“As far as I’m concerned let’s bring it on now and I only hope on the night my team will perform at the level I hope they can perform at”, the 68-year-old said on Saturday.
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Marseille, Lens, and St Etienne were also the venues for three of England’s matches in the 1998 World Cup in France, memorable for goals by Paul Scholes, David Beckham and Michael Owen. “He’s got everyone pulling in the same direction, and that showed with the campaign we had”.
And Martin Glenn, the FA chief executive, had already thrown his weight behind Roy Hodgson to continue as the England manager through to the 2018 World Cup.
All of the focus will be on England’s showdown in Lens on June 16 and it will be the first time Hodgson has ever faced Wales in his managerial career.
Other than Germany, Belgium has a hard job to do in the toughest group (E) against Ireland, Sweden and Italy while titleholder Spain faces Turkey, Czech Republic and Croatia (group D).
Spain, the two-time defending champion which won the 2010 World Cup in between European titles, has been rebuilding since being eliminated in the first round at the last World Cup.
“You’ve got the top seeds, then after that nobody will want to play Wales because of our performances and results over the last couple of years”.
They were drawn into Group C, alongside the Ukraine, Poland, and Northern Ireland.
“Naturally you’re talking about Italy in our group, who are effectively a pot one team, and Belgium are considered now the best side in the world – whether you agree with that or not, they are certainly one of the top five or six teams playing in the competition”. Roy has had two tournaments, he was very early for the first Euros and then he has had the World Cup, he has learned a lot and he has great global experience.
“We played Ireland in the last EURO qualifiers, and they made it to the final tournament through the play-offs, just like we did”. England are one of the best teams but we look forward to it.
Former Wales striker John Hartson believes Coleman must look at their opening game against Slovakia as a golden chance. It’s not very often you get an opportunity to play against England.
“We will follow the line”, Glenn said.
“The key thing we have right now is a highly motivated manager”.
He said: “I think the atmosphere at the National Stadium, Windsor Park is fantastic and it is totally for both sides of the community”. Those who have watched Ireland under Giovanni Trapattoni also won’t have the fondest memories as a nation watched Irish football stagnate (and still somehow make a major finals). They have to be on top form from the start, so regarding motivation we could not have a better first opponent than Italy.
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Vicente del Bosque, the coach of Spain, said: “We’ve drawn two teams who played in the same group as the Netherlands and eliminated them, Turkey and Czech Republic”. So this time I will give it a lot of thought, but I am going there with a freer mind, whoever we get.’ O’Neill’s Ireland could be paired with England when the balls are drawn at the Palais des Congres here in the capital.
