Northern Ireland target last 16 despite Germany draw

The group also features Russian Federation and Slovakia.

The English got lumped in with their historical rivals Wales, which means Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale – who might have never made it to a major tournament if the Euro hadn’t been expanded – will get to face the Premier Leaguers he tormented for years. Chris has moulded the rest of the players around that well.

“We are a lot further down the line now”. You just have to prepare yourselves in the same way.

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“Well, we’ve got them [England], it will be a great game”, He said.

He said: “It’s going to be a firecracker, a great game”.

That said, if they don’t produce the kinds of performances they showed in the last few months, they could well return home in June without picking up a point.

Coleman was buoyant about his sides’s hopes of reaching the last 16, explaining: “When you get to a tournament it’s about the 90 minutes on the day and you have to get it right”.

The Azzurri, who are managed by Antonio Conte will feature mix of seasoned campaigners, including the likes of Giorgio Chiellini and Andrea Barzagli, while some younger players such as Stephan El Shaarawy will also feature.

“Slovakia and Russian Federation are interesting. Absolutely 100% we can”.

“I’ve been very, very impressed with Wales. It’ll be a fantastic tournament”. It’s a tough draw – nothing more. Martin O’Neill’s side play Sweden on June 13th in Paris, Belgium in Bordeaux on June 18th and finish the group against Italy on June 22nd. “So it’s something of a unusual draw for me – new territory”.

Wales drew 0-0 in Moscow, before falling 1-0 at home – one of their infamous qualification near misses.

The teams will be drawn into six groups of four, with two from each group, plus the four best third-placed teams, qualifying for the knockout stages.

“It couldn’t get tougher”.

“But I would like to think we have one or two players that will occupy Chris’s mind in terms of how we stop them”.

Following the draw, O’Neill revealed that Ireland’s group “couldn’t be any tougher” but said that there are “big games” to look forward to. “But what we know most of all is the team is very organised, they have a strong spirit and a good spine”, he told the BBC. O’Neill said Italy should have been among the top-ranked seeds.

“I am happy with our Euro 2016 group”. I think Belgium are among the favourites. The first match against Italy probably will be the hardest.

“It’s a very interesting group with the two other teams”.

Former England captain Alan Shearer believes the teams will relish the game but played down England’s chances in the overall tournament.