Gareth Southgate reveals two reasons why Spain are favourites as England look to end 58-year trophy drought at Euro 2024
GARETH SOUTHGATE reckons his England team will have to deliver perfection to beat Spain and win Euro 2024.
But the Three Lions boss believes his side’s rollercoaster journey to Sunday’s final in Berlin has been ideal preparation to win a first major tournament on foreign soil.
Southgate said: “We have got to be perfect to win this game and we will have to find everything that we have got from within us.
“They are a bloody good side. They are rightly favourites, they have been the best team.
“They have a day longer. In the last three finals it has been quite significant, so we have to get our recovery spot on.”
Spain won their semi-final 24 hours before England beat Holland on Wednesday — and Italy, Portugal and Spain all won the last three tournaments after playing the earlier semi-final.
Southgate added: “But we are in there and there is no question that this new group has formed so well and learned so much from these six games.
“We have got players who have played lots of big matches, so they will know what is required on the night.
“But in the next couple of days we have got to get perfectly prepared as it is such a quick turnaround.”
England’s squad all did an indoor recovery session yesterday after flying back to their Blankenhain base following the 2-1 semi-final win over Holland in Dortmund.
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You can say it hasn’t been pretty, but England are in the final… and we’re peaking at just the right time, says Jack Wilshere
AFTER what has been a tough tournament of times, what an opportunity Gareth Southgate and his team will have to end in the best possible way, writes Jack Wilshere.
We might like a team that played better football. But it’s a results business.
Germany, Italy, France, Portugal and of course Holland would love to be where we are.
People will say we’re lucky because we’re on this side of the draw.
But we won the group. France didn’t and then ran into Spain.
You can say it wasn’t that pretty, but we’re there.
Gareth and his coaches won’t have been happy with some of the performances.
But I did like the way Gareth and his team have dealt with it.
There was no panic coming out of the camp.
Everyone gave the same message: ‘We know we can better, but we’re here still.’
And on Sunday they will be in Berlin to play Spain.
They will probably have to produce two halves of football as good as the first against Holland to beat them.
We have improved as the tournament has gone on and that is how you win things.
You want to peak in the final.
If Gareth can lead England to that major trophy we’ve all been waiting for, it will be the perfect answer to the critics and a brilliant day for us all.
Read Jack Wilshere’s England vs Holland verdict in full.
Or check out all of SunSport columnist Jack’s Euros 2024 opinions…
Kieran Trippier hopes to be fit after suffering a groin injury on Wednesday but Luke Shaw could still start his first game of the tournament on the left.
Harry Kane expects to get over the foot issue he suffered after being kicked by Denzel Dumfries.
Inside the baffling, brilliant story of Lamine Yamal – from being bathed by Messi to doing homework while taking Euros by storm
LAMINE YAMAL has confirmed his status as football’s next superstar at Euro 2024 – but has only been playing 11-a-side games for four years, write Jack Rosser.
Spain’s incredible 16-year-old bent home the goal of the tournament so far against France as La Roja sealed the spot in the final.
But his first five years in Barcelona’s academy were spent playing seven-a-side football, up until the age of 12 in 2020 when he finally got a crack at 11-a-side games.
Yamal’s story is baffling, brilliant and barely believable in equal measure.
He is a boy born to a Moroccan father and a mother from Equatorial Guinea, who turns 17 tomorrow and was cradled by footballing royalty at just six months old.
Staggering pictures of Yamal as a baby being held and bathed by Messi, taken for a Barcelona charity calendar 16 years ago, resurfaced this week.
He did not restrict his brushes with greatness to Barcelona either, with footage of Yamal as an academy player walking as a mascot with Spain and Real Madrid icon Sergio Ramos at an El Clasico in 2016.
There is a touch of fate about this gem, Spain’s “little MVP”, as team-mate Nico Williams has dubbed him.
Yamal has been doing homework in his spare time and received exam results during the tournament. He passed, obviously.
Now he’s the youngest ever goalscorer at the Euros, also becoming the youngest player to ever start a major semi-final – claiming that title from Pele.
But it’s Yamal’s humble approach on and off the pitch that most impresses everyone he meets.
And France star Adrien Rabiot probably felt quite embarrassed as he boarded his plane back home from Germany.
He had tried to intimidate Yamal ahead of their semi-final clash – telling Yamal he “needs to do more.”
Was this good enough, then? Yamal responded with a goal for the ages and a man of the match performance.
A season which started with a pre-season game against Tottenham where Yamal excelled but was overshadowed by Oliver Skipp scoring a brace will end on the biggest stage European football has to offer on Sunday.
From being outshone by Skipp to eclipsing Pele’s records is not a bad year’s work – just imagine what he will do when he grows up.
Read all about the incredible rise of Lamine Yamal in full…