Published on : 13/06/2021 – 10:16
England finds Croatia for its first match of Euro-2021 on Sunday, three years after the lost semi-final of the 2018 World Cup. If the vice-world champions with aging executives are not favorites in this competition, the band of post-teens selected by Gareth Southgate is not lacking in ambition.
Announced as one of the flagship teams of Euro-2021, England are the big favorites in Group D. For their first match in the tournament on the Wembley lawn, the Three Lions will start their campaign on Sunday June 13, with a home rematch of their lost semi-final in 2018 against Croatia.
The actors of this “remake” are getting old, but only on the Croatian side. While the vice-world champions display aging players like the 2018 Ballon d’Or Luka Modric, 35, or even Ivan Perisic 32, the English team has a youthful and conquering face with a strong squad. twelve players under 25.
“We have never won a Euro before, so we are a hungry team, with the desire to do so,” Chelsea striker Mason Mount, 22, winner this season, said on Friday. of the Champions League with Chelsea. “We want to write history, one that no one has ever written before. I think with this young group we can absolutely do it.”
Only three players are over 30 years old in the group composed by Gareth Southgate, which gives pride of place to the new generation: Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Mason Mount, Jude Bellingham or even Jadon Sancho, holders in major European clubs, dispute thus their first tournament with the selection.
An ambitious team
The location of their three group stage matches at their temple of Wembley football and the composition of their squad, complemented by Scotland and the Czech Republic, allows them to aim further.
“I would say yes,” said Captain Harry Kane in an official Federation podcast on Monday, when asked if the current squad is stronger than in 2018. “We are probably in a better position. “, explained the player, who finished fourth with England in the last World Cup.
The Tottenham player believes the team is much better equipped to finally win a second international title, more than half a century after England’s home triumph at the 1966 World Cup. “We have a little more experience, players who have played the biggest matches with their clubs and of course players who have taken part in this World Cup and have therefore accumulated experience”, continued Harry Kane. .
Gareth Southgate’s team had created a surprise by reaching the last four in Russia three years ago. Today, the first place in their group is within their reach against a declining Croatia and having conceded eleven defeats since the final lost in Moscow against France. Barely less than its number of victories: twelve, including only one against a significant selection, Spain in November 2018.
“We are expecting a very complicated game”
In an outsider position, Croatia knows that the game will not be easy. “We expect England to play very aggressively and with a lot of power from the kick-off. We expect a very complicated game. It will be up to us to give everything, to do whatever it is. we can and we will see how the match unfolds as we go, “summarized captain Luka Modric.
However, the vice-world champions want to play without complex, according to coach Zlatko Dalic: “We realize that we are going to face a big team, one of the favorites and one of the host teams. We have to be good, compact, aggressive, we will have to fight and play with conviction to try to impose our style “.
In the transition phase, Croatia will be able to rely on experienced players who know England well, such as Mateo Kovacic (27), titled in the Champions League with Chelsea, or Dejan Lovren, who had been with Liverpool. in 2019. Suffice to say that even if the coach Zlatko Dalic tried to calm national hopes for this competition, the “Valtreni” would be upset the “Three Lions” for their entry into the running in this competition, which will end in London on July 11.
With AFP
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