the fact that the tournament

00:22has increased from 16 teams to 24. I mean, how do you guys see that?

00:26I think it's a good thing. Obviously I wish Scotland would have qualified, but I think

00:29it's a good thing that nations who perhaps would not have qualified for Euros in the

00:33past, when it was 8 teams even, and going back to the 90s, and obviously 16 teams recently,

00:38I think it's good that they got the opportunity. It increases the visibility of the tournament,

00:42it also increases the popularity in terms of nations, you know, their fans will obviously

00:45watch it as well.

00:46I take the opposite view in that I think you should have separated the wheat from the chaff

00:51earlier in qualifying. When it gets to a final stage you really want to see the best of the

00:55best and it really needs to be a quick two-week tournament.

00:58Ok, so who do you think are going to be the big players over the next few weeks? Who do

01:02we need to be keeping our eyes on?

01:04Germany, Spain, France as a host nation. If we're talking about outside bet, I strongly

01:09fancy Belgium. I think they've got a very, very strong squad. You look at their 23 and

01:15there's not a weak player. Every position, they look good.

01:18They had a great team go into the last World Cup in 2014 and they only made the quarter-finals

01:22and it wasn't particularly memorable. You know, the big thing about Belgium, they should

01:27be, looking on paper, they should be one of the best teams in Europe.

01:30Duncan, you spoke about Germany briefly there. I mean, since they won the World Cup back

01:35in 2014, things have been on a bit of a downward slide. I mean, they've lost three friendlies,

01:40they lost to Ireland in their qualifying stages, they've got Royce currently sidelined, he's

01:45not going to be making an appearance and they're plagued with injuries. I mean, is that going

01:49to harm their chances or do you think Joachim Löw has got enough in his arsenal to steer

01:55them towards at least the latter stages?

01:57You look at the German squad and yes, it's starting to age a little bit in some positions,

02:01Schweinsteiger for example, but some of the younger players are bringing through. I really

02:04fancy the guy Kimmich at Bayern Munich, I think he'd be a useful addition to the squad.

02:08The area I think to watch for Germany is the fact that they still only probably have one

02:11centre forward but it's the players in behind them that can be useful, particularly obviously

02:15Thomas Müller. I do fancy the Germans.

02:17I agree, I fancy the Germans too. I don't necessarily think it's too big a deal in qualifying

02:22if they haven't had a great run in qualifying or they haven't had too many good results

02:26in friendlies recently. I don't think that really matters. I think if you look at the

02:29history of German football in major tournaments, they've always been there or thereabouts.

02:34I want to talk quickly about France, the hosts. They have scored three goals in each of their

02:39last four matches. I mean, that's quite impressive for a team that hasn't had to go through the

02:43qualifying stage like everyone else. Are they going to be able to carry that form into the

02:48tournament or do you think maybe the moment will get to them?

02:53I think, even as hosts, the pressure is going to be upon them. I think France are definitely

02:57one of the sides to watch. Again, they've got that advantage and they've got key players

03:01in all the spines of the team from goalkeeper to centre-half to midfield up front as well.

03:05Obviously, as the hosts, that gives you a major advantage, home support, and you get

03:09a bit of momentum behind you but it could also obviously play on their minds a bit and

03:15be a lot of pressure. The other thing about France is they always self-implode, don't

03:19they? It doesn't matter how good the team are, there's always a certain attitude or

03:26there's always a dilemma with France.

03:27How are they going to approach their opening game against Romania? Are they going to be

03:32buoyed? Do you think they'll suffer the stage fright? How are they going to approach that

03:36match?

03:37Well, opening games tend to be a bit of an anti-climax, don't they? They always tend

03:42to be a bit tight. Probably a 1-0 win to France, I can see.

03:47Hopefully they don't go there with Senegal in 2002, remember that was one of the biggest

03:51shocks of all time.

03:53You talk about anti-climaxes, so of course that inevitably leads us on to the question

03:57of England, who obviously faced off Russia on Saturday. We've got the Scotsman laughing

04:02already.

04:03Here we go.

04:04Exactly. So I think the big question is, on English lips, what is Roy Hodgson going to

04:08do with Wayne Rooney?

04:10Hopefully, not play him and keep him on the bench. That would be my immediate reaction

04:14but I've got a feeling that he'll probably play him just behind the front man.

04:17Yeah, I mean, what he did against Portugal was supposedly play him behind the front men

04:23in terms of Kane and Vardy and yet what happened was that Rooney was playing as a de facto

04:27centre forward and Kane and Vardy were pushed right out wide. I don't think Hodgson actually

04:32knows what his best 11 is and how to play them. I really don't.

04:36What I'd like him to do is play two up front but I just don't think he'll do that.

04:39The two most exciting players, you look at Barkley from the last World Cup, arguably

04:43the biggest positive coming out of that World Cup, this season he's had a bad season and

04:48also John Stones at Everton, he's had a bad season. John Stones is like your in-form defender,

04:54even Jose Mourinho wants him, there's been talk about him at the beginning of the season,

04:57maybe that distracted him, I don't know.

04:59Stones could be first choice for England when he's not even been first choice for Everton

05:01this season. There was a huge chunk of the season, towards the end of the season, where

05:04Stones wasn't even getting a game and when he did it was riddled with errors. I was thinking

05:07about the game against Watford where, you know, kick the ball out of play. If you're

05:10not playing well, do the simple things and yet he continues to play from the back. Don't

05:15get me wrong, he is a fantastic prospect, but at the moment he's just a prospect and

05:19there's times when he's really letting his game get away from him.

05:21OK, let's talk quickly about the underdogs. Who do we think are going to be causing the

05:26biggest surprises? I mean, we've got the likes of Northern Ireland and Wales, between them

05:29have only been in four international competitions since 1958. We've got the likes of Iceland,

05:35Albania, Hungary. Who do we think might be causing some upsets?

05:39I'm not sure if any of them will actually. I think you might have to look a little bit

05:42wiser to get someone that could really be a proper dark horse than the names that are mentioned.

05:47I quite fancy Iceland in terms of a romantic football story. There's a population of 330,000

05:54people. They're the smallest nation on earth to have qualified to a major tournament. I'm

05:59not saying that they're going to qualify from the group or go on and get to the semis or

06:04anything like that, but they're certainly one to watch in terms of how big a story this

06:08is and I think every developing football nation, or even developed football nations, they should

06:14be looking at Iceland to see how they've achieved this, because this is remarkable what they've done.

06:19OK, so come off the fence, go on record, who do we think is going to be lifting the trophy

06:24in four weeks' time? You go first.

06:27Thanks for that, Martyn.

06:28Scotland aren't in it, so I'll say that.

06:32Belgium?

06:33I'll go England.

06:36Euro 2016 gets underway this Friday as France take on Romania in Group A's opening match

06:41at the Stade de France. You can catch all the latest news, fixtures and results on GolfNews.com

06:47and don't forget to join us on Twitter at Golf News Sport using the hashtag Euro 2016.

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