Former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson has revealed he believes the Three Lions will have no problems qualifying to the next stage of the European Championships.
The 64-year-old was in charge of England for the 2006 World Cup and is somewhat aware of the quality of the English team. Even without Manchester United striker http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Wayne-Rooney-c36736, Eriksson believed England would emerge victorious out of Group D.
Group D also contains http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/England-c749 one of the favourites to go through to the next round. He believed the key was to play the experienced midfield, which would ensure the team going on to win in their upcoming fixtures.
Having already defeated http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Belgium-c2850 in a friendly before they can kick off the group stages fixtures. Even in their fixture against Belgium, the Three Lions are clear favourites to emerge victorious, which will give them confidence
ahead of the match on Saturday.
Eriksson wrote:
“Despite Rooney’s unavailability, I would think that England should easily reach the knockout stage from the group and their real test should start from there.
However, how far England would progress in the competition would depend on whether their experienced midfield stays fit throughout the tournament and how soon Hodgson can put together a perfect combination on the field.”
Meanwhile, Eriksson believed the new manager would be under immense pressure to lead England to victory in the European Championships, especially since England had failed to qualify for the Euro 2008 competition and had not done well in the World Cup 2010.
The Swede admitted the fans were expecting England to produce attractive football as well as go on to win the one trophy they had been unable to do so. Eriksson was uncertain of the effect of the pressure on Hodgson, but hoped England would go on to surprise
everyone.
He revealed:
“The pressure would be all the more on Roy Hodgson, since England had failed to qualify for the last edition of the competition and the fans would be expecting that their star players would bring home the trophy that has eluded them since the start of
the championship.”
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