Southgate relishes chance for revenge
England’s game against Croatia will stir memories of their epic 2018 World Cup semi-final encounter.
Croatia won 2-1 after extra-time to deny Gareth Southgate’s team a place in the World Cup final. The pair will meet at Wembley on June 14 and the England boss is expecting a tough encounter. “We know the quality of their midfield players when they can leave Mateo Kovacic on the bench,” he said. “It will be a top level fixture.” England will also take on the Czech Republic, who beat them in qualifying for this tournament and possibly Scotland if Steve Clarke’s men beat Israel then either Norway or Serbia in play-offs next March The Czech Republic were the only team to beat England during the qualification campaign having earlier been thrashed 5-0 at Wembley but Southgate is not using that as a yardstick for their meeting. “We were very poor in Prague and they have improved, there is no doubt about that,” he said. Wales were placed in Group A alongside Italy, Switzerland and Turkey. Italy, coached by former Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini, won all 10 of their qualifiers, having failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup. The last two times the sides met in Italy, the Azzurri won 4-0. Wales won their last meeting with Switzerland, a Euro qualifier in October 2011. Aaron Ramsey and Gareth Bale were the scorers. The last time Wales played Turkey, in a qualifier for the 1998 World Cup, it ended 6-4 to the Turks with Hakan Sukur scoring four. If England win Group D they would come up against the runner-up from Group F in Dublin. That group looks like the traditional Group of Death, containing Germany, France and Portugal. Rome will host the opening game of the tournament, with Italy taking on Turkey on June 12. The semi-finals and final will all be at Wembley, with the final itself being played on Sunday, July 12.