Group B: England v Wales, Thursday, beIN Sports Max 1-4, 5pm
Wales star Gareth Bale described England as the “enemy” in one of his many incendiary comments in the build-up to their European Championship match on Thursday, but Roy Hodgson is adopting a different tone about the all-British match.
“It’s a game between brothers,” the England manager said Wednesday, in a remark that will likely be viewed with both bemusement and amusement from the Welsh population.
For Wales, the game in Lens is one of the biggest in its recent history, a rare chance to meet their bitter rivals and neighbours on the big stage. The Welsh are playing in a major tournament for the first time in 58 years.
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England captain Wayne Rooney, however, talked about it as just another game and wasn’t ready to go toe-to-toe with Bale in the mind games.
“We’re just focused on preparing for the game,” said an unflustered Rooney, refusing to bite on one of many questions about Wales’ recent straight-talking in Wednesday’s pre-match news conference.
Hodgson rolled his eyes when asked if remarks from the Welsh camp were getting under his players’ skin.
“If we really took it seriously, and allowed it to affect our concentration, we’d be very ashamed of ourselves,” Hodgson said. “Talk is talk. Action on the field is action on the field.”
Group C: Ukraine v Northern Ireland, Thursday, beIN Sports Max 1-4, 8pm
Michael O’Neill has told his Northern Ireland team to focus on playing “ugly” in what he dubbed their ‘cup final’ against Ukraine.
Their 12-match unbeaten run ended on Sunday with a 1-0 defeat to Poland in their first match at the 2016 European Championship.
Now Northern Ireland must beat Ukraine to keep alive hopes of reaching the knockout stage, especially with world champions Germany yet to come in their final Group C game on Tuesday.
“We must bring the ugly side to our game tomorrow night and be more competitive,” O’Neill said.
The team must match the physicality of Ukraine, who also need a win at the Stade de Lyon having lost their opening game 2-0 to Germany in Lille.
The Northern Irish manager said his team needs to show some grit to contain Ukraine’s talented wingers Audriy Yarmolenko of Dynamo Kiev and Seville’s Yevhen Konoplyanka.
But O’Neill wants his side to focus on the “ugly” side of their game, mark their opponents tightly, win the one-on-ones and be aggressive.
“We know of the threat of Yarmolenko and Konoplyanka and the stats [from the Germany game] tell you everything you need to know,” O’Neill said.
“The Ukrainians won 12 corners, which showed they had a lot of territory.
“They were a threat at set pieces, they always looked capable and had chances.
“What we have to do is be prepared to match the physicality.
“What we didn’t do well against Poland was in the ugly part of our game, that’s generally something we normally do well. We must bring the ugly side to our game.
“I don’t mean ‘out with the rules’, I mean in our levels of competitiveness, because what we have seen up until now is that every game has been extremely competitive.”
Group C: Germany v Poland, Thursday, beIN Sports Max 1-4, 11pm
Poland striker Robert Lewandowski is tipping Germany to win Euro 2016, but it will not stop the Bundesliga star trying to shoot down the world champions when the sides meet Thursday.
Lewandowski proved his reputation as one of the world’s best strikers as he finished top scorer with 13 goals in qualifying for the European Championship finals.
Poland’s 27-year-old captain arrived in France on the back of a stellar season at Bayern Munich, netting 42 goals in all competitions for the Bavarians.
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Poland have only beaten Germany once in 20 meetings, when they out-thought them 2-0 in a qualifier in Warsaw in October 2014 with goals from Arkadiusz Milik and Sebastian Mila.
But after beating Northern Ireland 1-0 in their opening match at Euro 2016, Lewandowski wants to again down their neighbours to put Poland in the knock-out phase and top of Group C.
“For me, Germany are the favourites for the whole tournament, but anything can happen. We have to stay calm and be confident against them,” said Lewandowski.
“No fear, no stress – we also need to have some fun.”
Arsenal’s Wojciech Szczesny remains doubtful for the game against Germany as the Polish goalkeeper suffered an injury against Northern Ireland and did not take part in Tuesday’s training session.
