Southgate Praises England's Spirit But Eyes Improvement For Euro 2024 Quarter-Final
Gareth Southgate praised England's unity and determination but admitted there is room for improvement before their Euro 2024 quarter-final against Switzerland. Despite being pre-tournament favourites, England's performances have been lacklustre in their four matches so far.England managed to top Group B, winning only one of their three games. They narrowly avoided a last-16 exit against Slovakia, thanks to Jude Bellingham's impressive acrobatic goal. Harry Kane then secured the win in extra time, allowing England to advance to the quarter-finals.Southgate believes that the dramatic win over Slovakia will boost the team's confidence as they prepare to face Switzerland in Dusseldorf on Saturday. "There's no question it will give the whole group belief," said Southgate. "We know we should be better than we've been, but we've ended up with a lot of young players in important positions and trying to solve problems right the way through the four weeks of the camp."Southgate compared this tournament to previous ones where England started slowly but eventually reached the semi-finals. He mentioned the 1990 World Cup and Euro 96 as examples. "Everybody now, 30 years on, looks back at [Euro] 96 in a different way to how it was at the time," he said. "We were bang average against Switzerland [in the opening game at Euro 96]. We were the same against Scotland; Scotland missed a penalty at 1-0 [down]. Spain should have beaten us in a 0-0 draw [in the quarter-finals]."The England manager highlighted that such moments are common in tournaments and can be overcome with resilience and teamwork.
Milestone for Southgate
The upcoming match against Switzerland will mark Southgate's 100th game in charge of England. He will become only the third Three Lions head coach to reach this milestone, following Walter Winterbottom and Bobby Robson.Southgate emphasised that despite some underwhelming performances, the team's spirit and togetherness have been commendable. "But the standout is the way the players are dealing with it. Their togetherness, their spirit," he added.Straight back to work!
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@England July 1, 2024
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