THE WORLD ON HIS SHOULDERS
Southgate must avoid any Qatar-strophes
THE countdown to Qatar 2022 has now begun and Gareth Southgate faces the most demanding 12 months of his professional life.
Some international managers will now be going into hibernation for the winter – but England’s boss is not even close to having the same privilege.
For him, there will be nowhere to hide between now and when the most controversial World Cup of all kicks off next November.
It will be a tournament mired in corruption due to the manner in which it was awarded to Qatar in the first place.
Then there is the constant backdrop of the country’s appalling human rights record, one which includes racism, sexism and the countless deaths of migrant workers.
Southgate was smiling last night as his Three Lions crushed San Marino to book their place at the greatest show on turf.
But let’s be honest, beating the lowestranked team in the world will leave little or no imprint on the history of football, despite the best efforts of Harry Kane.
Kane was like a kid in a sweet shop, helping himself to four goals in 15 first-half minutes to climb further up the scoring charts faster than his mate Ed Sheeran in the musical equivalent.
Hammering the butcher, baker and candlestick maker in a primitive stadium which had one floodlight struggling to function due to a power shortage all felt utterly futile and farcical.
Just to add to the comic value of the night, the bloke in charge of the pre-match music in San Marino had the cheek to play ‘Southgate You’re The
One’ on the loud speakers just as his team ran out to warm-up.
But the next few months will be no laughing matter. There will be no more walks in the park for Southgate. The greatest challenges are still to come – and could be ones capable of defining his time in charge of the national team.
Now England are heading to the Persian Gulf he can no longer dismiss or push aside awkward questions about his stance on how people are treated in Qatar, or if it is morally right for the competition to be staged there at all.
His levels of diplomacy will interesting.
He has to address the impact a World Cup squeezed into the middle of a domestic season will have on those who make it so special in the first place.
He has to find a suitable training base and he speak to clubs on a constant basis about the fitness of his stars. He is reliant on their total co-operation.
Then there is the small matter of handling expectation that has now gone through the roof, to justify the FA’S impending decision to give him a new contract worth £6m-a-year that doesn’t even have a break clause in it.
We no longer live in misguided hope of success, we expect to challenge for major trophies having flirted with success at the last two tournaments.
Anything less than a place in the last four in Qatar will be considered failure.
That’s how high the bar has been set under Southgate – and he knows it.