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Gareth Southgate has described England’s display in their historic 2-0 win over Germany as “immense” – but warned his players must quickly refocus for their quarter-final.
Despite several anxious moments, most notably when the excellent Jordan Pickford saved from Timo Werner and Kai Havertz either side of half-time, England booked their place in the last eight of Euro 2020 with late goals from Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane. The win was England’s first over Germany in a knockout game since the 1966 World Cup final.
“It didn’t need me to say it, but when we got in the dressing room we were talking about Saturday already. Today’s been an immense performance but at a cost emotionally and physically. We need to make sure we recover well.
“It’s a dangerous moment for us. We have a feeling round the country that we only have to turn up to win the thing now, but it’s going to be an immense challenge from here on. The players’ feet are on the ground, they should feel confident from the way they’ve played, but we came here with an intention and we’ve not achieved that yet.
“To see the second goal in was a really special moment. But we’ve not achieved what we want to achieve yet. We can look back on a day like today in the future, but I want to get my focus right and look ahead to Saturday.”
Reflecting on the technical aspects of the display, Southgate praised his side’s composure in the heat of the battle.
“The performance was really important,” he said. “We were playing a team with four World Cup winners, a manager who has had an incredible career with Germany. I have huge respect for what he’s done.
“We know there have always been questions about us against big teams and we knew Germany, with their experience, would dictate certain parts of the game.
“We will always have passion and heart but we also had brains. We pressed at the right moment, the forwards picked the right moments to go and stay, we found a balance of being brave with the ball and keeping possession in our own half and right moments to go quickly and counter. That was a real step forward for us.”
How far that step forward will take England in this competition will be intriguing to see. While Southgate scored a victory against the side he missed a penalty against at Euro 96, there is more work to be done to lift the trophy.
But the manager is confident his young squad will embrace the challenge, rather than be overwhelmed.
“I can’t change the fact the guys I played with in ’96 didn’t get to play in a final and that will always live with me,” he said.
“These players have given a new generation a lot of happy memories and they’ve made a bit more history. The players don’t need to feel the burden of the past, they can play with that fearlessness because the past isn’t important for them.
“They can go with the mindset of it being a challenge rather than fear.” – Sky Sports
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