Being an Englishman, David James considers Gareth Southgate’s men to be favourites to win the upcoming Euro, which gets underway on June 11.
However, the former goalkeeper, who played 53 times for England, also believes that this edition could spring a surprise like the one in 2004 when underdogs Greece left the European powerhouses stunned by winning the crown.
“You look at the likes of France, Belgium, Italy, potentially with the interesting squads they’ve got… And Germany of course... They are all usual suspects.
“But one thing about the Euro is its propensity to throw up a dark horse. If you go back to Euro 2004 where I was also there, Greece played a completely different style of game with almost all 1-0 results in their favour to get to victory.
“In the end, their name was on the trophy because they had the right tactics to play some — I say this respectfully — unattractive football to take others on. Then when Portugal won the last time (in 2016), it was kind of a similar situation because as much as Cristiano Ronaldo was the iconic figure, their success happened without him on the field for the best part,” James, who represented clubs like Liverpool and Manchester City and was also involved with ISL side Kerala Blasters, told The Telegraph during a virtual interaction on Friday.
Based on current form, world champions France appear to be the strongest with striker Kylian Mbappe growing in strength as well as stature. But more than Mbappe, it’s central midfielder N’Golo Kante who could make the difference for the 2016 finalists, feels James.
“Mbappe could have a tremendous Euro, but one name in the French side that didn’t seem to show any fatigue this season is N’Golo Kante.
“If Kante gets anywhere near as well as he has been playing, especially in the latter part of the season for Chelsea, he’s the guy who any opposition could be fearful of, because he can do everything… he can defend, he can attack and occasionally score a goal too.
“In my opinion, it may not work so well for France without him,” James argued.
‘Don’t count CR7 off’
This could well be the era of the Mbappes and the Harry Kanes, but one should not count Cristiano off even though he’s 36 now, James said.
“Cristiano just had an off season domestically, but he still has the physicality of a 28-year-old. He understands his body in the sense of what he can and what he needs to do.
“Cristiano will do everything he can to be in a physical and mental space to give Portugal the best opportunity.”
⚫ Watch Uefa Euro 2020 live on Sony Ten 2 & Ten 3 channels from June 11