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Just a month to go before England throw us back into the emotional roller coaster of international competition. Fortunately the pubs should be open so the traditional pain-fest can be anaesthetised with alcohol and banter.
Tough group for England (WR 4) IMO but it could be worse and the group stage will be played in the UK so 3 home games in London.
First up our nemesis Croatia (WR 14) with Modric, Kovacic, Lovren and Perisic etc who have been less than impressive recently but tend to turn up in competitions. They have a friendly with the mighty Belgians a week before the competition starts so we'll get a gauge then.
Big expectation on England, no idea what team Southgate will pick, and if the usual pattern occurs - a disappointing draw.
Five days later it's Scotland (WR 44) mainly no frills Prem players who will know the England team inside out. They're mainly seasoned pros and a tough lot quite capable of upsetting the English prima donnas on their day and there'll be no doubting their commitment.
Four days after that it's the Czech Republic (WR 40) I don't know much about their squad apart from Soucek, Coufal who've done pretty well at West Ham this year and Vidra but their performances have been weird recently - battered Estonia scoring six, drew 1 -1 with Belgium, lost to Wales by the odd goal. Proper banana skin but we'll see how they go in their upcoming friendly with Italy.
If we win the group, we get another home game in London but it's likely to be a much more challenging contest against the runners up in the hardest group - probably Germany, Portugal or France.
It could be argued that the easier route to the QFs would be to come second in the group and travel to Copenhagen and play either Sweden at what will be almost their home or Spain (probably) - but we have to play them all eventually to win it so bollocks to that - bring on the Germans!
Tough group for England (WR 4) IMO but it could be worse and the group stage will be played in the UK so 3 home games in London.
First up our nemesis Croatia (WR 14) with Modric, Kovacic, Lovren and Perisic etc who have been less than impressive recently but tend to turn up in competitions. They have a friendly with the mighty Belgians a week before the competition starts so we'll get a gauge then.
Big expectation on England, no idea what team Southgate will pick, and if the usual pattern occurs - a disappointing draw.
Five days later it's Scotland (WR 44) mainly no frills Prem players who will know the England team inside out. They're mainly seasoned pros and a tough lot quite capable of upsetting the English prima donnas on their day and there'll be no doubting their commitment.
Four days after that it's the Czech Republic (WR 40) I don't know much about their squad apart from Soucek, Coufal who've done pretty well at West Ham this year and Vidra but their performances have been weird recently - battered Estonia scoring six, drew 1 -1 with Belgium, lost to Wales by the odd goal. Proper banana skin but we'll see how they go in their upcoming friendly with Italy.
If we win the group, we get another home game in London but it's likely to be a much more challenging contest against the runners up in the hardest group - probably Germany, Portugal or France.
It could be argued that the easier route to the QFs would be to come second in the group and travel to Copenhagen and play either Sweden at what will be almost their home or Spain (probably) - but we have to play them all eventually to win it so bollocks to that - bring on the Germans!
