Southgate happy as England attack proves critics wrong
STERLING ENDS 3-YEAR GOAL DROUGHT AS THREE LIONS HUMBLE SPAIN
Gareth Southgate believes England’s attack answered their critics on Monday by scoring three goals in a whirlwind first half against Spain.
Raheem Sterling hit two either side of a clinical finish from Marcus Rashford, while Harry Kane was heavily involved too, providing a pair of excellent assists in the 3-2 victory in Seville.
Spain had never conceded three goals at home before halftime and while Paco Alcacer pulled one back, England’s win was secure by the time Sergio Ramos headed in with the game’s final touch.
Sterling, Rashford and Kane have all faced criticism in recent weeks. Sterling had not scored for England in three years — 1,102 days to be exact — while Kane’s international drought now stands at seven matches.
Rashford, meanwhile, was guilty of spurning two golden chances against Croatia on Friday. “All three of them understandably had questions asked and all three responded with real top performances,” Southgate said.
“We could play off them, retain ■ the ball. Their speed was the obvious threat, but the decision-making, passing, and finishing was top quality.”
Sterling show
The scrutiny on Sterling’s performances for England has been particularly intense, but Southgate had backed the 23-year-old to rediscover his scoring touch.
“It’s not for me to take any credit, the only thing we did say is when he scores, he will score again and he managed to do so pretty quickly,” Southgate said. “I don’t think he ever lacked confidence. Sometimes you get chances and think too much. Tonight he took the chances, he was prepared to hit the thing early.”
England kept alive their hopes of finishing top of their Uefa Nations League group and this performance was their best since Southgate took charge.
It was perhaps even their most impressive result since thrashing Germany 5-1 in Munich in 2001.
Spain arrived on the back of three convincing wins under their new coach Luis Enrique, including one over England at Wembley, and had scored 12 goals in the process.
“They will gain huge belief from what they’ve done,” Southgate added. “As a team, to play the way they did, this can be a great reference point for them for the future.”
The defeat not only burst the bubble of optimism surrounding new coach Luis Enrique, it also dredged up unpleasant memories of their woeful World Cup campaign in Russia.
“The doubts that seemed buried after the horrors of Russia are back,” said daily newspaper Marca yesterday.
“They took a whack from reality that sent them back three months.”
Al Wahda coach Laurentiu Reghecampf will use the cushion of his side having already qualified for the Arabian Gulf Cup quarterfinals to field even more youth and reserves in the final two group games.
‘The Clarets’ are top of Group A on 12 points from four wins after Sunday’s 2-0 fourth round victory at home to Dibba. They next play Bani Yas away and Kalba at home on November 13th and 17th in the last two group matches, which are of little significance to Al Wahda given that they are already through.
“It’s good that we’ve qualified because it means that we can give an opportunity to players that did not participate continuously in the previous period,” said Reghecampf.
Of the youngsters, who have already featured and contributed to Al Wahda’s qualification, he added: “They now have a chance to develop their level through participation with the reserves. They are still small and the journey is long, they must strive hard and we will depend on them in the future. It’s good to have a good selection of players as this offers us a lot of solutions, sometimes it’s difficult to get 23 players at a high level of readiness to choose from in the line-up.”
Al Ain coach Zoran Mamic was of a similar view as his side went to within one more win of qualifying for the last eight, after a 1-0 win at home to Al Dhafra on Monday. The Boss are now level top of Group B on nine points from four.
They are still small and the journey is long, they must strive hard and we will depend on them in the future.” Laurentiu Reghecampf » Al Wahda coach
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“It’s good to have so many options and excellent solutions in the list,” said Mamic.
“Certainly they represent the future of the club, but they must realise that they are at the beginning of a journey and each player must redouble their efforts and deal with a professional mentality to develop his level.”