Southgate can’t Senegal present
Gareth Southgate is embracing the increased expectations and selection headaches as England head into the World Cup Round of 16 in Qatar.
All eyes will be on cavernous Al Bayt Stadium this evening as the Group B winners face Senegal, their first knock-out match on the world stage since the agonising extra-time semifinal loss to Croatia in 2018.
The Three Lions built on that performance by winning bronze at the following year’s Nations League before going on a memorable run to last year’s Euros Final at Wembley.
The heart-breaking penalty shoot-out defeat to Italy provides added motivation for Southgate’s players, who head into tonight’s clash high on confidence.
“I guess the biggest thing is the expectation levels and the satisfaction levels,” Southgate said. “In Russia, when we qualified from the group stage, we were probably more excited than we were this time.
“But we enjoyed the win against Wales. You’ve got to enjoy your wins because, if you don’t enjoy those, then there’s not a lot of point being in this.
“And then, of course, everything was geared around first knock-out win for 10 years, so that was almost our objective in Russia.
“We have to take a step at a time, the same thing. We talked about that from the beginning of the tournament.
“Our first objective was to qualify from the group. We knew we had three games to do that. There was an awful lot of noise after our second. But we stayed calm and on track, and we’ve qualified as well as anybody else has.
“We’re now on to the more important part of the competition, and we’ve got to get this bit right as well.”
Southgate has some selection conundrums to consider.
Marcus Rashford, who could win his 50th cap, scored a brilliant brace in Tuesday’s 3-0 win against Wales, when Phil Foden capped a fine performance with a goal.
Raheem Sterling and Bukayo Saka dropped to the bench, while Kyle Walker and Jordan Henderson also played well having been brought into the England line-up.
“It’s a good position to be in,” Southgate said. “You want your players in confident mood, and our forward players are.
“Of course, you want to try to make the best possible decision, but in some respects I’m not sure there’s a right or a wrong.
“Whichever players we start with, we’re going to need the bench. We need that strength.
“They all offer different attributes, and it’s just trying to get the balance of the team right, and make the best possible decisions.
“But, for us, it’s great that we’ve got the whole squad fit and available, and feeling good about themselves.
“However, there’s also that nice balance of knowing how difficult it was to get through this round in our last two tournaments.
“We know the quality of the opposition, but we’ve got belief in ourselves as well.”
Southgate spoke glowingly about Senegal, a side without star turn Sadio Mane through injury but buoyed by February’s Africa Cup of Nations triumph.
“Sadio is obviously an incredible player, and every team would want to have him,” the England boss said.
“But what we’ve seen from the team of Senegal, they’ve become very strong in his absence. And they have shown great spirit through losing him.
“So we know it doesn’t make a difference to the level of the fixture for tomorrow.
“We’ve got to be prepared for the game, and we’ve got to be at our very best to be able to win the game.”
Southgate wished Senegal boss, Aliou Cisse, a speedy recovery from illness, but fully expects him to be at Al Bayt Stadium, where the winner will return for the quarter-finals.
France are expected to come through their last-16 clash with Poland to provide the opposition, but Southgate immediately halted talk of a potential clash against the world champions.
“My answer won’t take long,” the England boss said. “We play Senegal tomorrow. Nothing else. There’s nothing else to discuss.”
Eric Dier insists England are ready for a World Cup shoot-out after they broke their duck by beating Colombia on penalties four years ago.
The win in the last 16 in Russia was England’s first in a World Cup at their fourth attempt.
Dier said: “I felt against Colombia we broke down a lot of mental barriers and stereotypes that exist in English football, surrounding things like knock-out games and penalty shoot-outs.
“It felt like it was a weight off our shoulders, and I think you saw that in the next game against Sweden.
“Regarding my pen against Colombia, when Jordan Pickford, saved the penalty before, it made my penalty a lot easier.
“I’m definitely not scared to take a penalty this time. I’d be nervous in the moment – but I’m not scared to do it.”