France v England set to take centre stage at Euro

DONETSK, Ukraine (AFP) –

France’s national football team players warm up during a training session at the training center in Kircha. England and France launch their respective quests for major tournament redemption here Monday in a high-stakes Group D collision that neither side can afford to lose.

England and France launch their respective quests for major tournament redemption Monday in a high-stakes Group D collision that neither side can afford to lose.

France take on old historical foes England in the pick of Monday’s ties at Euro 2012, with Laurent Blanc’s men keen to extend their unbeaten run against an under-strength England.

The first Group D matches will see both teams keen to erase memories of a disastrous World Cup campaign in 2010, when France’s players staged a training ground mutiny and England turned in a string of woeful performances.

The match, which kicks of at 1600 GMT in the Ukrainian city of Donetsk, is followed at 1845 GMT by co-hosts Ukraine versus Sweden, with Oleg Blokhin’s side eager to impress in their first game in front of home fans in the capital Kiev.

France go into the match on the back of a 21-match unbeaten run but Blanc, who has only lost two matches since taking over from Raymond Domenech in July 2010, has sounded a note of caution about writing off injury-hit England.

“It’s all well and good to say they’re weakened but what concerns me is that England will play in a certain manner, based on their qualities and their philosophy,” he said.

Table of fixtures and results for Euro 2012 after Group C matches held on June 10.

“They’ll give everything because when the French are against the English, it raises the stakes. We’ll have to be strong. It will be difficult.”

England manager Roy Hodgson, who was only appointed last month, said the Three Lions were still confident, despite the absence of key players like Chelsea‘s Frank Lampard through injury and Manchester United‘s Wayne Rooney through suspension.

“The players think they can win, no question,” he said. “There’s no fear in that respect. There’s healthy respect, as they deserve to have… We must respect the fact that when you go 21 matches unbeaten you’ve got a pretty good team there…

“But I don’t get the feeling that our players are in any way cowed by the task ahead of them.”

Blokhin has said he is unsure how his players will react when they walk out in the Olympic Stadium, after disappointing pre-tournament results and a stomach bug that struck his squad.

Expectations rest on the home side’s ageing marksman Andrei Shevchenko, who guided the team to the 2006 World Cup finals and at 35 is still a potent striking force.

Home fans will also be looking to what has been billed as the Ukrainian equivalent of the South African vuvuzela — the “zozulica” — with the cuckoo-shaped traditional clay whistle thought to bring luck and chase away evil spirits.

Sweden coach Erik Hamren will be boosted by the return of former Toulouse and Bolton striker Johan Elmander but has said Ukraine were favourites because of home support.

Thousands of Sweden fans will be at the match, though, in what is likely to be a welcome break from the mosquito-infested, unfinished camp site in the middle of the Dniepr River in Kiev where they have set up base.

Preparations for co-hosts Poland’s match with old rivals Russia on Tuesday stepped up a gear, meanwhile, with the authorities saying it was their “biggest challenge”.

England’s forward Wayne Rooney (R) runs during a training session at the Dombass Arena stadium in Donetsk on the eve of the team’s Euro 2012 opening football match.

Fears of violence at the Group A game have mounted as Tuesday is Russia’s national day and Russia fans have already been involved in football-related violence.

“We hope that our worst fears don’t come true,” said Polish interior minister Jacek Cichocki.

Sporting encounters between the countries always have the weight of shared history and politics but some Polish media showed no sign of letting bygones be bygones.

The tabloid Super Express mocked up a picture of coach Franciszek Smuda in uniform, on horseback and clutching a sword, calling for “a second Miracle on the Vistula”, a reference to a 1920 battle won by Poland over Russia against all odds.

The Polish edition of Newsweek echoed the allusion with mention of “The Battle of Warsaw” 2012.