Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
This is it then, what we’ve all been waiting for. Hosts France kick off this Summer’s European Championships in this Group A encounter against Romania. Will France kickstart the party or will Romania be party poopers come the end of the evening.
France are the bookmakers favourites and the smart money will be on them winning this opening encounter but many times before we’ve seen countries start slowly especially with the weight of a nation on their shoulders
Didier Deschamps has a wealth of attacking talent with Paul Pogba undoubtedly the key man for France, he’ll have a supporting cast including Dimiti Payet and Oliver Giroud to assist him as they look to open their tournament account with three points
They will miss Raphael Varane at the back and that’s perhaps where France could be undone not just Tonight but throughout the tournament. They are already without Kurt Zouma after he was injured for Chelsea with a cruciate ligament injury so they will have to rely on Laurent Koscielny and Ellaquim Mangala. For all their talents they can also be prone to the odd lapse at the back
Romania have nothing really to lose and they would love nothing more than to upset the applecart on the opening night of the tournament. They don’t quite have the talents of a Gheorghe Hagi or Florin Raducioiu but they will be a difficult side to break down and France will have their work cut out this Evening
There’s no household names in the Romania squad unless you count Watford’s Costel Pantillimon as world class but you certainly shouldn’t take anything away from this side. Their last two friendlies have seen impressive draws against Spain and Italy and you wouldn’t put past Anghel Iordanescu’s side making it three in a row against the hosts
As for Tonight I’ll go for France to get this carnival of Football off to a flyer with a win in front of their home fans, will they be repeating this feat in a months time and lifting the European Championship trophy for a third time. I guess we will just have to wait and see.
