FOOTBALL hasn’t come home yet – but opportunities continue to knock loudly on Gareth Southgate and England’s door.
Southgate is rarely considered a courageous manager, but fortune always favors the Three Lions boss in major tournaments.
When England kicked off their final Group C game against Slovenia, they knew that the four strongest teams in the tournament – France, Spain, Portugal and Germany – would all be in the opposite half of the draw if they won their group.
A dismal goalless draw was good enough to achieve that, thanks to Denmark’s inability to beat Serbia, but the prospect of a difficult round of 16 tie against the Netherlands still loomed.
However, after Belgium failed to win their group and also finished in ‘Half Death’, came the extraordinary shock of Georgia defeating Portugal.
This somehow meant that England avoided the Dutch and instead managed an excellent draw against Slovakia. None of this is English arrogance.
In fact, it is certainly impossible for any Englishman to be arrogant towards his national team after watching consecutive bomb attacks against Denmark and Slovenia.
And while there are no easy games in the Euro finals – at least not now that Scotland are eliminated – there are certainly easier draw times.
And Southgate’s team continues to finish them off.
If England beat the Slovaks in the last 16 on Sunday – and no one considers that a certainty – they will face Switzerland or Italy in the quarter-finals.
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The Swiss are always losers in the round of 16 and while Italy are European champions, England have beaten them home and away in the knockout stages. Then would come a potential semi-final against Austria, Türkiye, Romania or the Netherlands.
These are all useful teams and England would need a huge improvement on their previous two performances to progress to this stage.
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However, despite being at their best so far, the nature of the draw suggests that Southgate’s side have a better chance than any other nation of reaching the final.
And we’ve been here before – most notably at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
There, England faced Colombia, Sweden and Croatia in the last 16 – with France, Brazil, Argentina, a top Belgian team and Portugal on the opposite side of the draw, while Spain fell by the wayside in the last 16.
At the last Euro in 2021, England defeated Croatia in their group and Germany in the round of 16, but again the draw fell well. Ukraine in the quarter-finals and the Danes in the semi-finals were a godsend.
The Qatar World Cup provided an easy passage to the quarters, where England were defeated by champions France. But if Harry Kane had scored the second penalty that night and the Three Lions had progressed, his team would have faced underdogs Morocco in the semi-finals.
This is not to criticize Southgate or belittle his achievements, just to point out that the cards have often fallen in his team’s favor.
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He’s been to enough tournaments to know that the only expectation should be the unexpected.
Speaking earlier this week about the idea of winning the group to avoid Germany in the last 16, the England boss said: “It would be a myth to think that we will have an easier path by avoiding certain teams or playing against others.”
This is the only action he can take. There is no room for complacency, especially when your team has been consistently poor all year.
But for the rest of us it’s clear – Southgate has again had the luck of the draw.
The yellow brick road to Berlin for the final on July 14 looks significantly calmer than it did a few days ago.
Now it is time for the opportunity to finally be seized.
Southgate made strange decisions… he should have brought in Henderson and Maguire, writes Charlie Wyett
In the space of a week, we seem to have lost the Gareth Southgate who brought the feel-good factor back to English football, writes Charlie Wyett.
Here is a man who now looks haggard and bruised by the fierce criticism he has received not just at home but also from some former England players.
We live in a world where many pundits are cheerleaders, and although Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer were correct in their assessment of the Three Lions after the 1-1 draw with Denmark, it went down badly with Southgate.
The coach says he’s on a mission to protect his players from all the bullshit going around, but he also has to make sure he doesn’t lose focus.
In his eight years as England manager, he has never looked so calm in the first two games.
The mood was upbeat at the team’s European base in Blankenhain. Southgate was in good spirits throughout his media duties.
Here was a man confident in the knowledge that he had a group of players capable of winning Euro 2024.
But after the two draws against Denmark and Slovenia, his mood worsened spectacularly. He’s been through some rough patches, but none like this.
One of the 53-year-old’s greatest strengths has been his ability to appeal to every English fan and create positivity.
No fan will forget the summer of 2018, when they finally fell in love with the England football team.
However, Southgate knows he has lost the trust of practically the entire English public that supports him.
He suffered abuse and ridicule after England lost 4-0 to Hungary in the 2022 Nations League, but this is a different level.
Southgate is acutely aware of how the entire mood of the nation has changed.
In recent weeks, Southgate has made some strange decisions.
It was a mistake to choose Luke Shaw as his only left-footed defender and he is only now close to being fit.
Marc Guehi has been England’s best player in their three matches so far, but Ezri Konsa and Lewis Dunk are not ideal backups.
Southgate should have chosen Harry Maguire, despite his short-term injury problems, or Bayern Munich’s Eric Dier.
Jordan Henderson – despite not having a good end to the season with Ajax – should have been included as he would have had a month to gain speed in terms of sharpness.
Even if he wasn’t ready to start, he is a winner – as he proved at Liverpool – and would have been a constant and knowledgeable influence in the dressing room. As for Southgate’s team selections, the Trent Alexander-Arnold experiment didn’t work.
Nor does putting Conor Gallagher alongside Declan Rice against Slovenia.
While Marcus Rashford and James Maddison couldn’t have many complaints about missing, Jack Grealish should have been included, even if it was to come off the bench.
Southgate has gone too far with his mix and match. Now, he is left with a squad that lacks balance, but which can also go deep in this tournament.
Southgate needs his big players like Jude Bellingham, Harry Kane and Phil Foden to play without fear.
These same players need Southgate to try not to be affected by public opinion, even if that includes some of his teammates.
Furthermore, Southgate needs to get all his team selections right. And maybe then he’ll leave the job in England on a high.
Read all of Charlie Wyett’s Euro 2024 articles.
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
