England kick off their Euro 2016 campaign against Russia on Saturday, hoping to begin as they mean to go in an attempt to end 50 years of international heartbreak and underachievement.
With a potentially tricky game against Wales to follow a few days later, Roy Hodgson's team really need to get three points under their belt straight away or risk another embarrassingly early exit from a major tournament.
"?Any History?
England have only met Russia twice before and have a win and a defeat to show for those two games. Both fixtures came in qualifying for Euro 2008 - England won 3-0 at home, but a 2-1 loss in Moscow ultimately proved catastrophic to their chances of reaching the finals.
Prior to the breakup of the Soviet Union, England met the USSR on a handful of occasions, winning five, losing three and drawing three between 1958 and 1991.
England beat the Soviets in the third place playoff at one of the earliest European Championships in 1968 when only four teams contested the final tournament, but the roles were reversed in the group stage in 1988.
Russian Strengths and Weaknesses
The Russian squad is what you might call 'experienced', with the majority of the players in their late 20s or early 30s. That is a strength in one sense but there may be an advantage for England to exploit if they press high up the pitch and play with good attacking tempo against ageing legs in the Russian back four.
What the Three Lions must do is keep it tight. England largely got away with lax defending in the warm-up games against Turkey and Australia, while Portugal barely attacked after being reduced to 10 men, but talented Russian forwards are real threats.
Krasnodar's Fyodor Smolov was top scorer in the Russian Premier League in 2015/16 and has an international goal return of five in 12 appearances. Zenit St. Petersburg front-man Aleksandar Kokorin is also highly rated, while his club colleague Artem Dzyuba scored six goals in the Champions league this season.
England Team News and Probable XI
Hart; Walker, Cahill, Smalling, Rose; Dier; Lallana, Rooney (c), Alli, Sterling; Kane
Jamie Vardy and James Milner are both expected to miss out despite starting the final warm-up game last week. It comes as Hodgson looks to alter his tactics following a disappointing attacking performance against the Portuguese.
Raheem Sterling and Adam Lallana are both set to come in after impressing from the bench in that game. Chris Smalling has overcome the minor knee problem he suffered in training earlier this week.
Prediction
Quite simply, Russia are not as good as they were a few years ago and their current FIFA world ranking of 29th reflects that. While nearly always strong in qualifying, they have often underwhelmed in major tournaments, barring one or two exceptions.
It means that if England perform to the level that their ability suggests they can, this should be in for a comfortable opening win. Hodgson's team have the quality, they just have to make sure they turn up and execute the right game-plan.
Of any England team in the last 20 years, this generation, devoid of the same pressure and past failures that have haunted their predecessors, is arguably the best equipped to do just that.
England 3-1 Russia
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