David James insists England should not worry about their pre-tournament defeat to Iceland – and he’s tipping Austria to be the dark horses of the Euros.
The goalkeeper lined up for the Three Lions at Euro 2004 and the 2010 World Cup, and was also part of the squad for both 2002 and 2006.
With that tournament experience in mind, James believes a home loss to Iceland in England’s final warm-up game won’t make any difference when they play their first match at Euro 2024 against Serbia on Sunday.
Now 53, and having previously played club football in Iceland for IBV, he’s hopeful that Gareth Southgate’s men have what it takes in Germany, despite losing centre-back Harry Maguire to injury.
James also wonders whether England may place a slightly greater emphasis on attack at this tournament.
“I’m an England supporter, so the easiest way I look at the Euros is England are the winners until someone beats us,” James told FFT.
“The likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Phil Foden are going to be pivotal to any success we have. With the injuries, when you’ve had such disruption to what was a very consistent starting line-up and squad, will there be a shift in the way England play?
“That’s not me pressurising Gareth in any way to change things, because getting to European Championship final and losing on penalties, that wasn’t bad at all. Of course we all want him to win, but the recipe for success was all there, bar two penalties.
“When you’ve got the attacking flair, we’ve got Jude Bellingham, Cole Palmer, Phil Foden, Declan Rice even, there’s a possibility to change things.
“The Iceland result was frustrating, although having spent six months there, a little bit of me thought if you’re going to get beat by anyone, at least it’s Iceland. But Portugal lost their friendly to Croatia too, with a very strong side out, so it didn’t mean anything, that result.
“I’ve got this little inkling that, because of the personnel, the team isn’t going to play the way they did during the last Euros or the beginning part of the preparation for this one. I think there’s going to be a nice little twist, so I’m going to watch with confidence and excitement.”
James believes England are capable of glory, and he’s tipping a surprise package to join them in the semi-finals.
The former Liverpool shot-stopper fancies an Austria side led by former Manchester United boss Ralf Rangnick to be the dark horses of the tournament, having heard good things about them when Watford’s Austrian goalkeeper Daniel Bachmann joined him at Soccer Aid at the weekend.
Austria only narrowly finished second to Belgium in their qualifying group, and will face France, Poland and the Netherlands in the first round of the Euros.
“I think Portugal will be very good at this tournament,” James said. “I was chatting with Roberto Martinez just after the Champions League final, and they’re good. They’ve got a good team of support staff around them too, as England do.
“Germany are obviously the hosts – the last hosts to win the Euros was France in 1984, hosts don’t tend to do well. Semi-final, whatever. My dark horses are Austria – I think they will do well. They’re going to be very well organised, very difficult to beat. It sounds a bit cliched, but they had a very successful qualification campaign.
“Then there’s France, of course. There are a lot of good teams. If England can get to the final, I fancy them to win.”
James was speaking as an ambassador for UK energy supplier Utilita – in 2021, the passionate environmentalist joined forces with them to help create Football Rebooted, a national football boot recycling campaign that has approximately 700 donation boxes around the country.
As part of the link-up, he made a surprise appearance this March for Sunday League side AFC Hutwood, even ending up scoring the winning goal.
“Second half, I got put up top,” James said, reviving memories of his unexpected move up front for Stuart Pearce’s Manchester City, in the last game of the 2004-05 season. “In the last minute, I smashed this free-kick, double bouncing, off the post, off the goalkeeper’s head and into the goal. You couldn’t have made it up!”
Visit footballrebooted.co.uk for more information and to find your nearest Football Rebooted boot collection point to donate, claim boots or order a free boot box so your school, club or organisation can collect and redistribute boots. If you can’t get to a collection point but have boots to donate, you can send in via a Freepost eco-bag
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