ENGLAND NEED TO BE ‘CLOSE TO PERFECT’ TO WIN THE TOURNAMENT IN QATAR, SAYS GARETH SOUTHGATE.
England boss Gareth Southgate has led England to a World Cup semi-final in Russia in 2018 and the Euro 2020 final at Wembley last summer. The 51-year-old believes he has a squad that are capable of winning their first World Cup since 1966 in Qatar later this year but thinks they will have to put in performances that are “as close as perfect” in order to do so.
Gareth Southgate says England will have to be “as close as perfect as can be” to win the World Cup in Qatar.
England will find out who they will play in the World Cup group stages on Friday (17:00 BST) and are in pot one for the draw alongside defending champions France and Brazil.
The Three Lions fell at the final hurdle at Euro 2020, losing in the final to Italy on penalties, but the England manager says there is enough quality and belief in his squad to go all the way at the winter tournament.
“We’ll have to be as close to perfect as can be,” Southgate told reporters.
“That’s the challenge for us, not just when we get to Qatar, because we’ve got to be in the right condition, even before that. That’s what we’ve got to work towards every day we’re together.
“We know we’ve had consistent performances over a three, four-year period and we are one of the teams – I think there are a few – that could win this tournament.
“If we can get to a final (like Euro 2020), we can win. That’s clear. To do that is incredibly difficult and we’ll have to be as close to perfect as can be. That’s the challenge for us.
“If you want to be in the big jobs, you’ve got to live with the expectation.
“We’ll have to be as close to perfect as can be,” Southgate told reporters.
“That’s the challenge for us, not just when we get to Qatar, because we’ve got to be in the right condition, even before that. That’s what we’ve got to work towards every day we’re together.
“We know we’ve had consistent performances over a three, four-year period and we are one of the teams – I think there are a few – that could win this tournament.
“If we can get to a final (like Euro 2020), we can win. That’s clear. To do that is incredibly difficult and we’ll have to be as close to perfect as can be. That’s the challenge for us.
“If you want to be in the big jobs, you’ve got to live with the expectation.
“We’ve got to rationalise it in that we know there are some other very good players. But equally we have to accept there’s a belief and part of winning is being able to handle that.
“We handled that well through the summer in a tournament where had a lot of matches at Wembley, and it was probably Scotland being the only one where we didn’t really handle that. Germany being what it was, the semi and so on.
“’When you’ve got evidence you can get results then the gap between expectation and what is possible is smaller and that makes the team less anxious.
“We know the team are further on their journey of learning from those big-match experiences than we were before so that helps you handle it in an even better way.”
England reached the 2018 World Cup semi-finals as well as the Euro 2020 final with Southgate in charge. He believes his side are one that teams will not want to face in Qatar.
He added: “We’ve definitely got respectability and I think we will be a team other teams wouldn’t look forward to playing. But that’s a double-edged sword though because some teams are going to prepare differently for you.
“You’re there to be shot at and they are going to have a specific way of playing to try and stop you, but some will be a little bit fearful of you and might allow you more of the game, so from our point of view, what really matters is how it makes us feel about ourselves.”
