England at UEFA Euro 2016 | Squad and Stats.

Can we finally lift the trophy?

UEFA Euro 2016 will be the 9th European Championship for the English national team. The first time The Three Lions qualified for the European Championship was 1968 in Italy. We can say that the participation in Euro 1968 wasn’t disappointing for England (3rd place after a 2-0 victory against the Soviet Union). Since then, The Three Lions have repeated this performance on one other occasion (in 1996 as host nation). But, when we take a look at the overall numbers, we can see that England have only recorded 9 victories in 27 games at European Championships. We have recorded the same number of draws and defeats. So, England really need something special to lift the Euro 2016 trophy!

England have left the tournament in the group stage on 4 occasions (1980, 1988, 1992 and 2000) and have been eliminated in the quarter-finals twice (2004 and 2012). Destiny has been very unfair to The Three Lions and of course, they lack some luck… There are many examples. In 1980, a victory (2-1 vs. Spain) and a draw (1-1 vs. Belgium) weren’t enough for England to go through to the next stage of the competition. 12 years later, The Three Lions recorded two consecutive draws in the group stage of Euro 1992 in Sweden (0-0 vs. Denmark and France) and it seemed that England would qualify for the semi-finals after a great Platt volley against the host nation Sweden in the 3rd minute of the match, but the Swedes turned things around to win 2-1 and sent England home. It’s difficult for me to determine which of England’s eliminations from a European Championship is the most ridiculous one… But, in 2000, the almost impossible eventually happened. In the first match of the group stage England led Portugal 2-0 and eventually lost 2-3. Okay, that was not a problem, because Shearer secured a victory against Germany in the second game, scoring the only goal of the match. So, we needed just a point against the underdogs Romania in the third match of the group stage, in order to qualify for the quarter-finals. We were leading 2-1 at half-time, but conceded an equalizing goal shortly after the break. With just seconds to go, Phil Neville made a stupid tackle and gave Romania the chance to take a penalty in the very last minute of the match. Ganea converted it into a goal and sent England home again…

What about England’s eliminations in the quarter-finals of 2004 and 2012? To begin with, The Three Lions had the needed quality in 2004, but again the lack of luck sent them home early. Vassell missed the 7th penalty in the shoot-out against the host nation Portugal in the most dramatic game of the tournament. 8 years later England lost to Italy on penalties at the same stage of the tournament. Ashley Young and Ashley Cole missed from the penalty spot, determining the qualification of Italy for the semi-finals. So, I am asking if England can somehow win The European Championship? Can Jamie Vardy, Wayne Rooney, Harry Kane and James Milner bring the glory?

Team News

Wayne Rooney is going to be the most experienced player in England’s squad. Manchester United’s forward has recently become The Three Lions top goal-scorer ever (51 goals). He has also recorded 109 appearances for his country. Rooney made his debut in 2003. Just a year later he took part in Euro 2004 in Portugal.

There is an opportunity for Manchester United’s youngster Marcus Rashford to be included in England’s squad for The Euro 2016. He is already on the preliminary 26-men list for the competition. Can Rashford become the new Wayne Rooney for England?

This will be the first major international competition for Leicester City’s striker Jamie Vardy. The 29-year-old forward has scored three goals in 6 appearances for England. It’s very likely that he will play alongside Tottenham Hotspur’s player Kane and Rooney will be supporting them from midfield.

James Milner of Liverpool is expected to pull the strings in the middle of the pitch. Joe Hart will be the goalkeeper and the main defender will be Gary Cahill, who is the vice-captain of the team. Cahill is the most experienced defender in Hodgson’s selection (3 goals in 41 games for England).

The Squad:

• Goalkeepers: Fraser Forster, Joe Hart, Tom Heaton.
• Defenders: Ryan Bertrand, Gary Cahill, Nathaniel Clyne, Danny Rose, Chris Smalling, John Stones, Kyle Walker.
• Midfielders: Dele Alli, Ross Barkley, Eric Dier, Jordan Henderson, Adam Lallana, James Milner, Raheem Sterling, Jack Wilshere.
• Forwards: Harry Kane, Marcus Rashford, Wayne Rooney, Daniel Sturridge, Jamie Vardy.

The Stats:

The Three Lions are in Group B alongside Russia, Wales and Slovakia. We expect to have no problems, progressing to Round 16.

England finished the qualifying campaign unbeaten! Moreover, Roy Hodgson’s players won all their 10 games during the campaign. Rooney was the top goal-scorer with 7 goals.

England are going to play Wales in the match on day 2 of Group B. It’s an important fact that The Three Lions have never lost a competitive match against The Dragons (8 victories and a draw). The Three Lions have recorded 2 competitive victories with the correct score of 2-1 against Slovakia. Both teams are also in a group for The World Cup Qualifiers, so they will have to play on three occasions for a year.

To my knowledge, Rooney certainly isn’t demanding he will play in the opening game and I am under no pressure to select him in the opening game unless I deem him the right man for the job.Roy Hodgson