All of the talk will soon be over as Euro 2016 kicks off tonight, with host nation France taking on Romania in Paris. The French will be hoping to replicate the teams of 1982 and 1998 who also won major tournaments on home soil. At 16/5, they’re favourites to win Euro 2016, but there isn’t much separating them in terms of quality with Spain and Germany.
Didier Deschamps’ team couldn’t have got a better group draw and at 1/3, they are the strongest team in Group A. They shouldn’t have much difficulty at all in reaching the knockout stages, which is fortunate for Deschamps, as he’s going to have to select a make-shift defence throughout Euro 2016. Kurt Zouma, Raphael Varane and Aymeric Laporte are all ruled out with injury, meaning that Arsenal’s Laurent Koscielny and Adil Rami are set to take up position at the back. Rami looked desperately out of shape in the warm up games and sides will look to test him. Hugo Lloris is in goal and he could be called into action as the tournament goes on. France are at 10/17 tonight to keep a clean sheet.
One thing that the French will do is score goals. There’s no Karim Benzema in the squad, but at 23/20 to score at any time tonight, Antoine Griezmann is a more than adequate replacement. Olivier Giroud scored twice against Scotland and left the field to a standing ovation. He’s 3/1 to score first, and he’s the one player guaranteed to start in the French front 3, as he’s the only main striker in the squad. He’ll have plenty of service from Paul Pogba and Dimitri Payet, whilst Kingsley Coman and Anthony Martial are youngsters keen to make an impact.
France’s attacking flair will face a tough challenge this evening when they come up against Romania, who had the best defensive record in qualifying. The Romanians could be undone tonight though as they’re likely to face a 90 minute onslaught from the French attack. They didn’t score many goals in qualifying and they tend to wait for teams to attack them before hitting them on the counter. A victory tonight seems unlikely, with odds of 10/1; however a team full of unknown players will look to cause an upset on the opening night when the world is watching them.
Match Prediction
Don’t expect to see much from Romania in terms of attack, they’ll be heavily pegged back by the French who are likely to dominate possession. Much depends on how long it’ll take for France to breakdown the Romanian defence. They’re priced at 27/20 to score before the 30th minute and if they do so, it could be a long night for Romania. France will score goals, whilst Romania won’t. Get a 3-0 victory to France at 7/1.