EURO 2024: Southgate says England “stop fighting”
Amidst all the criticisms, England coach Gareth Southgate says his squad will not “stop fighting” in their upcoming EURO 2024 semifinals.
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England will not “stop fighting” in EURO 2024 semis
Southgate’s side beat Switzerland on penalties to reach the Euro 2024 semifinals.
Bukayo Saka netted an equalizer in the 80th minute, bringing England into extra time for the second consecutive game.
Cole Palmer, Jude Bellingham, Saka, and Ivan Toney all netted their spot kicks, while Trent Alexander-Arnold put on the finishing touch.
Southgate said: “Every now and then you think: ‘Surely there has to be some enjoyment in this job.’
“So, if I can’t enjoy that moment then the whole thing is a waste of time. I love the players, and I love being in that moment with them. I took this job to try and improve English football, not the seniors when I first joined the Football Association.”
He added: “I wanted us to regain credibility on the world stage. So I can’t deny that when it is as personal as it has been in the past few weeks, on a human level that is quite difficult. But we are fighting, we won’t stop fighting and we’re in another semifinal and we’ll see where we can get to.”
England hopes to enter the EURO finals
Southgate and the rest of England have received backlash in this year’s tournament due to their lackluster performances.
Still, the 53-year-old tactician will lead the Three Lions into a third semifinal from his four tournaments in charge.
England hopes to reach their first final on foreign soil as they next face Netherlands in the semis.
“As I said to the players, again, with England it was often start 25 minutes really well, ahead in games and then and then out in the early knockout rounds,” Southgate said.
“We weren’t savvy, we weren’t tournament wise. This group are different. They keep possession for longer periods.
“We haven’t always got it right. The games with that we’ve ultimately gone out people can always look back and highlight things.
“But, in general, we’ve shown the resilience that the teams that win tournaments have had for years and years.
“Italy, France, Spain, you know, it’s not all pure football. It’s other attributes that they’ve had, and we’re showing a little bit more of that streetwise nature.
“We want to always be competitive in tournaments. England should be competitive for the coming years.”
“This is a young team that a lot of them are going to be around for a long time. But, of course, now we want to deliver one. We’ve never been to a final outside of England, we’ve never won a Euros, so there’s two bits of history we’d love to create.”