SCOTLAND coach Ricky Sbragia reckons England can win Euro 2016 and will be willing the Auld Enemy to emerge victorious in France.

The ex-York City defender and youth-team coach, who is now in charge of the Scots' under-21s, reckons the Three Lions have the ability to at least reach the last four in France.

Roy Hodgson's men kick off their campaign tomorrow night against Russia.

Scotland, meanwhile, haven't qualified for the last nine major tournaments, but 60-year-old Sbragia does not feel any animosity towards England.

He said: "I want them to do well despite being a Scotsman and I think they have got a chance of getting to the final four. Then, when you come up against a France or a Spain, it's about how many decisions you make that are right or wrong and how many go for and against you.

"I feel there's a good, strong, young team there with energy and the manager has had a lot of time with them, which is important.

He's given all the players games and, with the likes of Jamie Vardy and Harry Kane, you've got strong, physical players with good ability. As a group, the players seem to have gelled and prepared very well.

"Wayne Rooney's also still a good player with experience and I'd say they have a chance of winning it and that would be nice because you get fed up of seeing Spain and Germany winning tournaments all the time."

Even though Northern Ireland and Wales have also qualified for the competition, along with the Republic of Ireland, Sbragia is not jealous of the fellow home countries either and admitted their success should provide inspiration ahead of the 2018 World Cup.

"I watched Euro 2016 Pointless the other day and you had representatives from every home country other than Scotland, but it's terrific they are all there," he declared. "You always expect England to qualify, but we have got to look at what the others have done because nobody would ever have thought Northern Ireland would qualify, but they did. Michael O'Neill has done a great job and that's what we have to look to achieve as we prepare for the next tournament."

Sbragia is confident, meanwhile, that better times lie ahead for Scotland with few, considering his current role, more qualified to make such a statement.

It is an optimism based on his under-21s crop's present exposure to regular first-team football - the lack of which has long been cited as a problem south of the border.

"We are trying to prepare the players for the next step up, and Gordon (Strachan) has already taken six or seven with him into the full squad," the ex-Manchester United coach explained.

"I believe the future is bright and a lot of our under-21 players are getting regular first-team football in the Scottish Premier League. That might partly be down to finances, but it's good that the clubs are developing their own players.

"We've got five players in Hearts' first team, a couple at Hibs and one with Rangers. If we can get more playing in England at a good level that will help as well.

"I've been working with the set-up for four years and have seen a difference in standards, but we have still got a long way to go, because it is difficult when we come up against the top teams."

One of those sides is Euro 2016 hosts France, who are in Scotland's European U21 Championship qualifying group.

Having witnessed Les Bleus' strength in depth at first hand, Sbragia feels Didier Deschamps' side are well placed to win this tournament and establish themselves as an international force for years to come.

"France will be there or thereabouts, because they have such a big talent pool to choose from," he reasoned. "We came across their under-17s a couple of years ago and they were frighteningly good and, now, their under-21 team is exceptional - the best I've come across.

"We lost 2-0 to them in Aberdeen and 2-1 in France and I was quite happy with that. In their squad, they are talking about players who are going to be sold for £40million like the midfielder Adrien Rabiot, who's at Paris Saint-Germain.

"Kingsley Coman is also valued at the same price and he's only 19 but he's already played for Juventus and Bayern Munich and Aymeric Laporte is another one too, so they have an abundance of talent to call upon."