Michael Keane: Squad stability can be key to success

The Three Lions begin their campaign in Czech Republic on Thursday evening when Gareth Southgate’s men face Portugal in Uherske Hradiste.

And the Burnley defender reckons the familiarity and spirit among a group which has largely worked together throughout the qualifying campaign will play a part in any success they might enjoy.

"This group has stayed together for near enough two years now, the gaffer has used a similar squad each time and it’s shown in the performances," said Keane.

"Sometimes we’ve had to come from behind but the team spirit is really good and everyone gets on well so we’ve got a chance of going far.

"We’re not going to win this tournament without using everyone in the squad, it’s a team thing and it’s really positive, we’ve got a great bunch of lads and staff around us.

"The whole team is looking forward to it, we’ve had a lot of preparation games and we’re finally here.

"There’s no point in us coming if we didn’t believe we could win. We’ve not come here to do anything else and we’ll be disappointed if we don’t.

"But at the same time, we know it’s going to be tough and there’s a lot of great teams in the competition."

England are under no illusions about how tough their first game with the Portuguese is going to be.

Michael Keane refuses to read too much into England's win over Portugal last November

The nations met in November in a friendly at Keane’s home ground Turf Moor, a game which ended in a 3-1 win for the Three Lions.

But while the former Manchester United youngster is confident, he knows that nothing can be read into that result now that the competition is under way over six months later.

"They’re a great team and maybe they will change a couple of the players but we’ve got a whole bunch of fantastic players and a lot of experience," he said.

"No matter which team plays for us or them, if we play our normal game and get off to a good start, I’m confident we can get a good result.

"We’ve played some of those [Euro Final] teams in the past and done really well so we’ve proved we can beat them and now we’ve just got to do it on the day.

"We’ve had meetings about the game and we need to make sure we prepare right."