1871Royals - The Rouge’s Preview to Euro 2004

Click here to Become a SportNetwork Publisher

The Rouge’s Preview to Euro 2004

By The Rouge
June 10 2004
The Rouge looks at the main contenders for to be crowned the best of Europe’s elite. Looking in detail at the favourites and his thoughts ahead of the opening fixture.

The Rouge’s Preview to Euro 2004

The wait is nearly over and outrageous footballing opinions are starting to fly about inches from our face. Armchair pundits from all over the country are championing or dismissing teams' hopes. The managerial mind games have started with managers and players dismissing Rooney's (amongst others) chances of having an impact at the championships and teams' claiming to be either confident or unconfident.

So who will win Euro 2004? Well, this year's championships are as open as any in recent memory and you could argue there has never been so many teams who could realistically win the trophy. Personally, I am not willing to write off the chances of any of the following:

France
Italy
Spain
England
Portugal
Holland
Czech Republic

I think the winner will come from the above teams. I do not see Germany as mounting a serious threat (no final appearance this time!) nor do I see Sweden, Denmark or Russia as getting any further than an unlikely semi-final place.

In the light of recent major championships, France are the obvious choice to lift the trophy with their plethora of world beaters. Even with Gallas possibly appearing out of position you would have to say that the French look sound defensively and have an amazing recent defensive record. Everyone knows about Zidane's and Henry's ability in the attacking half but Pires looks in marvellous form and seems to have freedom with Viera and Makelele providing a steady base.

A lot has been made of England's formation dilemma, but they have the most talented squad and (more importantly) technically gifted squad for years. With a fit and on-form Gerrard, the emergence of Wayne Rooney and John Terry, an on-form Lampard and no injury doubts hanging over Beckham or Owen - England definitely have a good chance. England are not the only side in the tournament not to have total balance in their side. You could argue that France always favours Pires' flank and that Italy follow Totti when he drifts down the right hand side. The fact is that in both the warm-up fixtures England have done just as well down the left flank and the only thing missing is the combined crossing ability of Beckham and Neville.

Not enough was made of the searing heat in Japan. It was no coincidence that England's below par performances were against Nigeria and Brazil in the afternoon sun but I think the game against Brazil highlighted that they had 11 technically brilliant footballers whereas England had about 7. With Mills and others having departed from the team and Gerrard, Rooney, Terry and Lampard now added to the ranks, this problem looks to have been eradicated. Providing England are not constantly caught out of position I would expect both France and England to have similar reports – both teams will create chances but the opposition will have chances against them, but don’t expect either to concede too many. All four of their midfield players like to play at a high tempo and are very quick-thinking in possession. England will be at their best if they can sustain a quick tempo and dont get drawn into a slower more methodical game.
The one doubt for England is their ability to deal with crosses and set pieces.

Italy enter the tournament with a familiar story – they have an extremely good squad with several gifted players. The two differences this time is that they seem to have a good team spirit and the manager looks set to adapt the team to include as many of these gifted players as is feasible. With Vieri, Totti and Del Piero looking set to start upfront in a 4-3-3 formation (in effect it may be closer to 4-3-2-1 or 4-3-1-2) we should see a more attacking Italy this time around. In previous years the team has looked to Totti a bit too much. He is the player who can consistently make things happen for Italy but they have quality all over the pitch and will not be easily knocked out. All of the groups are difficult but perhaps Italy have been handed the easiest route to the second stage and could provide a major threat.

Spain are often the under-achievers in the major championships but it takes a brave or foolish person to write them off this time. In my opinion, they have the best squad in the championships and have players who can (on paper) seamlessly come in for any injured first team players. The strike force of Raul and Torres/Morientes can get the goals but like all the teams in this tournament, I think the opposition will get opportunities to score against them. In Iker Casillas they arguably have the best goalkeeper in the tournament and providing they play with the right blend of discipline and adventure, could go all the way.

Portugal have been branded as having an aging team as some star players are entering their twilight years. Whilst this is true they won the youth world cup a few years ago and some of their players have shown at Porto how good they are. Portugal can be deadly going forward but arguably have the worst defence of the fancied teams. They could easily win the tournament with home advantage and Pauleta could easily get the goals they need to go far but I can’t sit on the fence all the time so I will predict they will concede too many goals (at least one of which being a penalty), they will lose against Spain and wont get further than the quarter finals.

The Netherlands are similar to Spain in the respect that they have the players and the ability to win tournaments but seem to underachieve. They have experienced stars in Davids and Van Nistelrooy and young starlets in Van De Vaart and Robben. Their main problem is a lack of form. They trounced the Scots after a less than impressive qualifying campaign and lost to Ireland last week. Dick Advocaat does not know his best team yet and although I expect them to qualify with the Czech Republic, I feel that this combined with their poor recent form will not make them good enough to lift the trophy.

The Czech Republic are the only less fancied team I feel could win the trophy. I would back them to qualify ahead of Germany and in the mercurial Nedved and Rosicky they could easily provide the firepower for the likes of Baros to get a few goals. They were impressive in qualification and it was no fluke. A good energetic team, technically superb with touch tackling defenders. They have a disciplined team and not having a plethora of good players means they seem to have a tight team who seem to know their game-plan. They could fail if their big players don’t perform or individually they lack discipline, but don’t be surprised if they go a long way.

So this is the paragraph where every pundit writes predictions that are going to look silly come July 4th. From the above group of seven I think the winner will be one of France, Spain, England and Italy. I am torn between France and Spain for my tournament winners but will stick my neck out and go for Spain. Spain’s squad is amazingly strong and with Casillas, Salgado, Helguera, Valeron and Raul on the pitch I think they have several match-winners. France will take some stopping and I feel England have a much better chance than many pessimistic fans think. Italy are very strong but perhaps Vieri is slightly past his physical peak and would benefit from the sort of lenient refereeing I don’t think he will see at this tournament.