With the new, supposedly improved and extended European Championships upon us, here are six bold, and not-so bold, predictions for the 15th edition of the tournament.
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France will coast through
It will take a catastrophic set of performances by Didier Deschamps team to finish anywhere other than top of their group with a healthy goal difference.
Even the fixtures have panned out nicely for Les Bleus; a defensively-minded but limited Romania side are a perfect opening, followed by Albania – among the weakest sides in the competition – and finally the Swiss who haven’t beaten their neighbours in their last six meetings going back to 1992.
With such attacking firepower, if Deschamps can ensure no silly mistakes at the back, Group A should yield maximum points.
Russia will be hopeless
Leonid Slutsky is a fine coach who has done an admirable job, picking up the pieces post-Capello but there is little to suggest they can make any kind of impact. They have the second-oldest squad in the competition and while that can be taken two ways, against such vibrant and quick attacking teams like England, Slovakia and Gareth Bale-inspired Wales, it’s only likely to lead to one result.
The Berezutski brothers and Sergei Ignashevich were decent defenders in their prime but are either in, or approaching, their mid-30s, while keeper Igor Akinfeev is a disaster waiting to happen.
Slovakia will entertain
As wins against Germany, Switzerland and Spain show, Slovakia are a real threat in Group B and have an outside chance of even topping it.
That may be stretching things a little far, as defensively there remain serious doubts, but going forward expect to see some fast-paced, rapid and blistering counter attacking that makes them an entertaining prospect.
Vladimir Weiss and Miroslav Stoch have never fulfilled their potential at club level but for the national side are a vicious dual wing threat while the brilliant Marek Hamsik holds it all together.
There will be lots of goals
From each of the six top seeds down to the minnows, there are only a handful of teams – Italy being one – who can say they have no concerns over their defence.
France are lacking pace due to injuries, England look error-prone and a little disorganised, despite impressive personnel Germany haven’t convinced post-Philipp Lahm, Spain may still have Iker Casillas in goal, Belgium are Vincent Kompany-less and Portugal will probably start the 38-year-old Ricardo Carvalho.
These sort of doubts extend to the next tier of nations like Croatia, Turkey, Poland and Switzerland.
There’s hope for the smaller nations, if they choose to attack while most matches should naturally breed higher-scoring results.
Raphael will be a star
Brilliant Lorient attacking full-back Raphael Guerreiro looks, given the minutes he’s earned in the warm-ups, to be Portugal’s starting left-back and in a group of limited quality expect him to produce some Jordi Alba-like displays.
He also possesses a wicked free-kick…if he’s allowed to take any.
Spain v France in the final
If Spain can start David De Gea and get Alvaro Morata scoring, their route to the final, based on them winning Group D, should read: Iceland, Poland and Portugal. France, who have it all mapped out, should face: Sweden, Austria and Germany.
Both last-four ties will be extremely tough but a home crowd and tournament know-how will lead to a hosts v holders final on July 10… with Spain to triumph for an unlikely hat-trick.