What are England’s chances of winning the Euros: “A very realistic view”

With a great first half against Russia and a rather disappointing climax to the game - It was not the destiny for this current England squad to change the history books and win their first opening match in the Euros. The spotlight and aftermath of the game quickly shifted onto the substitutions that Roy Hodgson had made during the match and the typical English Tactic of attack until we score and then put 11 men behind the ball for the rest of the game.

With a last minute win against Wales thanks to Daniel Sturridge things are looking a lot better in the England camp. With 4 points, sitting pretty at the top, with one final group game against Slovakia we should hopefully start thinking about who we will be playing in the knockouts. If we top the group we would play 3rd place in either Group A, C or D. (As the top 4, third place teams will qualify due to the restructuring of the competition) We predict this would be Romania, Ukraine or Croatia - all of which are beatable. After that we would be looking at the winners of F1 v 2nd place in E2 which we predict would be Portugal or Belgium - both of which could prove to be difficult games. However if we finished second in the group we would be playing second place in Group F - who we predict would be Hungary on current form. This would be followed by a quarter final match which would more than likely feature France - and beating the favourites and hosts could prove to be a task to far. 

With a squad that boasts some of the highest paid players in the premiership, with the likes of Wayne Rooney, Raheem Sterling and Joe Hart and a new crop of young talent coming through with the likes of Marcus Rashford, Eric Dier and Danny Rose there certainly should be more optimism than usual. It is a side that boasts some fantastic and creative attacking flair with a number of natural goal scorers, which is something we have lacked in recent years with the likes of Harry Kane, Jamie Vardy, and Marcus Rashford along with the man of the moment Daniel Sturridge. The major question comes from the English defensive capabilities. With a defence that combined has under 100 caps between them coupled with very little experience of playing together and no real leader there seems to be a major chink in the English armoury.

We predict England’s chances of winning the whole competition are fairly slim. With no major tournament win since 1966, we don’t believe we would be on our own when suggesting England’s chances of winning are fairly outweighed. We know the tournament favourites at the moment are France but we would put our money on the ever efficient German side taking the Euro 2016 trophy. On the back of their world cup success the Germans are looking as efficient as their automotive industry, after their opening game against Ukraine. They have two relatively easy games coming up against Poland and N.Ireland which we don’t think should trouble them much. The only other teams we could see winning the competition bar Germany and France are Spain or Italy. Both starting the tournament with wins. 

England we predict will make it to the Quarter finals, potentially the semi finals but we do not think they have the clinical mentality that some of the major teams possess. 

We will back the team all the way and hope they can really surpass our expectations and many others of the nation.

Bring on Slovakia. 

(Picture credit to the Daily Mail)