Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
KEEP FAITH WITH KIDS FOR QATAR
THE countdown clock to the 2022 World Cup Final has long since disappeared from the wall of the coaches’ room at St George’s Park.
But the good news for Greg Dyke – the former FA chairman, who thought it was a good idea to give the England manager a constant reminder that he’s expected to return from Qatar with football’s biggest prize – is that time is on Gareth Southgate’s side.
Southgate was given a glimpse into the future by Holland’s youthful side on Thursday night.
And, although a second semi-final defeat in the space of a year once again exposed familiar flaws, he will have learned from the lessons meted out by Ronald Koeman’s side.
Holland deserved their 3-1 extra-time victory – just as Croatia were the better team when beating England in the semi-finals of last summer’s World Cup.
But, while the Croats overcame England with a guile crafted from the vast experience of veteran players, Koeman has harnessed the ruthless brilliance of peaking performers such as Virgil van Dijk, Gini
Wijnaldum and Daley
Blind, while giving young guns Frenkie de Jong (above), Matthijs de Ligt and Steven Bergwijn their head.
In Guimaraes, the future looked Oranje. But Southgate will retreat to Burton-on-Trent after today’s play-off game with Switzerland, knowing that, instead of going back to the drawing board, he must keep his nerve by sticking with the possession-based philosophy he has introduced.
John Stones and Ross Barkley’s mistakes came from poor decisionmaking rather than a weak game plan.
And, if Southgate can now follow Koeman’s lead, then England could be on the cusp of something very special.
The England boss was without Champions League winners Trent Alexander-Arnold and Joe Gomez.
Harry Kane and Dele Alli were only introduced as subs, following Spurs’ heartbreak in Madrid, while club teammate Harry Winks will surely be asked to fill the midfield void exploited so expertly by Barcelona-bound De Jong.