After France and Romania kicked off the tournament in style last night it’s the turn of England to begin their charge to exiting on penalties in the quarter finals. They’re taking on Russia while in the same group Wales need to get the win against Slovakia. Switzerland and Albania meet in the other Group A game.
But Paddy, who’s gonna score? Well, these three.
Haris Seferovic, , Switzerland vs Albania, 14:00 kick off
Switzerland have a bit of a probelm when it comes to nailing down a goalscorer, because their goals are spread wider than Aston Villa’s defence. 14 different players scored for them in qualifying, with no player scoring more than four.
In six friendlies since qualifying they’ve scored six goals. Haris Seferovic got a brace against Austria to add to the three he got in the group, which is enough to convince us that he’s their main threat. He scored for them in the World Cup and standing at just over six feet is a danger from corners.
If there is to be a goal, it’ll be a winner – Albania scored just seven times in nine games of qualifying. This one could be as boring as Steve Davis.
Gareth Bale, , Wales vs Slovakia, 17:00
It’s a Wales game. Who else is going to score for them?! Ten games in qualifying, seven goals and and no other Welsh player even got close to that tally.
He can leap like a salmon, turn like a catherine wheel and dribble better than a baby trying to get rid of the airplane. When you’ve one of the best players in the world playing for your country, it’s enough to get excited about. There’s no doubt that Slovakia will try and double mark Bale but teams have tried that in La Liga all season and failed miserably. A 51% shot accuracy (better than Aston Villa’s) and 19 goals. Impressive.
The Slovak’s only conceded eight goals in qualifying, but the patterns show that if they fall behind, they don’t tend to win.
Harry Kane, , England vs Russia, 20:00
England have a tricky opening on paper, but one of the best attacks as well. Between Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy they’ve got almost 50 goals from the Premier League this season. In qualifying, Russia mainly relied on two centrebacks that have a combined age of 69 between them. That’s older than your Dad.
More importantly, there’s another Spurs player in the squad that’s used to linking up with Kane week in week out. If Dele Alli starts then it’s almost a certainty that Kane will find the net. Alli is to Kane what the Undertaker was to Kane. Except Dele’s never set Harry on fire. We don’t think.
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