Allan Ball champions France and Holland

Allan Ball champions France and Holland

JAKARTA (JP): The 1996 European Championship finals will be a
showcase of high-quality soccer, featuring close matches
involving both the established and emerging nations with England
playing the dangerous host, according to Manchester City manager
Alan Ball.

"I think the matches are going to be very open. There are
many, many strong teams. Anything can happen," Ball told The
Jakarta Post in a brief interview here yesterday.

He added that in addition to the old guards such as Germany
and Italy, he saw an upsurge of emerging young teams such as
France, Holland and some eastern European countries.

Ball has been here since Tuesday at the invitation of the
British International School. He will attend a student soccer
tournament held by the school at Bintaro, Tangerang, West Java
this weekend.

Personally, however, Ball favors former European champions
France and Holland, given their recent impressive performances.
He added that he had formed his opinion even before 1984 winner
France's upset 1-0 away win over Euro 96 favorite Germany in
their friendly match on June 1.

On England, Ball, who was a member of the World Cup-winning
side in 1966, said that playing on home soil always makes England
a very dangerous team.

"At home, England is completely different. It's the pride and
the passion of home crowds which drives them on," Ball said. He
added that in the last 30 years, it has always been hard to beat
England at home. "And it will be the same this year, I believe,"
said Ball, who turns 51 on June 12.

Statistics shows England rules its home turf. Since September
1994, England under manager Terry Venables has played 13
international matches at home. It has won six times, drawn six
and lost just once -- to world champion Brazil.

England achieved world soccer supremacy when Queen Elizabeth
presented captain Bobby Moore with the old Jules Rimet trophy
after a victory over West Germany in the 1966 World Cup final.

Since that day, England has reached the semifinals of just two
major tournaments -- the European Championships in 1968 and the
World Cup in 1990.

And apart from reaching the last four of the World Cup in
1990, England's recent record in international tournaments is
disappointing.

In 1986, it was eliminated after the first round of the
European championship finals in Italy, and failed to qualify for
the finals in France in 1984. In West Germany in 1988 England
lost all three group matches and in 1992 in Sweden drew two and
lost one of its group matches, thereby suffering another early
exit.

As if to add insult to injury, England failed to qualify for
the 1994 World Cup in the United States.

In Euro 96 which will kick off tomorrow, England is in Group A
together with Holland, Switzerland and Scotland. "It's a tough
group. I believe Holland and England will go through to the
quarterfinals," Ball said. (arf)