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England's never won this tournament, have they? Better break out Geoff Hurst...
The Netherlands and Germany are always alluring picks but they fail to get it done. I've seen enough Arjen "Choke Artist" Robben to last a lifetime already (WC '10 and UEFA '12). 
I simply don't know the game well enough or the multitude of players yet to give an educated pick, but that won't stop me! Just give me until Thursday to wrack my small mind...
BTW, thanks to the crap UEFA site for not providing the groups easily enough; had to go to BBC Sport to do so. 
Most of what you need is at Uefa, groups, fixtures,venues, refs etc but you need to 'get used to it' from memory - not the most user friendly website.
No, england have never done great, semi-finals in euro 96 (one of the two or three occasions I talked about!!) and had a fairly disappointing showing in euro '68 in Italy (only third) after the great '66 world cup final win.
Usually these things are always about getting the nucleus of world class players to peak at the same period and finding good enough players to fill the remaining roles. Sadly, we had periods where we had five or six great players but the rest were cack, so we got what we deserved. Usually English arrogance and press hype sees off any chance of us making progress anyway.
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I knew that England had its share of troubles when no one was exactly lining up and Ooohing like Arnold Horshack to get picked as its newest manager. Hand wringing over it cost poor ol' Harry Redknapp a place in the Champions League next year.
Its been a mess Jim. In true FA fashion, they dawdled and procrastinated, and now we have a safe and unimaginative manager who would probably play with 9 defenders and a striker if he could!!
As predicted, we have four defenders who dont get forward and support at all and two holding players in centre midfield and two harder-working wide midfielders who have to tuck in and tackle and track back - in short it means we attack with two players! So we will be tougher to break down but have no chance of scoring unless its a gift or a freak or a deadball or a corner. No sign of any football.
Yawn. From what Ive seen, its already the dullest england team I've seen in years.
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Lampard out, maybe Terry too. I don't see this England doing anything. Rooney can't even play the first 2 games.
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Thats quality kev!
Dunno why ferdinand is always whingeing - would you wanna put John Terry and Rio in the same dressing room and have them side by side in the team given the looming court case over his brother's racism claims? Straight away you would have division in the camp - those that side with Terry and those that side with Rio and those that try to be down the middle. It would be a mess. That would be a sideshow that no manager would want to introduce - he has enough trouble finding 11 fit players and getting through the group stages with very limited flair in the team. He's chosen Terry, rightly or wrongly. Now they have got to get on with it.
Interesting Kev that most Liverpool fans acknowledge that this has been one of your worst teams (suarez aside) in a long time but, as you say, we have the largest inclusion of Liverpool players in years! You couldnt make it up! Make you right about Downing and Henderson - when Ive seen them they have both been a massive let -down and must frustrate the hell out of the people who watch them week in week out. Downing is about as dull and obvious as Walcott. I would have preferred Johnson of City. He's a bit of a headless chicken but at least he runs at people - walcott and Downing have lost confidence and when receiving out wide they usually only check their runs and pass back to the man who gave them the ball in the first place. Wingers that dont take people on and whose crossing is erratic or overhit. Very worrying.
The biggest concern really is that when you look around beyond Hodgson's choices, even those he hasnt picked arent exactly ripping up trees. All the best players in the teams we watch regularly arent English! And those that are English are fairly ordinary, limited in their football brain or simply out of form.
as tallguy says- we're so bad that the stage is set for us to nick every game 1-0 and win the tournament""!! ha ha
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That's playing for a 1-0 scoreline, winning or losing or they'll be happy with a point from each game. The game against Ukraine will be decisive.
England's game is so dull these days that sitting through 90 minutes of it could be a bore.
Think youre right there MI6. First game v France could be decisive if we get battered but that Ukraine game is the one. Big tournament kick off today but fairly dreary fixtures.
Hopefully we dont suffer too many cagey games. The last world cup took about 7 days to get going!!
Group B tomorrow though - Holland v Denmark and Germany v Portugal.
And Wednesday's Holland v germany should be fun!! Anyone interested should read Simon Kuper's brilliant chapter in Football against the Enemy on the rivalry between these two countries to fully comprehend the wider picture!! Its an enthralling chapter even if youre not into football.
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I'm looking forward to the Republic of Ireland games. Gives me an added interest, instead of always having to just listen to all the England media talk. They start against Croatia on Sunday night, then Spain and Italy (Gulp!). It's a tough group, and Ireland may do well to get a goal never mind a point. But I'll be cheering on the boys in green
My prediction to win the tournament...France.
Interesting choice Thomas.
Someone said France will either be finallists or so bad they lose the England, nothing inbetween. They look a lot better than their world cup shambles though.
Ireland have a lot to do, as you say, in that group. Many people think the stories of Italy in disarray are exaggerrated. Scoring might be a problem, but if ireland defend well, they could get some draws and who knows.
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