An hour or so after Wales finish their opening game in Euro2016 it will be the time for England to take centre stage when they kick off their campaign against Russia in Marseille. Both these sides are expected to qualify from the group but nobody in the group is sufficiently weak enough for either to be able to afford an early slip up.
The two sides have something in common in that they have both been infiltrated by Fabio Capello and his hard taskmaster style hampering them at tournaments. They have the chance to show together than they are both past his days.
Roy Hodgson’s men were perfect in qualifying for this tournament and if that doesn’t give him and his players confidence I’m not sure what will. There is a lot of talk about what might happen to England when they come up against the powerhouses of European football but it would be better if people focus on the here and now.
This is a potentially exciting England side. If there is a problem with them from an attacking point of view it is almost that they are spoilt for choice about who to pick. The real issue with this England side is in defensive areas where they could easily be exposed.
Key Man
Dele Alli shot to prominence in Spurs’ title challenge in the season just gone. He is a confident, exciting talent who is capable of unlocking any door and putting his teammates through but he makes good runs too and has an eye for goal. He could be the young star of the tournament.
Fabio Capello was sacked early on in the qualifying campaign and I’m not sure if I believe the rumours that his successor is working for free or not but it certainly would have cost a few quid to get the Italian out of his contract so with that in mind they have done mighty well to regroup and qualify for these finals.
I’m expecting to see a better Russian side in terms of approach than the one we saw in the World Cup who clearly didn’t want to be there in the end and if they have a team spirit they could cause England a few problems but they are going to be under plenty of pressure defensively.
Key Man
Experienced central midfielder Roman Shirikov has an eye for goal and he could be an important player for Russia not just in this tournament but in the tournament as a whole. Russia look to lack a real quality focal point in their attacking play so Shirikov could be the man relied on the most.
Team News
Chris Smalling and Ryan Bertrand have been injury concerns in the lead up to the opening match but Bertrand has been back in training and while the talk was of Smalling potentially missing out here nobody official seemed to confirm that he was going to miss out so Roy Hodgson should have a fully fit squad to choose from.
Russia are missing some massive players who have been ruled out of the tournament before it began not least the 2008 hero Alan Dzagoev. Yuri Zhirkov and Igor Denisov also miss out while there is no Aleksandr Kerzhakov for this tournament either. Denis Cheryshev is another forced to watch from home.
Head to Head
England and Russia or the USSR as they were have met on 15 occasions with England enjoying six wins to Russia’s four with three draws mixed in there. Since USSR became Russia the two sides have met twice with each winning one game on their home ground.
Betting
When I saw the odds for the opening set of matches the shade under evens about England looked like one of the bets of the games and Russia’s recent spurt of injuries has only strengthened by belief that it is the case.
A lot is made about what will happen to England against the big guns but let’s remember Russia aren’t a big gun and I don’t really see where the problem to England’s defence comes from unless they create the problem themselves. One thing I certainly see is England’s attacking unit causing problems for this Russian side.
There is pace, power, skill and quality in this England forward pack and an aging Russian defence can be found out. I expected England to be much shorter for this match than they actually are but I’m happy to back Roy Hodgson’s men to get the campaign off to a winning start ahead of tougher challenges to come.
Tips
Back England to beat Russia for a 4/10 stake at 1.95 with Ladbrokes
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