England manager Roy Hodgson believes that his players will relish the opportunity of being underdogs in Monday s opener against France.
Les Bleus have been in mercurial form under coach Laurent Blanc, having put together an astonishing 21-game unbeaten run heading into Euro 2012 after a disastrous 2010 World Cup campaign saw them bow out amidst controversy in the group stages.
The French beat England 2-1 at Wembley when the sides last met, but Hodgson insists his players will be fearless heading into the Group D encounter at Donbass Arena.
The players think we can beat France, there s no question about that. There s no fear in that respect, he said.
In any league, 21 matches unbeaten is an achievement. But I don t get the feeling the players are cowed by the task. They re more motivated in a way.
It may be quite nice for them to go into a game where people are saying it will be tough and France are a better team than you .
I would think they ll probably quite enjoy the fact that the favourite position is now being taken from us and given to France. We know we can give them a good game, no question.
The former Liverpool boss is under no illusions that England will be expected to qualify from Group D, despite him having been given just two warm-up matches to analyse his squad.
And with the group s curtain-raiser rapidly approaching, Hodgson has confirmed that he is still yet to decide on whether he will adopt a more cautious approach with the inclusion of Stewart Downing and James Milner, or opt for the youthful exuberance of Arsenal duo Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
The choice of wide midfielders and the other centre-forward to partner Ashley Young, they re the ones I ve had to give thought to, he said.
We do have competition in those places, and furthermore we don t necessarily have people due to their experience who are nailed on in those positions.
They re people holding their hand up and saying pick me . The back four and two central midfielders are those that shout at me you ve got to put me in the team .
