No false dawns... we must push on
FA’S DAN IS MAN WITH A PLAN
BELGIUM ENGLAND
THREE LIONS planning supremo Dan Ashworth believes England can never be champions until they learn to beat football’s top nations.
And FA technical director Ashworth has challenged Gareth Southgate’s stars to ensure lessons learned at the World Cup will lead to a brighter future – and not another “false dawn”.
England head home today with optimism high even after the semi-final defeat by Croatia which ended their World Cup dream.
But Ashworth (above) has sounded a cautionary note, claiming Euro 2020 in England may still be too soon for Southgate’s youngsters to become tournament winners.
Ashworth has played a hands-on role in assembling the strategy which England rolled out at this World Cup, and reckons huge strides have been made since Euro 2016.
But despite national euphoria at England’s performance in Russia, Ashworth accepts there is still a huge gulf to bridge.
He said: “Ultimately we have got to beat those top teams.
“If we are going to win World Cups and European Championships, we have got to beat the top nations.
“We have come close. We played a lot of leading countries in friendlies after qualification – Germany, Brazil, France, Spain, Italy and Holland – and obviously we have played Croatia out here. We now need to be able to beat those sides on a regular basis – especially in tournaments.”
And after a detailed review and debrief of events in Russia, Ashworth insists the FA will continue to drive home the work they have started – with Euro 2020 the next target.
“The minute you take your foot off the pedal in professional sport you’re finished,” he warned.
Innovate
2020, again we will want to play the maximum number of games, get to the finals and the latter stages and see what happens.
“We want to be at our own party, don’t we? The semis and final are at
NATIONS LEAGUE FIXTURES Sat 8 Sept ......... England v Spain Fri 12 Oct .......... Croatia v England Mon 15 Oct ....... Spain v England Sun 18 Nov ....... England v Croatia
EURO 2020 DRAW Sun 2 Dec .......... Dublin, Rep of Ire – and don’t – take anything for granted. It’s important that we now make sure that this tournament isn’t a one-off, that it isn’t a false dawn.
“I believe that we are making good progress, but we don’t for one minute think that we have solved all the problems because the bottom line is that we haven’t won the World Cup.
“We certainly feel, though, we are moving in the right direction.”
History
bit light on caps from what, historically, a winning team would look like. “In two or four years, with the young players coming through, we should have more of both. “But I still go back to the really talented players and countries out there vying to win the tournament, so it’s a bit early to say we are one of the favourites to win. “Let’s qualify first and see where we are in two years’ time. “But we want to win – we are desperate to bring something home for the country or win it at home in 2020. “We are desperate to win. “And we will keep pushing to do that.”