Having won their opening match against Romania, France will be expected to brush aside De Biaisi’s men before facing Switzerland in a clash that could decide which team tops Group A. They had suffered a 2-1 loss in their opening game against France.
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Switzerland already have three points on the board, equal with France, after beating Albania 1-0 in their group opener.
Switzerland can lockdown an early spot in the Euro 2016 quarterfinals but face a spirited and motivated Romania hoping to stay alive and earn its first victory in the tournament in almost two decades when the two sides line up for Group A action Wednesday at Parc des Princes in Paris.
Albania boss Gianni De Biasi is adamant France will not underestimate his side in Marseille on Wednesday despite suggestions the hosts will rest a host of key players.
As well as the Stoke man, there are other players in the Swiss squad with Kosovo and Kosovo-Albanian backgrounds, all of whom would be eligible to switch nationalities.
“I hope once again tomorrow we feel that pressure right from the start of the day, from the morning no less”, Djourou told a news conference on Tuesday.
Romania’s Bogdan Stancu scores on a penalty during the Euro 2016 Group A soccer match between France and Romania, at the Stade de France, in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, Friday, June 10, 2016.
“What if the coach of Kosovo wants me as the captain?”
“Statistics show that we will hit the back of the net, and that could happen in 24 hours’ time”, he said. “I don’t demand the minimum objective from my sides”.
“We were able to take home the three points but we didn’t exactly play brilliantly”.
I fancy Romania to get a result from this fixture and the fact that four of these sides’ last six encounters have swung under 2.5 goals (including their two 0-0 draws) indicates that backing a draw at -2.5 goals is good value as a 5/2 shot.
“I’m better when I’m under pressure. I don’t know whether this will be their second team but we will do our best regardless of the opposition”.
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Russian Federation coach Leonid Slutsky is backing his team’s fans to behave themselves in Wednesday’s game against Slovakia and avoid his side being expelled from the European Championship. For Albania this will be a very tough game while the French will know that if they fail to win this match then the media storm will be a lot worse than South Africa 2010.
