England ‘are going to win’ Euro 2016 – FA chief

The draw takes place on Saturday at Paris’ Palais de Congres at 5pm.

England manager Roy Hodgson says Leicester frontman Jamie Vardy is very close to booking his seat on the plane to next summer’s European Championships in France.

And Vokes admits excitement is building in the Wales camp ahead of tonight’s draw.

“It’s something to look forward too”, he said. “I’ll be getting back on the bus and trying to watch it”.

“It’s exciting to see who we will be facing next summer”.

Sadly, Euro 2016 won’t just be about soccer.

Hodgson will be one of 24 managers and head coaches at the draw in the French capital as the competing nations will find out where and when they will play their group games.

Former Wales global footballer Kelly Davies told Radio Wales: “I’m very excited about it and really hopeful about what the day might bring”.

Danny Lafferty has also previously been involved in Michael O’Neill’s Northern Ireland squads.

Habitual qualifiers England will be joined in France by Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and Wales, with Gordon Strachan’s Scotland the only one of the Home Nations to miss out.

Vokes added: “England would be nice”.

The extent to which these two extremes differ means there is a great deal riding on this draw.

And there were tougher options lingering in Pot 3, although Sweden – who also came through the play-offs – will provide hard opposition.

“We will play three games and we don’t want it to all be about one of them”.

Northern Ireland will face a tough test against Germany in their Euro 2016 campaign after being drawn in the group containing the world cup winners.

France will be confident of winning its group, having beating Switzerland 5-2 in the group stages at last year’s World Cup in Brazil.

“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”.

“It has been a remarkable rise and a remarkable success story and we can only hope that he can keep his form up”, said Hodgson.

The football draw is being presented by Jason Mohammed.

“It was an exciting game”, he said. Italy have a hold over England and even if Antonio Conte’s men were not totally convincing in booking their place at the tournament they remain defensively sound and were one of only four undefeated sides. Wales kick off against Slovakia so it’s an opportunity to get three points on the board as early as you can. In ten qualifying games we only conceded three goals.

“England are one of the best teams, but we’re looking forward to it. When you get to a tournament, it’s that 90 minutes and you’ve got to get it right”.