STREETWISE ENGLAND ITALIAN DARK ARTS
Southgate insists his heroes have been through enough tough times to cope with any mind games Mancini’s men throw at them
GARETH SOUTHGATE insists his players are streetwise enough to cope with Italy.
Azzurri boss Roberto Mancini has built a formidable team on a 33-game unbeaten run, full of experience and full of winners who know what
it takes to get over the line. They will be a huge threat to England’s dreams of ending a 55-year wait for a major trophy.
But Southgate firmly believes England have learned from the disappointment of World Cup semi-final defeat when it comes to game management, seeing the game out, which they did against Denmark having failed to do it against Croatia in 2018.
England went behind for the first time in the tournament to Denmark yet coped well. They will not be intimidated by Italy and will go into the final full of belief they can take one last step to glory.
Boss Southgate said: “I think the players have learned a lot over the last three or four years. We talked to them about that, we used to talk to the under-21s about that – it was one of the biggest areas we had to improve upon. Now we have an immense challenge against a top opponent, I was hearing last night, have been to 12 semi-finals, 10 finals.
“Italy’s record is phenomenal, so we’ve a huge task ahead of us but one that we’ll take on with relish.
“I’m really pleased with the way we responded to what was the first major setback in the tournament. We weren’t behind for too long. Teams that have won in the past have been able to do that.
“We still can be better at it because the first five minutes of that second half of extratime, we had the man advantage and didn’t really keep the ball well enough.
“There were opportunities to keep the ball far better than we did. But we’d worked it out and the players had worked it out, they did that really well and we have the technicians to be able to do it. We weren’t perfect against Denmark. I think we deserved the win on the amount of chances we created and some of the attacking play but I guess it was never going to be perfect with so much at stake.”
Italy have turned game management into an art form, whether it is tactical fouls, keeping possession or veteran defender Giorgio Chiellini psyching out Spain’s Jordi Alba at the coin toss for the penalty shoot-out in the semi-final by hugging him (left).
It will be a tense, nervous occasion and whoever is stronger mentally may win out but Southgate warned England’s semi-final being played a day later than Italy’s may also be significant.
He praised the job Mancini has done, taking Italy from their lowest point after missing out on 2018 World Cup to being on the brink of the European Championship.
Southgate added: “It’s is definitely a bit of a disadvantage but we have to find the best way of dealing with that.
“In terms of Italy, I think what Roberto has done and the way they’ve played the last couple of years, the record speaks for itself in terms of the wins, the small number of goals conceded. The style of play has been exceptional.
“But at the moment this group of players and group of staff who have been fantastic to lead, have met every challenge that’s been put their way.
“So we’ll prepare properly for Sunday, get the players recovered in the best possible way and we’ll be ready to go. We are there and we now have a wonderful opportunity.”