Euro Vision: Can Iceland and Wales continue their astonishing streaks? Gulf News’ Sports Desk discuss expectations for the upcoming Euro 2016 quarter-final matches. Will Iceland and Wales continue to dominate?
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00:00Their country may have voted to leave Europe, but the football team have no plans on leaving
00:09the continent just yet. Wales are through to the quarter-final, and with them fellow
00:14underdogs Iceland after their historic win over England. Joining me to discuss it is
00:19of course our very own deputy sports editor and Iceland's newest fan, Duncan Hare, and
00:23our not-at-all-surprised sports reporter, Ashley Hammond. Gentlemen, at the start of
00:28this tournament we talked about Wales and Iceland and how they were underdogs, and here
00:32we are now talking about them in the quarter-finals. Do they deserve to be there? Undoubtedly deserve
00:37their place there. They say in league football that the table doesn't lie. I think in tournament
00:41football it can sometimes lie. Look at Portugal, I don't think they really deserve to be this
00:47far. We'll talk about that in a minute. But you can't argue with the fact that the spirit
00:53and the determination, the plucky underdog-ness of Iceland and Wales has just been supreme.
00:59It's been fantastic. It's been an amazing journey for both teams to watch. Undoubtedly
01:05deserve their place, and I could see one of the two going forward even further. They've
01:11both shown such spirit and there have been such positive influences on the tournament.
01:17The manner in which they've got to this, it's so unexpected the manner they've got to it,
01:21but undoubtedly they do thoroughly deserve it. So against the likes of Belgium and France,
01:26who here has got the fear factor? Is it going to be Iceland and Wales, or Belgium and France?
01:31Who here needs to be really looking over their shoulders? They both will take them very,
01:36very seriously. Didier Deschamps and Mark Wilmots will both be telling their players
01:41right now from the get-go, do not underestimate this opposition in the slightest. I think
01:47it's going to be a bridge too far for both Iceland and Wales, but the way the tournament
01:51has gone so far, you can never tell. Right from the start, I fancy Belgium. They're a
01:57very poor start to competition against Italy, but they have so many talented players. There
02:01are still question marks, but every single team in this tournament, there's not a single
02:05team that's run away with it, but in certain areas, I think Belgium have real quality.
02:10I think it's not a bridge too far for Iceland. If you look at how France played against the
02:15Republic of Ireland, they weren't that convincing, and France weren't that convincing in the
02:18group stages. I'm not 100% convinced by France. They didn't do enough against Ireland, although
02:24they did turn it around 2-1. I think out of the two, I'd back Iceland to pull off another
02:31shock over France rather than perhaps Belgium messing up against Wales. I can see Belgium
02:38going forward now. Where I think France might have the advantage
02:41is I think they'll be able to play those two banks of four a lot better than what England
02:44did. There's more creativity in the wider areas, and I think they will see more of the
02:49ball in the midfield to get it to them in the first place.
02:52Possibly, but I still think Iceland have got another trick up their sleeve.
02:55It's fascinating that we're even asking this question in the first place. Could Iceland
03:00have beaten England in the last 16 actually upset France in the quarterfinals? You'd never
03:06have thought before the start of this tournament, we're even pondering this question.
03:10Iceland football is all about momentum. A large percentage of it is momentum, it is
03:16spirit and it is the feeling you get coming off of a couple of games. Iceland have got
03:21that. I'm not sure France have got that in the same degree, even though they're at home.
03:26In the end, I think the quality will tell, but it'd be fascinating.
03:29We thought that against England that the quality would tell, but it didn't.
03:31Very true. Our first quarterfinal this Thursday sees
03:35Poland up against Portugal. I think we've got to be honest here, Portugal have been
03:38a bit underwhelming. It took them 117 minutes to score against Switzerland with their only
03:44shot at the game. They have been quite lucky. They're going up against the Poland side that
03:48do look quite well drilled. Do you think Portugal's luck is about to run out?
03:52Yes, in a word. I don't think anyone's been impressed with Portugal in the slightest.
03:57They've managed to get to this stage of the competition without actually winning a football
04:00match within 90 minutes, of course. They organise the words with Poland in the defence and the
04:06midfield areas. They look quite assured. Lewandowski's not even scored a goal in the competition,
04:10yet Poland have managed to get this far through. I like Krakowiak, the boy at Sevilla. He's
04:17impressed me any time I've seen him. He's a talented, talented midfield player. I think
04:21he can help take Poland further on. I think Poland would be a good dark horse out at this
04:26stage of the competition. I think Portugal are going to be one of those
04:29annoying teams, that they don't deserve to be this far, but they'll creep through and
04:34they're in an easy part of the draw as well. I wouldn't be surprised if you could see Portugal
04:39going on much further than they deserve. They shouldn't even have got out of the group.
04:44This best third place team, in my opinion, is a joke. They shouldn't be this far, but
04:48they probably can go forward.
04:50So, lastly, gentlemen, I want to talk about Germany. They look like they really came alive
04:54against Slovakia in this tournament. They're going up against a menacing Italian side.
04:59Do you think it's safe to say that Germany might now be the favourites in this tournament?
05:04I think that title has slipped slightly. I quite fancy Italy, after what Italy managed
05:11to do against Spain. As we were saying, every team in this tournament has had an off day.
05:18Germany drew against Poland. Italy lost their first game. Italy lost against Ireland. Everyone's
05:23had a good and a bad day. Can we outright say that Germany are still the favourites?
05:28I'm not sure we can. I don't think there's any favourites in this tournament, which is
05:31what makes it so interesting going forward.
05:34I think looking at the Germany-Italy match, I think it would be right to say that the
05:39favourites to win the competition may come from this match. Just in terms of performances
05:43in the tournament, and then also on reputations as well, past history. The Italians look so
05:48assured defensively. Unlike England, who didn't have a formation to actually work with the
05:54players they've got, the Italians know they don't have anyone special up front. So they
05:58play a 3-5-2, and they count on their defence. They know that the strength is the back line,
06:04and that's what they do. They keep it solid at the back, get it wide, and then try to
06:08get into the forward areas, and otherwise just defend the lead that they get.
06:12Germany have never beaten Italy in tournament football. I'm quite big on stats. Lars Lagerbeck
06:18had never lost against England last night.
06:20You all heard it here first.
06:22So I think, I reckon Italy. And I don't think Germany are necessarily the favourites that
06:27they came in as.
06:30Thank you very much, gentlemen. The quarter-finals begin on Thursday, and they run through to
06:35Sunday, with each match kicking off at 11pm. As ever, you can catch the latest news, views
06:40and results on golfnews.com, and don't forget to follow us on Twitter at Golf News Sport,
06:44using the hashtag Euro 2016.