ENJOY THE HYPE!
Southgate’s rally cry for fans
GARETH SOUTHGATE wants England fans to crank up the Football’s Coming Home atmosphere at Euro 2020 next summer, despite the potential backlash from opponents.
Southgate, whose team were last night drawn in Group D alongside Croatia, the Czech Republic and the winners of Scotland’s play-off section, is aware that Luka Modric complained of English arrogance before dumping them out of last year’s World Cup semi-final in Russia.
However the Three Lions boss, who was among the England players who sang the Skinner & Baddiel anthem on the team coach before games at Euro 96, wants more of the same attitude with all of England’s three group games at Wembley, and a semi-final and final if they get that far.
‘ We can’t ask our fans not to get excited or enjoy themselves,’ said Southgate. ‘This is a summer to be cherished and enjoyed.
‘ We are at Wembley. We want to make Wembley somewhere teams fear coming. We do that by the levels of our performance and the atmosphere.’
THE UEFA dignitary who appeared on Romanian TV and said it would be great if they qualified for Euro 2020 rather let the cat out of the bag.
The dome- shaped Romexpo in Bucharest, fittingly resembling a circus tent, hosted last night’s draw and the city will also host matches next summer. The good wishes of Europe’s governing body i sn’t encouraging news for Iceland, drawn to play the Romanians in a play-off semi-final in March, but does sum up this latest version of the European Championship. An unnecessarily complex and complicated carve-up aimed to please as many nations as possible.
Scores of delegates including Gareth Southgate and Ryan Giggs descended on the Romanian capital on a rainy eastern European evening but there was little of the anticipation you usually associate with a major draw.
Only 11 of the 36 countries represented — 20 definite qualifiers and 16 play-off hopefuls — didn’t have any idea of which group they would be in. The other 25 already knew or had their options whittled down to 50/50. It’s a result of UEFA’s decision to play Euro 2020 across a dozen cities in different countries and make sure the hosts have home advantage. Even the obvious ‘group of death’ containing holders Portugal, France and Germany lacks normal jeopardy given that the four best third-placed teams will also go through to the knockout stages.
The irony is that England could be the biggest beneficiaries of all. They already knew they’d be playing all three of their Group D games at Wembley and yesterday’s selection of Croatia, Czech Republic and the play-off winners out of Scotland, Israel, Norway and Serbia won’t scare Harry Kane or any of his team-mates.
It is a revenge mission of sorts. Croatia knocked England out of the 2018 World Cup 2-1 at the semifinal stage and the Czechs were the only team to beat Southgate’s men in their easy run to the current Euros.
But this time England will have home advantage, first against Croatia on June 14. They beat the Czechs 5-0 at Wembley in March. Southgate’s only concern, being paired with France, was averted by Ruud Gullit pulling out the Croatian ball after some acrobatics and music from the Bucharest Symphony Orchestra which is the hallmark of a good UEFA draw.
Wales will also be satisfied with their draw in Group A alongside top seeds and favourites Italy, Turkey and Austria.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the draw is how the group positionings effect the knockout ties. In 2018, England benefited from finishing runners-up in their group to Belgium and had a relatively easy run to the last four as a result. History could repeat itself this time. If England win Group D as they should, a last-16 tie in Dublin awaits against World Cup winners France or another toughie from their group; Portugal or Germany.
However, finish second in the group and the first knockout game will be in Copenhagen against the runners-up in the Spain section. Assuming Spain are winners, that would mean Poland, Sweden or the play-off winners, which could be Northern Ireland or t he Republic of Ireland, In other words, all eminently beatable. Third-place could mean a trip to Budapest, Bilbao or Glasgow.
Southgate, who has his own strong memories good and bad of playing at Euro 96 on home soil, was his usual measured self afterwards but one sensed he was satisfied.
‘The two teams we know we’ve got (Croatia and Czech Republic), we have good results and poor results against them,’ he said. ‘It’s nothing to be complacent about but everyone not in Group F will be pleased about that.
‘Croatia at Wembley is a brilliant opening game for the fans and the players. We have had three really tight games with them, with very little between the teams. In the last game, (Mateo) Kovacic was on the bench which shows the quality they have in midfield. There is a contrast. They have hugely experienced players throughout the team. We are the other end of the scale.
Very young, lots of energy but improving. It is a nice contrast.’
‘You can’t make up for losing a World Cup semi- final unfortunately. We felt like that after beating them in the Nations League. It was nice to win but it didn’t redress it. But this is a really attractive fixture.’
Of the consequences of finishing runners-up, Southgate saw the parallels at the last World Cup without going as far as saying England would ‘ throw’ their final game, against the Czechs on June 23.
‘In the end, we want to win every game we play and have control of our destiny. Fortune will take you wherever it takes you,’ he said. At this stage, he is thinking of nothing
but qualifying. ‘You need a strategy of getting out the group. There are three games, not one.’
Croatian coach Zlatko Dalic has lost some key performers like centre-forward Mario Mandzukic since the World Cup final but still boasts stellar names Luka Modric, Ivan Rakitic and Ivan Perisic, besides Liverpool’s Dejan Lovren.
‘ England are now a fantastic team,’ he said. ‘It is not easy to play the first game at Wembley. But we reached the World Cup final so I always believe. I am optimistic. They are very potent in attack. In the next three, four, five years, they will be on top of the European game.’
Southgate will have the same nucleus this summer as in Russia; Jordan Pickford, Harry Maguire, Jordan Henderson, Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane.
If they can take the next step all the way to the final on June 12 may depend on a couple more X-factor arrivals, maybe Trent AlexanderArnold — and somehow contriving to mess up a group game and avoid facing a big-hitter in the last-16.