According to Alan Shearer
According to Alan Shearer and his blog, England could win Euro 2016.
This is old post that was written on 15th October 2016 which has been reposted. This is what Alan Shearer said almost four years ago about England and their chances of winning Euro 2016:
“A home win over San Marino is one thing, a trip to Poland another.
But it is not a journey that should fill us with any sort of dread.
Poland have a fantastic home support — as we saw in the European Championships this summer.
Sadly for them, they do not have the team to match it.
In our last decent test in Group H at home to Ukraine, we came up short.
This time we have to prove that there is optimism once more where England are concerned.
It is a tough time for the national team.
This weekend plenty of people will have been bemoaning the absence of the Premier League.
The Champions League, for many, already dwarfs international competition.
Our national players have had to compete with heroes from other sports of late from the Olympics to, more recently, the Ryder Cup.
There is a danger that people can fall out of love with England.
After all, we have not won anything for 46 years.
I take my share of the blame for that — having played for England for eight years without bringing home any silverware.
But for me, the importance of a strong national team remains as fierce as ever.
Just look at the crowd the other night at Wembley for San Marino.
We were playing the worst national team in world football and still did so in front of more than 85,000 people.
No matter what you say about other sports, there is still nothing that galvanises the nation like a successful England team.
Still, the players have to give the fans some hope, something to cling on to.
A good performance in Poland will help right now.
Manager Roy Hodgson has spoken about his excitement at the new young breed of player coming into the national side and it is not a misplaced optimism.
I am not saying we are going to go to Rio and come home with the World Cup in two years.
I do, however, believe the next European Championship in 2016 should not be beyond us.
For the first time in a long while, we have an England team with some real pace in it.
Kyle Walker, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Tom Cleverley, Aaron Lennon and Danny Welbeck have helped to inject that into the side. Add a world great like Wayne Rooney and the experience and ability we have in the likes of Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole… and we have players that can do great things.
And, yes, I do think Cole should play at left-back against Poland.
I said the FA could send out a message about behaviour by leaving him out of the side for the San Marino game at Wembley on Friday night.
That, however, does not change my opinion of him as a player.
For me he is the best full-back in the world and one who has made a huge contribution to our national side and will soon complete a magnificent achievement in reaching his 100th cap.
He still has plenty to give as well.
What I do like about a lot of the new and established players is that there is still a pride in playing for the national team.
There was a fear that was being lost.
Often it was too easy to pull out of the national team through illness or injury.
Listening to players like Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart talk about what it means to play for England, you realise it does still matter.
So it should.
There should still be no greater accolade than being chosen to play for your country.
I was proud to play for Southampton, Blackburn and finally my hometown club Newcastle.
But that was still nothing compared to walking out with that England shirt on and then singing the national anthem.
Looking back, the fact I did not win something with England leaves a massive hole in my career.
Because believe me, both in Euro ’96 and France ’98 we certainly had the players capable of doing it.
But still I look back with pride on the fact that I had the opportunity to try and change history.
It really meant something and if it still means something to these players, half the battle is won.
The other half is the more difficult bit, without a doubt.
Yet we should never give up on the hope and belief that one day our country will bring home a trophy.
The support the national team has never ceases to amaze.
But it falls to this current generation to ensure that they still have a reason to hope.
A good performance in Warsaw against Poland tomorrow night will certainly help.”
