“Welcome back to Euro 2016 and its the final countdown to the last match of European championships”.
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(AP Photo/Frank Augstein). France’s Paul Pogba heads the ball during a training session at the stadium in Clairefontaine, France, Saturday, July 9, 2016.
Ronaldo had a hard start to Euro 2016: He was uncomplimentary about crowd-favorite Iceland, missed a probable match-winning penalty against Austria, and was furious when Hungary took the lead for a third time in their 3-3 draw.
In 2004 Portugal recovered from losing to Greece in the tournament’s opening game to knock out Spain, England and the Netherlands en route to the final.
Police and the army have been patrolling Paris since last November’s attacks in which 130 people died. “So it is an extremely high standard”, said Mathias Vicherat, the Paris mayor’s chief of staff.
“So who better to give us their opinions on how the match will go on Sunday than the Portuguese and French journalists from the euronews sports team Olà Bruno, Bonjour Vincent: Bruno who is going to win in the Stade de France?”
Portugal have a truly woeful recent record against France, one they’ll have to overturn if they’re to win their first ever European Championship title. We were playing at home and we suffered a lot.
“I am not a player nor the coach and I deserve no credit for the France team’s successes”, Hollande, a keen soccer fan who has attended several matches at the June 10-July 10 tournament in France, told a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation conference in Warsaw. This is going to be a great match, the Final always brings the best.
“That would be fantastic”, coach Fernando Santos said.
While Portugal haven’t been as convincing as France in their run to the final, the Iberian nation still boast a number of brilliant players. Ronaldo, who has collected every major honor in club football, will not want his global career ending trophyless like compatriot Eusebio.
After living with criticism of his team’s playing style all through the tournament, Portugal coach Fernando Santos would like nothing more than to win the Euro 2016 final without deserving it. “It would be a huge achievement if I could win something with Portugal”.
For a generation of France players this is their first major final, particularly Antoine Griezmann, the star of his home tournament with six goals heading into the final – double Ronaldo’s tally.
Griezmann was just a teenager starting out his professional career at Real Sociedad when French football experienced one of its lowest points at the 2010 World Cup.
It has taken six years for France to regain the adulation of its fan base.
“Of course we’ve had some very tough times this year but we’re even prouder to be on the pitch, to really feel the entire French population behind us, to feel this happiness which is shared between the players and the French people”.
“We had to go back to basics and try to get public on our side again”.
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“We’ve had two years of friendly matches”.
