The day is finally here. After what feels like an eternity of waiting, France kick off Euro 2016 against Romania at the venue the tournament will eventually see the trophy lifted in; the Stade de France. There's a whole month of football before that though..
France's squad has been described as the best since their 1998 World Cup triumph and hopefully they'll show their quality tonight against a Romania side that has returned to the Euros after missing out in 2012. The Tricolorii's qualifying campaign was fairly impressive in that they finished their campaign unbeaten, but left room for improvement considering they qualified second to Northern Ireland in what was arguably the weakest of the nine groups.
I expect their mediocre form to continue into Euro 2016 too then, and fully expect France to win the opener. Whilst 1/3 looks too short to back, I'd look to France to win and Over 1.5 goals at 4/6 as our main single. Romania have only won once at a European Championship (a 3-2 victory over England at Euro 2000), losing eight of their 12 other games, so don't expect an upset tonight.
Didier Deschamps has a ridiculous amount of talent at his disposal, too. From the outstanding in Paul Pogba and Antoine Griezmann to the exciting talent of Anthony Martial and Kingsley Coman, the French squad oozes class. However, it's one of their older players that I'll be looking at tonight. 6/5 on Olivier Giroud to score and France to win on the Arsenal talisman's 50th cap looks very solid to me, especially considering he's got seven goals in his last four appearances for club and country.
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As far as a longshot goes, I'm thinking France are going to want to get off to a quick start to settle those nerves so France to lead after 20 mins at 13/5 doesn't look like a terrible shout. They've achieved the feat in their last four games so don't be surprised if they manage it again.
Words: @joshuapsjones