Although England manager Gareth Southgate may well have had a pretty bad Nations League campaign as the country prepared for the first ever winter World Cup out in Qatar, the 52 year old former Aston Villa and England international has demonstrated that he is quite the tournament manager – even if fans of the Three Lions would argue the style of play is not always as attractive as it should be given the offensive players at our disposal.
Having taken England to the Semi Final stage of his first World Cup back in 2018, we went one step further at the 2020 European Championships by reaching the Final, until we inevitably lost on penalties to Italy, and the 2022 World Cup campaign is going well.
Having not quite sailed through the Group Stage games, but done enough to progress and go through in top spot, we roundly defeated African champions Senegal 3-0 with a much improved showing following our more nervy start, and Southgate and the team are now preparing for Saturday evenings (UK time) Quarter Final clash with reigning 2018 World Cups winners, France.
With build up well underway now for the game, Manchester United centre half Harry Maguire was recently on press duties for the England camp and he spoke about the changed mindset in the group now under Southgate. He explained that four years ago in Russia in 2018, the players did not really believe they were capable of lifting the Jules Rimet, but the group now ‘really believe’ that they can bring the trophy home once again – of course – France will be a massive test in that particularly journey, if the players are to make it a reality.
“I think that’s the one thing I’d say that’s a lot different from the 2018 squad to this squad – I think we really believe that it is possible. I played in 2018 and we got to the semi-final and I think a lot of the lads were happy. You were happy to be part of the semi-final. You know that whatever happened in that semi-final that you’d go home and be classed as a hero and everyone would be patting you on the back. I think now there’s a belief that we’ve got to win this tournament. It is a good change in the mentality.”
Maguire went on to say.
“Of course, we know how tough it is going to be. I think there are probably five or six teams with the same belief. But in 2018, we probably weren’t one of those teams that had that belief. Now there’s five or six who have that belief and we’re one of them.”
Should England manage to pass the Kylian Mbappe inspired French test, we then either face Portugal or surprise Quarter Finalists Morocco in the Semi Final round once again. The odds are set by major US bookmakers, such as BetRivers and other NJ betting sites. There would certainly be those fans who would fancy the squads’ chances against both of those sides, and it could well mean a first Final appearance in the World Cup since our 1966 success.
Despite struggling for game time at Old Trafford, it appears Southgate’s faith in Maguire is absolutely paying off, and there would have been few fans who thought that would prove to be true before the tournament kicked off.
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