Arsene Wenger ranks England as outside favourites for EURO 2012 – International News
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Arsenal-c38429 boss Arsene Wenger has stated that England have an outside chance of winning the next summer’s EURO 2012 following their impressive back-to-back wins against Spain and Sweden in the recent friendly matches.
Though http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/England-c749 secured qualification to next year’s European Championship, the Three Lions' qualifying campaign was not very impressive when compared to other European heavyweights.
Both Spain and Germany finished the qualifying stage with 100 percent records. Moreover, the World Cup runners-up, Holland, also impressed in the qualifiers and lost only one match.
Despite their unconvincing run in the qualifying stages, England went on to record two back-to-back wins against World Champions, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Sweden-c3015.
The Gunners manager believes that England are one of the strongest contenders for the next year’s tournament, however, they are not favourites to win the title in Poland and Ukraine. Wenger also stated that 1998 World Cup winners, France, are also not among
the favourites for the European championship.
The Arsenal boss told club’s official magazine, "I would place England and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/France-c2899 roughly at the same level."
However, the Frenchman believes that if England manage to continue their current impressive form, they can come close to winning the title and added:
"They cannot say that they definitely have the quality to win the European Championship, but if it all clicks well in their preparation and the form of their best players, they might make a good surprise.”
Wenger labelled Spain, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ukraine-c3032 next year.
The Arsenal manager explained, “You would say it's between Spain, Germany, Holland, and then just behind them are England and France who can be outsiders - interesting outsiders.”
Arsene Wenger has also asserted that unrealistic expectations have always negatively affected England’s performance in major tournaments.
It has been more than twenty years since the Three Lions managed to reach the semi-finals of any major competition, and Wenger believes that the English players have always been under huge pressure due to high level of expectations.
"England are always under massive pressure. I believe that the expectation level is so high in England that it always puts extra pressure on the team," Arsene Wenger concluded.
Tags: