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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