The squads are finalised, the fantasy football teams sorted and the holiday time has been booked: We are ready for Euro 2016.
We’ve over a month of wall-to-wall football to enjoy once the tournament kicks off on Friday (June 10) at 8pm, but before that, its time for members of the JOE team to rightly embarrass themselves by predicting what’s going to happen.
Winner of the tournament, top scorer, where the Home Nations will end up – we’re taking a whack at it all, using our year of football knowledge and expertise (we read Inverting The Pyramid halfway once, and have a mate that had trials for West Ham) to predict everything that’s going to happen at Euro 2016.
First up, here are our predictions for who will win Euro 2016.
Spain have won back-to-back Euros in 2008 and 2012. Photo by Handout/UEFA via Getty Images
Carl Anka – @Ankaman616
Spain – It *should* be a shootout between France and Germany for the trophy, but I reckon people are forgetting just how good Spain can be, and how well their style translates to international tournament football. You may find tiki taka dull (I think it’s football by strangulation), but all those 1-0 wins add to something. Forget the 1-0 loss to Georgia in a friendly, any team with that midfield is worth something. The 2014 World Cup has made many forget Spain have won the last two Euros. Anyone fancy a three-peat?
Portugal line up for the World Cup in 2014 – Photo by Adam Pretty/Getty Images
Richard Beech – @BeechardRich
Portugal – I can’t believe I’m saying this. but I just think they have a nice balance of youth and experience. A really sharp midfield could be the key for them; if CR7 provides the goals, they will be tough to beat.
Germany celebrate their World Cup win in 2014. Photo by Matthias Hangst/Getty Images
Kevin Beirne – @KevBeirne
I know it’s boring, but it’s a bit of a case of Occam’s Razor for me. Germany have the best team and an easy group. They’ll only really have to show up in the knockout stages. Sure, there could be a big surprise along the way, but it wouldn’t be much of a surprise if I predicted it.
Matt Tate – @Mattt8_91
Every time I back Belgium’s Golden Generation they disappoint, and the injured captain Kompany is obviously a big miss. I’ll opt for Germany, as they should stroll their group and have a rock solid mix of experience and depth for the knockouts. Sure, they’ve lost key players to retirement since 2014’s World Cup glory, but the replacements aren’t half bad.
Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images
Tom Victor – @tomvictor
France – Many will cite their defensive injuries but the other favourites are missing big players, be it through injury (Reus/Gundogan) or schadenfreude (Diego Costa). Even without Karim Benzema, a forward line including Griezmann, Martial, Coman and Payet will be tough for anyone to play against, and that’s before you get to the home advantage.
