EURO 2016: England - Russia
England always come into these championships with solid qualification results, the same old squad, talking a good game and with the rest of the world/europe laughing at the underachievers ! The first is still true, they were a perfect 10/10 in qualification, but this time everything else feels different, the old guard is gone , no Lampard, Gerrard etc and with a very young, but fresh, talented, hungry and energetic squad including Kane, Vardy, Rashford, Alli, Barkley, Wilshire, Dier, Sterling , Stones and Sturridge, who not only have a togetherness and self belief, but the repect of their peers . They have nothing to fear, seven of that group are aged 18-22, are only going to improve ( a lot) and will have many major championships ahead, anything they do in Euro 2016 is really a bonus .
Russia are exactly the opposite, they struggled through a weak qualification group and have conceded nine goals in warm up friendlies to France, Croatia and Czech Republic, 12 of their squad are in their 30th year , it looks like top scorer Aleksandr Kerzhakov's career is over and Alan Dzagoev and Igor Denisov arguably their two best players ( actually not really a debate in the case of Dzagoev) , along with several others were forced to withdraw and the ageing backline looks vulnerable and looks as if they were picked from the cast list of Dad's Army. On top of all these troubles ( Fabio Capello left the squad in terrible shape and devoid of confidence), it was reported that a number of players have had to sit out training this week and the two camps could hardly be in more polar opposite moods coming into these championships.
England -0.75 ball 2.26 asian line/Sportmarket
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England always come into these championships with solid qualification results, the same old squad, talking a good game and with the rest of the world/europe laughing at the underachievers ! The first is still true, they were a perfect 10/10 in qualification, but this time everything else feels different, the old guard is gone , no Lampard, Gerrard etc and with a very young, but fresh, talented, hungry and energetic squad including Kane, Vardy, Rashford, Alli, Barkley, Wilshire, Dier, Sterling , Stones and Sturridge, who not only have a togetherness and self belief, but the repect of their peers . They have nothing to fear, seven of that group are aged 18-22, are only going to improve ( a lot) and will have many major championships ahead, anything they do in Euro 2016 is really a bonus .
Russia are exactly the opposite, they struggled through a weak qualification group and have conceded nine goals in warm up friendlies to France, Croatia and Czech Republic, 12 of their squad are in their 30th year , it looks like top scorer Aleksandr Kerzhakov's career is over and Alan Dzagoev and Igor Denisov arguably their two best players ( actually not really a debate in the case of Dzagoev) , along with several others were forced to withdraw and the ageing backline looks vulnerable and looks as if they were picked from the cast list of Dad's Army. On top of all these troubles ( Fabio Capello left the squad in terrible shape and devoid of confidence), it was reported that a number of players have had to sit out training this week and the two camps could hardly be in more polar opposite moods coming into these championships.
England -0.75 ball 2.26 asian line/Sportmarket
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