Munich proved a false dawn... Seville can be start of a real en era
SOUTHGATE REFLECTS ON SPECIAL SPANISH HIGH
GARETH SOUTHGATE can vividly recall the euphoria and expectation that accompanied England’s 5-1 win over Germany in the 2002 World Cup qualifying campaign.
The Three Lions’ breathtaking victory in Spain is quite rightly being compared to that famous September night in Munich 17 years ago.
And the England boss, who was a nonplaying substitute back then, has no problem with that.
After all, he’s been more responsible than most in reconnecting the national team with the footballing public.
But Southgate is keeping his feet firmly on the ground.
That rout of the Germans may have launched the supposed ‘Golden Generation’ of Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard and company. But in the end it proved to be the high point rather than the start of something special.
And so the England boss has issued a cautionary note in the wake of his side’s Seville special.
Southgate said: “The problem with that comparison is that Germany went on to the World Cup final and we did not get that far, did we? I get the reference but we won’t be getting carried away. We weren’t perfect the other night.
“We let in two really poor goals so there are areas we could get better and we could have scored more if some of our decision-making had been a little crisper. There is always room for improvement but the players should really enjoy themselves because it really was a special night for them.” And for everyone else too. Southgate wants the nation to wallow in the joy of Monday’s 3-2 win over Spain and he’s happy for them to dream of a rosy future.
But what satisfies him more than anything is that the Nations League triumph has swept aside many of the doubts that surrounded his young side even after they became only the third England team to reach the last four of a World Cup.
Lagging
He knows the draw in Russia opened up for them.
And he’s well aware that victories over Tunisia, Panama and Sweden, plus a shootout win against Colombia, hardly had the elite quaking in their boots.
Defeat in the semi-final to Croatia and at the hands of Belgium in the third-place play-off seemed to confirm England were in the “best of the rest” category, good enough to beat the middle-ranking nations but lagging behind the very best.
What happened in Spain, though, has changed perceptions.
Failure to overcome any top team before this week had hung like an albatross around Southgate’s neck.
Not anymore.
He added: “They progressed through a lot of barriers in the summer.
“First knockout win in a decade, first penalty shoot-out win. The next barriers were, ‘okay, we’ve got to start knocking these top teams down.’
“We’ve had an unprecedented run of fixtures really. Of our last 10 games, seven were against top 10 nations and our last six have all been huge, high quality opponents.
“I think some of our performances in 45-minute spells within those have been very good but we haven’t pieced together enough to win other than the Switzerland friendly, which was a different situation.”
A goalless draw in Croatia followed up by the Spain win means England will qualify for the last four of UEFA’s new tournament if Luis Enrique’s team fail to beat the Croats next month and the Three Lions topple the same opposition at Wembley four days later.