Paris – England manager Roy Hodgson said that his team had “a lot of respect for Wales” after they were pitted against their neighbours in Saturday’s draw for the 2016 European Championship.
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England and Wales will then play each other in Lens on June 16.
France will compete with Romania, Albania and Switzerland in Group A.
The toughest competition of the six groups of four teams looks to be Group B, where FIFA-ranked number one Belgium, 2012 runner-up Italy, Sweden and the Republic of Ireland will battle it out.
Northern Ireland open their first-ever European Championship campaign against Poland in Nice on June 12. Belgium are a team for which one has great expectations.
Arguably the toughest group for Northern Ireland could see them placed in a group with world champions Germany, Italy and Poland. “There are three games to play and we can’t get caught up with just playing England”, Coleman explained. It nearly artificially builds the pressure that we would want to deflate.
“Italy are always a difficult opponent, Sweden with [Zlatan] Ibrahimovic will be difficult, and Ireland always have a strong collective team, and are always difficult to beat at such a tournament”.
England will first play Russian Federation in Marseille on June 11 and there is likely to be a heavy security presence after serious outbreaks of fan violence there when England played Tunisia during the 1998 World Cup. “Wales are very well organised, have a team spirit and very strong spine”.
FA chief executive Martin Glenn said Hodgson is “our man for 2018” if England show signs of progress at Euro 2016. The contrast between Italy’s efficiency and the free-flowing football from Belgium’s new crop of players promises one of the most interesting games of the tournament.
The two nations will also play Russian Federation and Slovakia in the group stages of the tournament which will begin with France v Romania in Paris on June 10.
“I will not say that we are the favorites to advance, because we got a hard group”.
Another of the major tournament newcomers are Iceland, who will come up against Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal in their first game in Group F before also facing Austria and Hungary.
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As part of the terror attacks on 13 November, three suicide bombers targeted the Stade de France in Paris, venue for the opening game and the final next summer.
