Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Southgate eyeing up big finish to a ‘brilliant year’
MANAGER Gareth Southgate is determined to end England’s “brilliant year” in fine style by beating World Cup semi-final foes Croatia to reach the inaugural Nations League Finals.
Even the most optimistic England supporter would have struggled to predict the way 2018 has panned out for the callow Three Lions.
Southgate’s trust in youth paid dividends in Russia as England reached the final four for just the third time, while the year now comes to a close with a revenge mission which offers a shot at silverware next summer.
Croatia broke English hearts in July’s Moscow semi-final and head to Wembley tomorrow in a winnertakes-all encounter, which will settle relegation from Group A4 as well as the winner.
Progress to the Nations League Finals from a group including Croatia and Spain would be quite a feat and another promising sign of progress, and Southgate said: “We were very keen that we moved on from the World Cup as quickly as possible.
“It has been a brilliant year. Whatever happens on Sunday, we’ve had real shoots of progress and achieved some outstanding results and really good performances and blooded a lot of new players.
“It’s given us a real depth to the squad and competition for places. But I think everybody wants to go another stage and get to a semi-final out of a group which is as tough as there has been in this competition. So, it is a really good game for everybody to look forward to.”
England deserved to win last month’s meeting against Croatia, but the eerie behind-closed-doors clash in Rijeka ended goalless.
Southgate’s men went on to secure a memorable 3-2 win in Spain, who Zlatko Dalic’s men shocked by the same scoreline in Zagreb on Thursday evening to leave Sunday’s match on a knife-edge.
The Three Lions beat the USA 3-0 in a friendly on Thursday night.