History is on France’s side to win Euro 2016. It won Euro 1984 as host. Indeed, it is the only host country to have won the European Championship.
It won the 1998 World Cup as host. Andit will open Euro 2016 in the same place it beat Brazil in 1998 when it faces Romania on Friday at the Stade de France.
The pressure on the Bleus to win the European Championshipwill be enormous. Here’s who must come up big for them to win.
1. Paul Pogba: France doesn’t have a superstar like Michel Platini was in1984 or Zinedine Zidane in 1998. Pogba is the closest thing. A L’Equipe poll of former players narrowly picked Pogba over Belgium’s Eden Hazard to be the star of the tournament. TheJuventus midfielder is the most-talked target on the summer transfer market, linked with Barcelona, Real Madrid and Manchester United.
Didier Deschamps, the French coach, played atJuventus and thinks the 23-year-old Pogba can handle the spotlight.
“I know how things work in Italy,” he said. “There is transfer news every single day. Paul is very focused onwhat we should expect. There hasn’t been an effect on his mindset. Even though he is young, Paul is able to manage these situations.”
2.Antoine Griezmann: After Pogba and Hazard, Griezmann was third in the L’Equipe poll for the star of Euro 2016. Many fans will remember Griezmann for missing his penalty kick for AtleticoMadrid in the second half of the Champions League final against Real Madrid.
With Karim Benzema out of the tournament, the pressure will be on Griezmann and Pogba to produce willbe enormous.
“It’s easy to say that they are phenomenal, but people are expecting a lot from them,” veteran Patrice Evra told Journal du Dimanche. “I warned them. Karim is not withus anymore, and if things go badly, they will get the flack. They have incredible talent, but soccer is 10 per cent talent, 90 per cent mental.”
3. Frontlinesupporting cast: France has a frontline so deep that Deschamps didn’t take Benzema (ensnared in “L’Affaire Sextape”) and Hatem Ben Arfa (Ligue 1’s hottest striker).
The starting three should be West Ham’s Dimitri Payet, Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud and Griezmann with Anthony Martial, Kingsley Coman and Andre-Pierre Gignac, who playsin Mexico for Tigres, available off the bench.
French supporters are a tough crowd, and they whistled Giroud even after he scored against Cameroon in a Euro warm-up in Nantes. He admittedhis career has been “complicated” but termed the lack of support “a shame.”
4. Adil Rami: Even when Liverpool defender MamadouSakho‘s provisional ban for failing a drug test was lifted, Deschamps chose to ignore him and select Rami, who wasn’t even on the list of seven reserves in case one of his 23 players for Euro 2016was injured.
Rami was called up after Real Madrid’s Raphael Varane was injured and suddenly found himself in the starting lineup after Jeremy Mathieu was himself injured andreplaced by Samuel Umtiti. The Sevilla defender looked slow in the 3-2 win over Cameroon and finds himself in part of a backline with Bacary Sagna, Laurent Koscielny and Evrawhose average age is 32.
5. N’Golo Kante: The 25-year-old midfielder never played for France before March 30 but also finds himselfthrust into the Bleus’ starting lineup following an injury to Moussa Sissoko.
Surprises have been part and parcel of Kante’s career. Three years ago, he was playing with Boulognein France’s National (third division) league. Recently, he was offered a $7.5 million annual salary by Chelsea after helping Leicester City win the EPL title.