Euro 2016 Predictions: Can Les Bleus deliver at home?

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Four years after the last of the confetti had fallen to the turf at the Olympic stadium in Kiev as Spain celebrated their third European title after thrashing Italy four-nil in the final match of EURO 2012, the magnificent Stade de France in Saint Denis, will tonight host the first of fifty one matches of the fifteenth European Championships; EURO 2016.

This will be the biggest European championship in history as for the first time; twenty four teams, including five debutants, will compete for the title. Two-time champions, France will be hosting the tournament for the third time and will definitely hope to match that to their number of titles with a repeat of 1984 when they hosted and won, led by the silky skills of a certain Michel Platini.

There is enough talent in this French team to give the home nation belief that they can win the whole thing for the third time in nine attempts, but like history will remind us, that isn’t always the case with the French. We’ve seen great French teams conquer all and we’ve also seen great French teams inexplicably collapse at major tournaments, hence the understandable cautious optimism of French public.

Unsurprisingly, there has been a little bit of controversy regarding the complete make-up of the French team for this Championship as the likes of Karim Benzema, Kevin Gamiero and Hatem Ben Arfa were not included in the squad. Real Madrid striker, Benzema, arguably the country’s most potent striker was excluded from Didier Deschamps’ Euro 2016 squad due to his alleged involvement in a plot to blackmail international team-mate Mathieu Valbuena(who also didn’t make the cut) over a sex tape, while no tenable reason was given for dropping Gameiro, who scored 29 goals for Sevilla this season and Ben Arfa, who was arguably the best French player in the Ligue 1 this season.

However, the French team is still bursting at the seams with talent in every department of the pitch, with Hugo Lloris in goal, Laurent Kolscieny marshalling the defence, Paul Pogba anchoring the midfield and Olivier Giroud leading upfront, the only thing Deschamps has got to worry about will be selecting the best personnel for the different matches and opponents.

They have been drawn in a relatively favourable Group A alongside Romania, Albania and Switzerland. On paper, the French team should pick nine points from their three games in this group with little resistance, but football has always thrived in making the best of pundits and sportswriters look like amateurs, however, I believe that the French team will win this group and advance to the round of sixteen without any scare.

Let’s focus on France’s opponents tonight, Romania. The Eastern Europeans will be appearing in their fifth European Championships, hoping to best their lone quarter final appearance, which they achieved at EURO 2000; a feat I think might just be too much for this particular crop of players to surpass.

Romania qualified for this tournament unbeaten, exploiting being drawn in the weakest group of the qualification campaign, but the fact that they could not topple Nothern Ireland from winning the group left a lot to be desired. Their strength lies in their defence with the formidable centre-back partnership of captain Vlad Chiriches and Dragos Grigore, which conceded only two goals in ten qualifying matches. With 63 caps and 16 goals between the four strikers in the Romanian team, their lack of experience and goals will be the biggest challenge this team will face in France.

In the last six matches between these two teams, France have won two and drawn the remaining four, which automatically means that the Romanians have not been able to buy or steal a win over the French and if we are to judge on that basis, the smart money will be on a win or a draw or both (double chance) for the host nation, but if you like big risk and big reward, an unlikely Romanian victory will be your bet. However, there are different ways you can make money off a football match and I will expatiate.

Romania have lost only once in their last ten matches, which includes draws against Spain and Italy, so a double chance (win or draw) bet on Romania will pay out handsomely. The French attack might struggle to break down the stingy Romanian defence, which means that a bet of under2.5 goals in this match looks like a safe bet, while a bet of over2.5 goals will reap a bigger pay-out if it happens. You can also bet on the scorers, with the likes of Olivier Giroud, Antoine Griezmann, Anthony Martial and Dimitry Payet as likely candidates.

The next one month will be an exhibition of football at its finest, so while you lap it all up, don’t forget that you can also make money from www.bonanzawin.com with your inside knowledge of the game from this column and I will be your willing guide as we enjoy the best of both worlds; good football on your TV screens and some money in your pocket.

Cheers!