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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