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)