In what could be considered a departure from normal programming, Roy Keane is optimistically predicting England can reach the Euro 2024 final – and potentially go all the way.
Speaking on a special episode of sports podcast Stick to Football: The Overlap, Keane joined co-hosts Gary Neville, Jill Scott and Ian Write to discuss England's fortunes, Harry Kane and walking away from international football.
Keane struck an upbeat tone, painting a picture about what the mood among the team must be like, currently.
'England are in a great place,' Keane said on Stick to Football: The Overlap Special, brought to you by Sky Bet. 'If you're in that England camp – it's about peaking at the right time, staying in games, [having] match winners […] and players producing – that was world class.
'Even the penalties, the lads coming off the bench scoring goals, if you're Gareth Southgate's players, I'm telling you – it's going along nicely.'
And it's this positive energy within the Southgate camp, Keane says, is what could propel England to the final of Euro 2024 next Sunday, where they'll face either France or Spain.
'I fancy England to win the semi-final,' he told the panel. 'We watched the game – Turkey and Holland – and England will beat that Holland.
'But with that level of performance against France or Spain, if they're at it, it probably wouldn't be enough – you cross that bridge when you get to it.
'Emotionally, the energy levels are back up there with England, Gareth [Southgate] was upbeat – that's what a win gives you.'
Talk turned back to England's quarter-final victory over Switzerland last Saturday, with Gary Neville saying he was 'surprised' the Three Lions didn't kill the game off with another goal.
'I was surprised we didn't go on and win 2-1,' Neville reflected. 'I thought we'd then go on and get that second. Like the Dutch did against Turkey…
'That's where I thought, 'Go on, you've played reasonably well, we've gone a goal down, we've got back in it, now go and win the game.'
Keane believed the end result wasn't in doubt, however, saying: 'I never thought England would lose. How they get there, you never know how it's going to be – it's going to be tight, maybe a mistake, or penalties.'
Reflecting on his own experiences playing for the Republic of Ireland, Keane singled-out the unpredictability of international football by saying form throughout a tournament doesn't always equate to silverware.
'We talk about going back to our own careers,' he said. 'The cup runs we had, and there’s games we look back on – maybe two or three games – there’s other teams who have played a lot better.
'There are teams playing worse than England who are still in the tournament, we can go back to the French, a couple of days ago we said Austria have great players, they are out of it. That’s just the nature of sport.'
To watch the third episode of Stick to Football: The Overlap Special, fans can tune in to ITV1 & ITVX on Monday 8th July at 11:40pm or watch it on The Overlap YouTube channel.
