Euro 2016: England's opener with Russia provides chance to break the habit of a generation and get off to winning start

England have never won their opening fixture when attempting to win the European Championship

Roy Hodgson knows the pressure is on after two limp previous tournaments under his management (Getty)

It is not only the mistral which threatens to blow England’s Euro 2016 ambitions off course when they face Russia in Marseille in Saturday’s Group B opener at Stade Velodrome.

An historical propensity for false starts must also be overcome if Roy Hodgson’s players are to make this European Championships different to the rest. England have never won their opening fixture when attempting to conquer the continent.

Even back in 1968, when Sir Alf Ramsey’s world champions participated in the competition for the first time, a 1-0 defeat against Yugoslavia in a four-team tournament in Italy ended hopes of success in the opening game.

Since that defeat in Florence 48 years ago, England have been unable to hit the ground running in any of the European Championship for which they have qualified.

There have been four draws and three losses, all of which have led to the stress and anxiety of requiring a positive result in the second game.

It has rarely gone to plan for England in the Euros, which is why the experience as a whole has proven to be hugely unsatisfactory for a nation that has had to watch from afar as the likes of Denmark and Greece – comparative international minnows – have upset the odds to lift the Henri Delaunay trophy.

But Russia in Marseille surely offers England the opportunity to wipe the slate clean and lay the foundations for a sustained assault on success in France?

Leonid Slutsky’s team were unconvincing in qualification – their patchy results cost Fabio Capello his job as coach – and they head into Euro 2016 without a host of key players due to injury, with midfield playmaker Alan Dzagoev arguably the most damaging loss.

But to make assumptions with England at the European Championships is a risky approach because, in the end, they usually fall short having been left to play catch-up as a result of a failure to make it count on day one.

The noises emanating from England’s base camp in Chantilly is that the Russia game cannot come quickly enough – ‘We are ready’ – has been the message from the likes of Wayne Rooney, Chris Smalling and Joe Hart, when asked about the fixture.

The value of a victory is crucial, however, with a date with Wales in Lens looming next Thursday.

Do England really want to go into that fixture, one loaded with so much domestic significance and patriotic fervour, needing to pick themselves up from a fall against the Russians?

The 1-0 defeat against the Republic of Ireland at Euro 88 – a group opener in Stuttgart – offers a painful reminder of the perils of facing an under-estimated neighbour from the British Isles.

Only once have England made it beyond the group having lost their opening game at the Euros.

Defeats against the Irish in 1988 and Portugal in 2000 – England had led 2-0 against the Portuguese in Eindhoven following early goals by Paul Scholes and Steve McManaman – set the English on course for group stage elimination, but a 2-1 loss to France in Lisbon at Euro 2004 was followed by a run to the quarter-finals with a teenage Wayne Rooney inspiring Sven-Goran Eriksson’s team to emphatic group victories against Switzerland and Croatia.

But then came Rooney’s broken metatarsal in the quarter-final defeat against Portugal – on penalties, obviously – which sent England’s golden generation home, unfulfilled, until the next time.

England, meanwhile, have a 50-50 qualification rate when they start their Euro campaigns with a draw.

In 1980 and 1992, opening day stalemates against Belgium (1-1) and Denmark (0-0) respectively saw teams led by Ron Greenwood and Graham Taylor flying home at the earliest opportunity.

The 1-1 draw against France in Donetsk at Euro 2012 did not damage England’s prospects of qualification from the group, with Hodgson’s team progressing to a penalty shoot-out defeat against the Italians in the quarter-final, but it is only at Euro 96 that England kicked on with any kind of conviction, with Terry Venables’s squad reaching the semi-finals before the Germans made it to the final on penalties.

In France, however, the importance of a winning start and the ability to control their own destiny should drive England to victory against Russia.

An opening day win would infuse Hodgson’s players with confidence and morale and all but guarantee a top two finish.

If England top the group, they will face a third-placed team from group A, C or D at Parc des Princes in the second round, while second place would throw up a similarly appealing encounter with the Group F runners-up – potentially Austria, Hungary or Iceland – in Nice.

But a slip against the Russians could leave England battling to scrape through in third place and then face the likelihood of a second round encounter with Spain or Germany, so Hodgson and his squad will be fully aware of the minefield they will be forced to negotiate if they lose in Marseille.

Such is England’s miserable track record in the European Championships, though, that the bar has been set achievably low by this team’s predecessors.

Making history means winning the first game, so Rooney and co. are not being asked to pull off football’s version of scaling Mount Everest.

But if they can defeat the Russians on Saturday, they might just fancy a crack at reaching the summit.