© EuroFootball.com
Legendary Lithuanian footballers Valdas Ivanauskas and Rimantas Turskis consider the German national team as the favorite of the upcoming European Football Championship. Among the contenders for the highest awards, they also mention the Dutch and Spanish teams, which have dominated European and world football in recent years.
Valdas Ivanauskas, who played for Hamburger SV for four years, has been interested in German football so far, follows all the news, communicates with football specialists from this country, so he will be cheering for Germany during the European Championship, as they have been demonstrating modern and enjoyable football in recent years.
"Changes in German football began 12 years ago. The Germans changed their entire system - starting from youth football and ending with the football federation. At first, many were dissatisfied with the changes, but the risk paid off. In various age groups, German footballers have achieved high results. Germans have always been disciplined and in recent years, they have been playing an enjoyable type of football. Of course, it will not be easy for them in the European Championship. All teams are equal. In such competitions, the first match for each team is crucial," said the legendary footballer, now consulting with Vilnius football club "REO".
Both Valdas Ivanauskas and Rimantas Turskis, like many football specialists, believe that the toughest group in the European Championship is Group B, known as the "group of death," where Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Denmark play. "In my opinion, one of the two teams that will advance from this group will definitely play in the final," predicts Ivanauskas.
According to him, surprises could be presented by one of the European Championship hosts - Poland, and also, it is not worth forgetting about the Italians, Croats, who lost one of their leaders I. Olic, or Russians, whose game is always hard to predict. Recently, Russia played a 0:0 training match with Lithuania and then crushed Italy 3:0 after a few days.
"Of course, there should not be any big surprises, but any team can surprise. For example, the host Poland has a well-balanced team, many of their players play abroad, three of them - Borussia Dortmund, with which they became German champions this year and were one of the team's leaders, so they are in euphoria. Poles have come a long way to win the right to host the championship, and they will use the rights of the hosts. On the other hand, they got into the championship without qualification matches, so they only played friendly matches and have little experience in official matches," said Ivanauskas.
The famous football specialist also appreciates the Italians. "After all the scandals in Italian football, they can rehabilitate themselves, as it happened in 2006 when several teams were disqualified from the Italian championship and relegated to lower leagues, and the Italian national team became world champions. Italians play a pragmatic type of football - for the result. Their team has a good ratio of young and experienced players," notes Ivanauskas.
"Any team can shoot, even the Russians, who performed well in the last European Championship," - Vilnius football club "REO" president R. Turskis agrees with his colleague.
He says that the Czech and Polish teams could also surprise, but he does not think they will reach the final.
Unlike Valdas Ivanauskas, Rimantas Turskis jokingly said he would cheer for the Russians. "Why? I don't know. Maybe because we played in the Soviet Union championship ourselves and know more about Russian football," joked the former famous footballer.
"But honestly, I would like the Dutch to win, because they always reach the final of the World Cup, but something is always missing at the last moment," says the president of the "REO" club.
