World Cup: England manager Gareth Southgate insists he is the best choice to lead his country to the World Cup despite a five-game losing skid that led to the team being dropped from the top level of the Nations League. Southgate has built a solid reputation thanks to his World Cup semi-final performance in 2018 and a second-place finish at the European Championship last summer. However, the Italian audience in Milan booed him after Friday’s 1-0 defeat to Italy.
Before their World Cup campaign gets underway against Iran on November 21, England just has one more game left, against Germany at Wembley on Monday.
“I think I’m the right person to take the team into the tournament. I think it’s more stable that way, without a doubt,” said Southgate.
“I don’t think (the) performance (against Italy) was far off and I know that’s going to get derision just because we’re on the back of a run of defeats.”
England has played Hungary, Italy, and Germany five times in Nations League games without scoring even a single goal from open play. But Gareth Southgate supported his players as they underwent an unusual World Cup preparation.
There will be no time for pre-tournament friendlies because only eight days separate England’s first game in Qatar from the final round of Premier League games.
“We’re playing and have been playing some top-level sides and we will be better for that,” he added.
“The first time we faced high-level competition and it slapped us in the face rather frequently was during a series of friendlies or whatever the matches were before we entered tournaments.
“Now that we are aware of where we stand and where we need to develop, and because of the calibre of our recent matches, we will be better prepared to do so,”
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