Gareth is gold digger
the tournament and after our first or second game.
“It’s nice we’re getting support, whether through the media or directly.
“But this tournament is about our current players and their opportunity to make history.
“Our attention is on this generation.”
On the day Germany crashed out, Southgate revealed he’s looking for England to take over the baton of the deposed world champions and become a major force.
“We’ve learnt an enormous lot from studying Germany as a team and implemented that,” said Southgate.
“Indirectly, they’ve had a big bearing on what we’re doing now.
“But in sport and in life, you have to keep evolving. It just shows anyone is vulnerable on any given day.”
Southgate insists England should still not be considered among the favourites to win the World Cup even if they beat Belgium, who are third in the FIFA rankings.
He added: “We are really pleased with the way we have played but we are still a team with a lot to improve.
“We’ll face tougher challenges in the next few games and we can’t consider ourselves a top team until we start to beat those top teams. “But we have a hunger to keep improving and right now we are playing with a lot of confidence.”
If tonight’s game is drawn, top spot could be decided by yellow cards and Southgate joked he could then take matters into his own hands – by laying into Belgium boss Roberto Martinez.
He said: “If I go and headbutt Roberto in the last five minutes, you’ll know we’re taking a different approach to getting through!”