England not happy but qualify for World Cup
ENGLAND manager Gareth Southgate conceded his team were a “work in progress” after they qualified for next year’s World Cup with a desperately laboured 1-0 victory over Slovenia.
England’s fans had long given up on Thursday’s game at Wembley and were entertaining themselves by launching paper aeroplanes towards the pitch by the time Harry Kane stabbed in a predatory 94th-minute winner.
But with two 23-year-olds, 22-yearold Raheem Sterling and 19-year-old Marcus Rashford in his starting team, Southgate believes it is unrealistic to expect England to play like world-beaters at this stage of their development.
“What the team have been through over 18 months and as a young team what they’re having to deal with in terms of expectation and criticism of their performances, it’s tough for them,” Southgate said.
“They’re young players that we have to try and get behind. They’re giving absolutely everything they’ve got. They don’t have Champions League or league championship winning medals throughout this group.
“They’re a work in progress. But they will give everything they’ve got for the shirt and they are going to improve over the next few years.”
Immediately after the game, the Football Association announced England will play friendlies against Brazil and world champions Germany at Wembley in November.
Their next task is a trip to Lithuania for their final Group F game tom and although it is now a dead rubber, Southgate said he will not release any players from his squad.
“We’re a squad. We stay together as a squad,” he told his post-match press conference.
An attendance of only 61 598 – just over two thirds of Wembley’s capacity – reflected the depths to which England have sunk in the popularity stakes, a year on from their Euro 2016 humiliation by Iceland.
But Southgate said he took solace from the example of the late Bobby Robson, who went from national pariah to national treasure by leading England to the semi-finals at the 1990 World Cup in Italy.
“It’s the nature of playing for England and managing England,” said Southgate, who stepped into the breach after Sam Allardyce was brought down by a newspaper sting following just one game at the helm. — AFP