Sunday 12th June

There is a certain type of madness which overtakes even the most sensible of men.  International Football competitions come round every two years, and though the European Championships are slightly less prestigious then the World Cup they are still quite exciting.  And never more so than this year, when we have four teams to support, or follow at least.  England, as usual (and I am writing this on Saturday morning before our first match) may well flatter only to deceive.  We won our qualifying group almost too easily, winning every game – but were brought down to earth by the recent friendlies where we were either not so good, or maybe quite poor, depending on who you speak to.  But there is an air of the possible about this young team, with bright young forwards; Jamie Vardy and Harry Kane were the best scorers last season in the Premier League and we seem to have almost a glut of strikers and wingers.  Midfield, we are steady if unspectacular, but our defence is still like a wobbly jelly; on the verge of slipping right off the spoon and only held together by chance and brilliant goalkeeping.  And there is always Wayne Rooney, our talisman and one-time wonder-kid, who is still capable occasionally of being brilliant.  Wales are in the finals for the first time in years (nothing to do with there now being 24, rather than only 16 team this year; meaning that 4 third placed teams out of 6 will now progress to the last 16) (apologies ladies, sorry to bore you with technicalities) and have former Spurs player Gareth Bale to lead them.  The Welsh are in the same group as England which might cause a few problems.  Northern Ireland are also in the finals, a remarkable achievement and maybe, just maybe they will do well.  There is also Ireland, though nominally a foreign country we will also support them. And we always have our adopted country of France to fall back on…

And I must admit I am mildly excited.  This is the best time in these competitions – before your side has kicked a ball and anything is possible and before we see our goalie picking the ball out of the back of the net again.  And the first game can actually be lost too and you can still qualify (hope over experience but still) so this first game, which of course we want to win, is almost a warm-up for games to come (at least two more).  So come on England, there is no side to be frightened of – except the Germans, and maybe the Italians and the Spanish, and oh, not forgetting all the others…