Attacking talent at the Euros
Karim Benzema misses out, so France will be depending on their young dynamic forwards to make a mark. Antoine Griezmann (32 goals in 55 games) has had the season of his life and might have a great tournament.
Anthony Martial and Kingsley Coman are incredibly young but play with the flair and finesse that makes it seem they’ve been around for years. The French attack looks full of vibrancy and promise and one can only hope that they can handle the pressure.
England haven’t had such a potent front line in a while, with two players topping the scoring charts in their league. The only question mark is whether they’ll form a cohesive unit, but if they do, Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy have the quality to rack up enough goals to take England deep into the tournament.
With a combined 49 league goals, they more than made their mark in the 2015-16 Premier League season.
Robert Lewandowski sparkled this year with his 44 goal haul and will try his best to catapult Poland to the knockout stages. Their win over reigning world champions Germany in qualifying will give them the confidence that they can compete with the best.
Gareth Bale bagged seven goals in Wales’ qualifying campaign and had a great finish to his Real Madrid season, imperative in their Champions league campaign. Thomas Muller’s scoring exploits for Germany never fail to dazzle. With 21 goals in his last 32 games for Die Mannschaft, he’s very important to their attacking unit.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic hardly needs an introduction. Even with all the mystery about where he will play his football next season, don’t expect him to turn up distracted for the Euros. He missed the 2014 World Cup (Sweden didn’t qualify), so he’ll be raring to light up the tournament in France.
With 52 goals, he’s had his most productive season yet and seems to age like fine wine.
Cristiano Ronaldo will lead a Portugal team that has often done better than expected at international tournaments; he’ll look to take them far. He’s 31-years-old now but shows absolutely no signs of slowing down. The 51 goals he has accumulated in 2015-16 are a testament to that.
Romelu Lukaku and Michy Batshuayi both have had prolific seasons for their clubs and will look to lead an extremely talented Belgium squad.
Alvaro Morata (Spain) is at the center of a transfer tug of war between a number of English teams, Real Madrid and his current club Juventus. He hasn’t had the best of seasons and has often found himself on the bench at Juve, but has still scored important goals when called upon.
Honourable mentions: Breel Embolo (Switzerland) , Artem Dzyuba (Russia), Mario Mandzukic (Croatia)
Plenty to look forward to at both tournaments:
So, all in all, both tournaments have a plethora of the attacking talents world football has to offer. The only unfortunate pattern is that Brazil and Italy, the powerhouses of world football, who produced a whole host of extraordinary goalscorers up until recently seem to have their reservoir of striking talent suddenly run dry.
Compare the likes of Christian Vieri, Del Piero and Totti to the likes of Graziano Pelle and Ciro Immobile and you can only be saddened. From Ronaldo, Adriano, Rivaldo to only a single player who’s even capable of being mentioned in the same breath as these geniuses and you get my concern.
And even Neymar will be missing from the Copa America. One can only hope that the next generation of youngsters from these two glorious footballing nations can do justice to their country’s legacy.
