Euro Vision: France take on Portugal in the Euro 2016 final

Gulf News

Euro Vision: France take on Portugal in the Euro 2016 final. Can Atletico Madrid’s Griezmann get revenge over Real’s Ronaldo for last month’s Champions League loss? Gulf News’ Sports Desk preview the Euro 2016 final between France and Portugal. See more at: http://gulfnews.com/gntv

Transcript

00:00The final is upon us and it's Portugal versus France. France looking for their

00:09third ever European Championship title and Portugal, against the Formbook, are

00:14looking for their first. Joining me in the studio to discuss it is sports

00:18reporter Ashley Hammond and our sports writer Abdulrahman El-Khalawi. Now

00:23gentlemen, certainly Portugal's win over Wales was perhaps exemplified by the fact

00:28that Wales were missing a couple of key players. How much deeper are they going

00:32to need to dig to get their hands on the prize? Yeah I think this is another level

00:36entirely to what they've experienced so far. I think you could argue they've

00:41maybe not had the easiest run to a final but they've certainly been one of the

00:44cheekiest teams in European Championship history. Through the group they drew

00:48three times, they finished third in the group. You know in other tournaments they

00:51wouldn't have qualified even from the group. And on their way to the final

00:55they had Croatia, they got a lucky goal, extra time, penalties against Poland. I

01:01think you could argue against Wales 2-0, they had a lucky three minutes there

01:06really wasn't it? I mean a quick three minutes where they were able to turn the

01:09game around and Wales weren't at their best. I think Croatia have been their

01:13biggest challenge so far this tournament and in comparison to France I think

01:19they're just another level entirely. I think they're gonna have to really up

01:22their game but they've got the players capable of doing that and luck has been

01:25on their side so anything could happen. I agree with Hammond fully and to add on

01:30his points and what he said, I believe Portugal, what they did in the

01:34Wales game compared to any other game they played in the tournament, they had

01:38good linkage between their midfield and their attack and if they can do that

01:41again in the France game that definitely would be a

01:44great thing to do. And they need also Cristiano Ronaldo to be at his focus and

01:48at his very best and by that I mean he has to commit to the position the coach

01:52puts him in because when he moves a lot while he gets to snatch a goal or two

01:57and in this movement it may be dangerous for his team's defence because

02:02considering that France are experts at counter-attacks so that may

02:07lead to a goal or two if he continues to play this way. But do you think Portugal

02:11are relying too much on Cristiano Ronaldo? I mean you know one-man teams

02:15can never win an entire tournament that's a lot of pressure and what if he

02:19gets injured surely they've got to have a game plan. I think at every stage of

02:23the latter stages of the tournament I think people have come out of their own

02:28like Karesma even to get the winner against Croatia. I don't think you can

02:32argue it's just Ronaldo but obviously if he gets injured or anything

02:36happens they'll miss him terribly but I just don't think a team can get to the

02:40final on one man alone I don't think so. I wouldn't say that Cristiano Ronaldo

02:44they're actually relying too much on him because sometimes you even see him he

02:48asks for the ball too much sometimes he even stresses his own teammates when

02:53they fail to do what he asked them to do so I believe he wants them to rely on

02:57him he wants to score goals he's hungry for goals and he wants he knows that

03:00this could be his last tournament and he wants to win the title so it could be

03:04stressful and doesn't play his role well as a captain I mean considering he's 30

03:09years old 31 years old now he still you don't feel that he's mature enough to

03:13advise his teammates on the pitch whenever they're losing his he's the

03:17most stressed player on the pitch when whenever they're winning however you'd

03:20see that he's talking to his teammates and he's telling them what to do

03:25well and this won't be good in a game as stressful as the the final against

03:30France. Now France are the obvious favourites going into this final but how

03:35wary are they gonna be of a lucky Portugal break? Well they should they

03:40have to be very wary I mean that Portugal have got this far with some

03:44very as we've said very lucky breaks and that's all it will take again against

03:48France. France will know this there's a lot riding on this game France

03:51nationally the whole feeling behind hosting the tournament and obviously the

03:55the events which happen in November there's a real sort of united feel to

04:00France at the moment and there will be a lot of pressure they could break under

04:03that pressure they really have to keep concentrating especially the back. I mean

04:08we had a lot of comments on on France's defense before the Germany game and

04:12surprisingly enough they played they played really well and they were able to

04:15keep the score to a 2-0 when after they scored and they got back however

04:20because they're a counter-attack team the France they attack too much their

04:26backs Evra and Sanya they fail to return fast whenever whenever they lose the

04:31ball so this could be really dangerous and they need to keep this they need to

04:35keep this out of Portugal's hands because they have Portugal have Nani

04:39they have Nani and Cristiano Ronaldo and those those strikers they can make the

04:44difference so we need to be careful. So what weaknesses of France going to need

04:49to cover I mean they did look pretty solid against Germany but no team is

04:53perfect where do you think they're going to be concentrating in the build-up to

04:56this game? If you look at their goals so far I think they've conceded four goals

05:00so far in six games this tournament two of those were from a penalty against

05:04Ireland and Romania the the other two are against Iceland and they were both

05:09quite innocuous crosses that should have been handled better in the in the box

05:14and even Rio Ferdinand's gone on record saying that France look very shaky when

05:18a cross comes in so I'd say they particularly need to look out for

05:22conceding an early penalty from defensive madness by putting your foot

05:27in leaving your foot in and and not really handling a situation a panic

05:31situation in the box they also need to really and I'm sure they've been

05:34practicing this in the build-up to this they really need to get a handle on

05:37crosses in the box it's against Germany it's not as though Germany didn't have

05:41the chances Germany had a lot of chances and I think they were they got away

05:45lightly on a couple of those so yeah they really need to shape up against

05:49Portugal. I think they need to be careful and they need to understand their

05:54striker well considering they have Giroud at the front sometimes they give

05:59him a ball for him to run on and this this doesn't work well with with Giroud

06:03it may work with Griezmann but definitely not with Giroud so they need

06:07to understand the mentality of their own striker so they can be accurate and they

06:12have the they can snatch a goal when they attack and they also need to give

06:16Pogba the freedom he deserves. In the two games before when they played

06:20Germany and Iceland Pogba had more of a defensive role which doesn't work quite

06:24with him he's more effective at the front so they need to give him that

06:29because he will give them the difference and he may even score goals

06:32because he shoots from far we all know that and it may help them if they can

06:36snatch an early goal. Okay guys so to protect your credibility I'm not going

06:41to put you on the spot and ask you who you think is going to win tonight it's

06:4450-50 I'm more interested to know do you can this match be won in 90 minutes? I

06:48think my credibility's gone already over the course of the tournament I put my

06:52I put my house on France to win I think and will it be won in 90 minutes yeah I

06:57think so 2-0 France. I think from Portugal's perspective they wouldn't be

07:01looking for a third extra time so I think that Portugal will keep the idea

07:06of playing extra time on the table if in case France are dominating the game but

07:11I wouldn't say that France would be looking for an extra time so if they

07:16keep if they play with that mentality Portugal play with that mentality they

07:20would be in danger because France would be looking to finish the game in the 90

07:23minutes. So thank you very much gentlemen this evening's final begins at 11

07:27p.m. UAE time and you can follow live text of the match on golfnews.com by

07:32visiting the fixtures page we will have a full match report up after the game

07:36don't forget to join us on Twitter at Golf News Sport using the hashtag

07:40Euro 2016

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