June 11 – Day 2 of the 2016 sees brotherly love between Albania and Switzerland, a Welsh galactico making a championship debut, and two nations who must win at all cost.
ALBANIA vs SWITZERLAND
Both sides are seeking a quick early boost in the race to finish behind likely group winners France.
But there is more than just points at stake. This could be a highly charged game, given the large Albanian community in Switzerland. A number of Albania’s players have Swiss citizenship and vice-versa, to the extent that Arsenal’s new £30 million signing Granit Xhaka will play in midfield for Switzerland while his brother Taulant is likely to occupy the same deep role for Albania provided he recovers full fitness.
On paper a narrow win for the Swiss seems on the cards: they haven’t lost to Albania in six meetings. But they often struggle to break down well-disciplined, defensive teams and their opponents will certainly have nothing to lose in Lens having reached their first ever major finals.
Plus Switzerland have a shaky Euro finals record having won only one of nine games. That came after they had already been knocked out of Euro 2008 which they co-hosted.
Wales vs Slovakia
At last Gareth Bale is being unleashed on a major finals but the Welsh have been at pains to point out there is more to them than just the Real Madrid galactico. There might have to be because Slovakia, who have their own weapon in Napoli’s Marek Hamsik, will start on an equal footing.
Both nations are playing in their finals and two previous encounters between them produced 13 goals. On the other hand, Wales conceded just four goals during qualifying. Only Romania, Spain and England let in fewer.
“I have been playing for Wales for 10 years and it was a massive goal of mine to get to a major championship,” said Bale.
“We have achieved that but we do not want to come here and make up the numbers. We have done something amazing that we have not done in a long time but now we want to do even better.”
Slovakia’s hopes were hit ahead of the tournament by the absence of all-time top scorer Robert Vittek, the 34-year-old veteran having been ruled out with injury. But Slovakia’s form is better coming into a game that is horribly hard to predict in Bordeaux.
England-Russia
The youngest England team since the 1958 World Cup is being groomed to reach its peak in two years’ time – or so they say. Anything but victory over the 2018 World Cup hosts will inevitably heap pressure on manager Roy Hodgson who somehow has to find the right system to suit his attack-minded Three Lions.
Media reports suggest that as a result striker Jamie Vardy could be left out in Marseille as England attempt to make up for 50 years of hurt.
England were the only country to qualify for Euro 2016 with a 100% winning record, memorably beat world champions Germany in March and have scored goals for fun.
But their defence is a worry while only Romania’s players have won fewer overall caps and England tend to start poorly at the Euros.
For Russia this is all about building for 2018 but 6ft 5in striker Artem Dzyuba has been touted as a potential dangerman, having netted nine times in 18 international appearances.
Russia’s preparations have been hampered by numerous injury problems, with midfielder Igor Denisov one of five notable absentees from their squad, joining Alan Dzagoev, Denis Cheryshev, Yuri Zhirkov and Oleg Kuzmin on the sidelines.
A comfortable start for Hodgson’s team, then? Don’t bank on it. And remember, England have been knocked out on penalties in three of their last four Euros.
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