EURO2016.com reporters make their predictions
Friday, June 10, 2016
Article summary
France are overwhelming favourites for UEFA EURO 2016 according to our survey but the task of summing teams through the medium of David Guetta threw up a broader canvas.
Article top media content
Article body
EURO2016.com has reporters covering each of the 24 teams in France. We gauged their opinion on the eve of the finals, albeit denying them the right to choose their 'own' teams. Here's what they said ...
Tony Pandovski, #ALB team reporter
Winner: Germany
Star of the tournament: Paul Pogba (France)
Golden boot: Robert Lewandowski (Poland)
Best young player: Leroy Sané (Germany)
Albania's Guetta anthem: Play Hard – it's how Albania roll.
Sneaky feeling: Albania will get out of Group A
Daniel Thacker, #AUT team reporter
Winner: Germany
Star of the tournament: Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium)
Golden boot: Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)
Best young player: Joshua Kimmich (Germany)
Austria's Guetta anthem: Stay – Austria are not planning to leave any time soon.
Sneaky feeling: Turkey and the Republic of Ireland will get out of tough groups.
Berend Scholten, #BEL team reporter
Winner: France
Star of the tournament: Antoine Griezmann (France)
Golden boot: Antoine Griezmann (France)
Best young player: Marcus Rashford (England)
Belgium's Guetta anthem: Dangerous.
Sneaky feeling: Belgium beat Italy 3-1 last November and could well do it again.
Elvir Islamović, #CRO team reporter
Winner: France
Star of the tournament: Antoine Griezmann (France)
Golden boot: Antoine Griezmann (France)
Best young player: Anthony Martial (France)
Croatia's Guetta anthem: The World is Mine – Croatia are very confident, motivated and ready to make history.
Sneaky feeling: Croatia will shock Spain and win the group.
Ondřej Zlámal, #CZE team reporter
Winner: France
Star of the tournament: Antoine Griezmann (France)
Golden boot: Thomas Müller (Germany)
Best young player: Dele Alli (England)
Czech Republic's Guetta anthem: No Worries – it will obviously be easy qualifying from an easy group of Spain, Croatia and Turkey.
Sneaky feeling: Austria and Iceland are going to make it through to the quarter-finals.
Simon Hart, #ENG team reporter
Winner: France
Star of the tournament: Antoine Griezmann (France)
Golden boot: Romelu Lukaku (Belgium)
Best young player: Dele Alli (England)
England's Guetta anthem: Tomorrow Can Wait – England have the second-youngest squad in the finals but this is about the here and now.
Sneaky feeling: Gareth Bale to fire Wales out of the group stage.
Graham Hunter, #ESP team reporter
Winner: France
Star of the tournament: Antoine Griezmann (France)
Golden boot: Antoine Griezmann (France)
Best young player: Dele Alli (England)
Spain's Guetta anthem: Just One Last Time – Iniesta and Casillas going for three in a row in their 'last' EURO.
Sneaky feeling: Madness will ensue among fans and media when Shakira visits Gerard Piqué.
David Crossan, #FRA team reporter
Winner: Germany
Star of the tournament: Antoine Griezmann (France)
Golden boot: Thomas Müller (Germany)
Best young player: Harry Kane (England)
France's Guetta anthem: Right Now – this is France's time to shine.
Sneaky feeling: Northern Ireland's teamwork will give Germany a scare in Group C.
Steffen Potter, #GER team reporter
Winner: England
Star of the tournament: Paul Pogba (France)
Golden boot: Thomas Müller (Germany)
Best young player: Dele Alli (England)
Germany's Guetta anthem: Right Now – Joachim Löw is shorn of several players but insists he is living in the here and now.
Sneaky feeling: Expect Leroy Sané to dazzle when he gets to play – he is lightning quick, carefree and dangerous. You will enjoy him!
Matthew Watson-Broughton, #HUN team reporter
Winner: France
Star of the tournament: Paul Pogba (France)
Golden boot: Thomas Müller (Germany)
Best young player: Kingsley Coman (France)
Hungary's Guetta anthem: Love Don't Let Me Go – football is Gábor Király's love and it certainly hasn't let him go; the sweatpants-wearing keeper could become the first 40-year-old to play at a EURO.
Sneaky feeling: Young, fearless attacking midfielder László Kleinheisler will score for Hungary at some point in Group F.
Paul Bryan, #IRE team reporter
Winner: France
Star of the tournament: Antoine Griezmann (France)
Golden Boot: Jamie Vardy (England)
Best young player: Renato Sanches (Portugal)
David Guetta song: Gettin' Over You – Ireland are looking to get over their disappointment of UEFA EURO 2012.
Sneaky feeling: Watch out for Ireland's Shane Long – as the terrace chant goes, "Shane Long is on fire".
Jóhann Ólafur Sigurdsson, #ISL team reporter
Winner: Germany
Star of the tournament: Antoine Griezmann (France)
Golden boot: Thomas Müller (Germany)
Best young player: Dele Alli (England)
Iceland's Guetta anthem: I Can Only Imagine – Iceland's first experience of a major finals, and they could not possibly have envisaged the scale of it.
Sneaky feeling: Look out for Northern Ireland troubling Poland in their opening match. They have conceded only one goal in their last five games.
Ben Gladwell, #ITA team reporter
Winner: France
Star of the tournament: Lorenzo Insigne (Italy)
Golden boot: Antoine Griezmann (France)
Best young player: Kingsley Coman (France)
Italy's Guetta anthem: Titanium – sums up the strength of Italy's defence.
Sneaky feeling: Italy will meet France in the final and Paul Pogba will score, striking a pose a la Balotelli four years ago.
Graham Little, #NIR team reporter
Winner: England
Star of the tournament: Gareth Bale (Wales)
Golden Boot: Olivier Giroud (France)
Best young player: Marcus Rashford (England)
Northern Ireland's Guetta anthem: Club Can't Handle Me – Kyle Lafferty has never been able to hold down a regular position in club football, yet scored seven qualifying goals. It was similar with David Healy in 2008.
Sneaky feeling: Northern Ireland will stun a jittery Germany in their last group game.
Piotr Koźmiński, #POL team reporter
Winner: Germany
Star of the tournament: Paul Pogba (France)
Golden Boot: Robert Lewandowski (Poland)
Best young player: Arkadiusz Milik (Poland)
Poland's Guetta anthem: Stay – Poland expect that this time they will stay here for more than three games.
Sneaky feeling: Follow Croatia closely, because they could be tournament dark horses.
Joseph Walker, #POR team reporter
Winner: Spain
Star of the tournament: Antoine Griezmann (France)
Golden boot: Robert Lewandowski (Poland)
Best young player: Raphaël Guerreiro (Portugal)
Portugal's Guetta anthem: Just One Last Time – this is probably the last time we will see the likes of Pepe, Bruno Alves, Ricardo Carvalho, Cristiano Ronaldo and Ricardo Quaresma in EURO action ...
Sneaky feeling: Albania will make it out of the group, scoring just one goal and conceding none.
Paul Zaharia, #ROU team reporter
Winner: Germany
Star of the tournament: Zlatan Ibrahimović (Sweden)
Golden boot: Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)
Best young player: Anthony Martial (France)
Romania's Guetta anthem: Right Now – this is Romania's time to prove themselves.
Sneaky feeling: Spain have dominated the football landscape for a few years now but could this be the end of their supremacy?
Richard van Poortvliet, #RUS team reporter
Winner: France
Star of the tournament: Antoine Griezmann (France)
Golden boot: Thomas Müller (Germany)
Best young player: Viktor Kovalenko (Ukraine)
Russia's Guetta anthem: Without You – in honour of the key players missing out through injury.
Sneaky feeling: England to go out in the quarter-finals on penalties and Ukraine to be this tournament's dark horses.
Matthew Howarth, #SUI team reporter
Winner: France
Star of the tournament: Antoine Griezmann (France)
Golden boot: Harry Kane (England)
Best young player: Renato Sanches (Portugal)
Switzerland's Guetta anthem: Dangerous – with Granit Xhaka, Xherdan Shaqiri and Breel Embolo in their ranks, the Swiss shouldn't be underestimated.
Sneaky feeling: Northern Ireland's Will Grigg will terrify Poland's defence in Sunday's Group C opener, getting both goals in a 2-0 victory for Michael O'Neill's side.
Rastislav Hribik, #SVK team reporter
Winner: Italy
Star of the tournament: Kevin De Bruyne (Belgium)
Golden boot: Zlatan Ibrahimović (Sweden)
Best young player: Anthony Martial (France)
Slovakia's Guetta anthem: I Can Only Imagine – Slovakia's slogan is, after all 'One nation, one heart, one dream'
Sneaky feeling: Slovakia have beaten the last three world champions so England beware: Ján Kozák's boys are coming for you.
Sujay Dutt, #SWE team reporter
Winner: France
Star of the tournament: Zlatan Ibrahimović (Sweden)
Golden boot: Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)
Best young player: Anthony Martial (France)
Sweden's Guetta anthem: Just One Last Time – Kim Källström and Andreas Isaksson will retire from international football after this EURO. Ibrahimović, 35 in October, may do likewise.
Sneaky feeling: England will win all three group matches, but go no further than the quarter-finals.
Çetin Cem Yılmaz, #TUR team reporter
Winner: England
Star of the tournament: Harry Kane (England)
Golden boot: Robert Lewandowski (Poland)
Best young player: Hakan Çalhanoğlu (Turkey)
Turkey's Guetta anthem: Right Now – "But we young right now/We got right now" sums up Turkey's young and ambitious squad.
Sneaky feeling: Poland will beat Germany in the group and completely ruin everybody's Bracket Predictors!
Bogdan Buga, #UKR team reporter
Winner: Spain
Star of the tournament: Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)
Golden boot: Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal)
Best young player: Viktor Kovalenko (Ukraine)
Ukraine's Guetta anthem: The World Is Mine.
Sneaky feeling: Yevhen Khacheridi and his "legs like punchbags" will enhance his reputation.
Mark Pitman, #WAL team reporter
Winner: France
Star of the tournament: Antoine Griezmann (France)
Golden Boot: Thomas Müller (Germany)
Best young player: Anthony Martial (France)
Wales' Guetta anthem: Just for One Day (Heroes) – the travelling fans will have at least one moment of glory in France.
Sneaky feeling: Aaron Ramsey will inspire the rest of the Wales squad to dye their hair ahead of the opening game in true Romania '98 style.