France versus Romania in Euro opener

European football kicks off massively on Friday with Euro 2016. Host France face Romania in the opening fixture and the two sides have had three weeks to prepare since the various European leagues has come to a successful end.

Coaches Didier Deschamps and Angel Iordanescu have prepared their teams and have both submitted a list of squads that would make the game a mouth-watering one to watch.

Les Blues coming into the tournament as hosts has high hopes of winning the competition after winning the Euro 1984 and FIFA World Cup 98, tournaments the country hosted.

The French national team had been on a bad run after the 2006 final loss to Italy but have battled back well reaching the quarter finals of both Euro 2012 co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine and 2014 FIFA World Cup hosted by Brazil.

They would want to go a step further and they are strongly relying on the fact that players such as Antoine Griezmann, Paul Pogba, Anthony Martial and Hugo Lloris are coming out of a great European season.

Hugo Lloris just missed out on the English Premier League to Leicester City whiles Antoine Griezmann was the talk of the 2016 Uefa Champions League.

What to Expect from Romania?

Romania has come out strong with their coach Anghel Iordanescu having built a formidable side out of the shadows of Christian Chivu and Adrian Mutu.

Romania has missed out on the last three tournaments being the 2010 FIFA World Cup hosted by South Africa, 2012 European Championships and the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

Euro 2008 was the last time Romanians saw the yellow jersey on the world stage having been placed in a difficult group against the Netherlands, Italy and France. Eight years on they would relish a chance against France, Albania and Switzerland.

The experience of CostelPantilimon coupled with the advances made by VladChiriches in the English Premier League would make a competitive match-up. The likes of Antoine Griezmann, Olivier Giroud and Anthony Martial are going to have a tough time breaking through the Romanian defense.

Romanian forwards Denis Allbec and Claudlu Keseru would look forward to upsetting the Parisian faithful at the Stade de France.

A game between a nation poised on winning tournaments it hosts and a team without an appearance in the top flight competitions for eight years is certainly a game that is deserving of being the match opener at the Euros.