England’s head coach Gareth Southgate feels his team can make history against the Netherlands. The Three Lions will take on the Dutch in the second semifinal of the ongoing Euro 2024 and will look to set up a final date with Spain, who defeated France by 2-1 in the other semis.
Meanwhile, England have found themselves under the cosh in the last two matches. Gareth Southgate’s men were trailing 1-0 against Slovakia in the round of 16 and found themselves in a similar position against Switzerland in the quarterfinal clash.
However, England registered a 2-1 win against Slovakia after Jude Bellingham and Harry Kane (extra time) scored on either side of the full time whistle. Furthermore, Bukayo Saka got England back into the contest against the Swiss and the team also broke their penalty shootout hoodoo.
Southgate feels his team has been fearless and thus they have reaped rewards for their game.
Southgate said in the pre-match press conference, “There’s been a definite shift. I was really interested [because] as a coach sometimes you take a step back and you observe.
“One of the strengths of us over the last seven, eight years has been less fear, less inhibition. But I think at the beginning of the tournament, the expectation weighed quite heavily and of course the external noise was louder than it’s ever been.
“I felt we couldn’t quite get ourselves in the right place and, in the end, what was impressive was that the players ground it out, they ground results out and found ways to win.
“I felt that shifted once we got into the knockout stage and definitely in the quarter-final. I thought we saw a better version of us with the ball, freer.
“I’m not sure any of the messaging changed but I just felt the group changed. You’re now into that moment in the tournament where it’s ‘what’s possible, what’s achievable’, rather than ‘what might go wrong’.
“That’s different for players, for an athlete. So, this is now the chance to make history, which we’ve enjoyed doing that, a chance to get to a first final not held in England – the first time England will have ever done that.
“We’re trying to break new ground. That’s difficult and it’s complicated, but the players have responded brilliantly and the resilience that’s been built.”
Southgate revealed that the team has been able to bond together after renowned pop star Ed Sheeran sang for the team in the training session and the players also had a couple of beers.
“You can bond and we’ve been very fortunate that we’ve had Ed Sheeran in to sing and it was great,” Southgate said.
“The players had a couple of beers before the last game. You can bond in that way but when you’re having to head the ball out your box in the 92nd minute and you’re having to find a goal in the 96th minute there’s nothing stronger than that for building the spirit of a team.”
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