Southgate aims to end England's year to remember with Croatia revenge

LONDON: Gareth Southgate has challenged England to end their "brilliant year" in memorable fashion by beating their World Cup conquerers Croatia at Wembley to reach the Nations League Finals on Sunday.

Southgate's side defied expectations earlier this year by reaching the World Cup semifinals for the first time since 1990, where they were beaten by Croatia after extra-time in a gruelling clash.

The England manager created a vibrant young group that revitalised the country's relationship with a national team that had been much maligned for their serial underachievement.

"It has been a brilliant year. Whatever happens on Sunday, we've had real shoots of progress and achieved some outstanding results and really good performances and blooded a lot of new players," said Southgate on Friday.

"It's given us a real depth to the squad and competition for places."

Although England's World Cup run ended in heartache in Moscow against Sunday's opponents, the momentum from the tournament has carried over to this season.

Now England can gain a measure of revenge over Croatia in their winner-takes-all Group A4 showdown at Wembley.

"We were very keen that we moved on from the World Cup as quickly as possible," Southgate said.

"I think everybody wants to go another stage and get to a semi-final out of a group which is as tough as there has been in this competition.

"So, it is a really good game for everybody to look forward to."

If England beat Croatia, they will win the group and progress to the finals of the new competition -- which offers the chance of qualification for Euro 2020 -- as well as relegate Croatia. - AFP