England to clash with Wales at Euro 2016

Playing Russia is fine – but not Wales.

“The great thing is we have no star players”.

England is clear favorite to top that group.

“We will not have time to grow into the tournament”.

Talk about the luck of the Irish.

The Republic of Ireland have been drawn against Belgium, Sweden and Italy in Group E of Euro 2016 in France. “I said before the draw it could be really tough, tough, or ok”. Belgium vs. Ireland is in Bordeaux on June 18.

Bale, who scored seven goals in qualifying, wrote on Twitter: “Tough @UEFAEURO draw but can not wait to get to France, all starting to sink in now!”

“My son texted me and the message just said: “Payback” – so it’s another game to look forward to”.

“We don’t know a huge amount about Slovakia or Wales because we’ve not come across them in official matches or friendlies. It is a bit of a maze but we’ll get down to plotting something and hope these plans stay with us”. “We looked at it and would have wanted to avoid it, but we look forward to it”. They have to be on top form from the start, so regarding motivation we could not have a better first opponent than Italy.

“For the first time in a long time we’re (England) going into a tournament, without being disrespectful to any players, without any real superstars”.

Russian Federation coach Leonid Slutski would rule out the possibility of any of the four teams making the knockout stage.

Republic boss O’Neill said: “The draw is hard for us but I don’t know how Michael feels about his draw, I can tell him plenty about it”.

Spain is the only team to have won the competition consecutively – in 2008 and 2012.

“The fixtures work in our favour because we have to play Poland and Ukraine before Germany”. Le Palais des Congrès de Paris, Paris, France. “We have a lot of respect for Wales”. “Our support will be fantastic, and this is great for them”.

“There are trickier groups”, said Lothar Matthaeus, who captained West Germany to the World Cup title in 1990. After defeating Bosnia & Herzegovina in the playoff, Ireland will believe they can beat anyone on the continent, while Ibrahimovic will be looking to leave his mark on what will likely be his last European Championship.

“I think the matches in our group will be very interesting”.

“It will be an incredible atmosphere in Lens”.

The World Cup holders will be fancied to finish top of a group also containing Ukraine and outsiders Northern Ireland, but coach Joachim Loew is not taking anything for granted.

Republic of Ireland manager Martin O’Neill with assistant manager Roy Keane.

Group F sees Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal take on surprise package Iceland, Austria and Hungary.

England kick off their campaign in Marseille on Saturday, June 11 against Russian Federation, meet Wales five days later, and end the group against Slovakia in St Etienne on Monday, June 20. Wales and Slovakia round out that group.

The final will be played at the Stade de France on Sunday July 10.

Also drawn in their Group A is Albania.

Poland were drawn to Group C in which Germany will be a big favourite.

The nations have met twice at the EURO final tournament, a goalless draw in Turin in 1980 enabling Belgium to reach the final at the hosts’ expense.

England and Wales will then play each other in Lens on June 16.

The draw was made in Paris this evening.