Gareth Southgate said England must rise to the expectations of being group favourites after a favourable draw for Euro 2020 qualifying left them well placed to reach the tournament with possible fixtures at Wembley, including the final.
England had the best draw of the home nations when the groups were decided at a ceremony in Dublin on Sunday. They will face the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Montenegro and Kosovo as they attempt to reach a tournament that will be staged in 12 cities across the continent, including Glasgow, Dublin and London.
“We’re favourites and that’s something we’ve got to start getting used to anyway,” said Southgate of the draw. “We’re going to have high expectations over the next few years and adapting to that is probably key to our development as a team now.
“We should win the group. But if you don’t play well on any given day you drop points and that is the reality of dealing with those sorts of matches. Nobody’s going to expect me to stand there and say it’s done already and we should just prepare for 18 months’ time.
“I think that’s where the competition for places is really important, because if our players think there’s comfort from the fixtures then there isn’t comfort for a position in the team or in the squad. And that means that the motivation for training every day, which is what you take into your games, is really high.”
Following the summer success at the World Cup, Southgate chose to blood new players in the recent Nations League fixtures, from Callum Wilson to Jadon Sancho. It is a process, he says, he plans to continue over the course of the Euro 2020 qualifying campaign which will be conducted in its entirety during 2019.
“We’re hugely excited by the players that have just started playing with us and some that are pushing from underneath that,” he said. “Key to what we’ve done in the last few months has been that competition for places and there’s no place for complacency because young players know that they will get an opportunity if they’re doing well.
“I don’t think we should limit in their minds what is possible. How quickly it happens and how quickly they’re ready to challenge for a place and then be ready to win is another matter because you know there are different stages that these players have to go through. It’s not just about can they come in and play but they’ve got to be ready to win. So they need those experiences under pressure.
“That’s where I think we were strong in the last couple of months. The group learned from the summer because the players won as a group and not just because of their individual importance.”
For the other home nations the draw brought mixed news. For Northern Ireland, in fact, it was unmitigatedly awful. Not only were they selected in the a group with the Netherlands and Germany – who are both hosts – it happened only after the Republic of Ireland were drawn in the group and then replaced because of a rule that stated only two host countries could feature alongside each other. Dublin will stage four matches at Euro 2020.
“It’s probably the most difficult group,” said the Northern Ireland manager, Michael O’Neill, whose team will also face Estonia and Belarus. “But we look forward to the games. Germany and a rejuvenated Netherlands, since Ronald Koeman came in, are obviously going to be huge tests. But home form is going to be crucial. We’re going to have to have a couple of massive nights in Belfast to give ourselves a chance of qualification.”
In a remarkably complicated draw which not only had to take account of host nations but also diplomatic difficulties (Spain could not play Gibraltar for example) 55 countries were squeezed into 10 groups. This meant that England, Northern Ireland and Wales – who will face Croatia, Slovakia, Hungary and Azerbaijan – went into five-team groups while Scotland are one of six. The Scots, under Alex McLeish also have a fallback, the success in the Nations League earning them a playoff which will ultimately yield a place at Euro 2020 for the winner.
Scotland will face Belgium and Russia – as well as Cyprus, Kazakhstan and San Marino – and McLeish said: “They’ll all be tough, but I think we’ve got a fighting chance and we want to usurp the teams above us. We have some great teams to play, and some long journeys, but I’m confident in the group of players we’ve got. We would like to qualify via the group process and we are inspired by the smaller countries who went to the World Cup and the last Euros as third or fourth seeds.”
Groups in full
Group A: England, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Montenegro, Kosovo
Group B: Portugal, Ukraine, Serbia, Lithuania, Luxembourg
Group C: Netherlands, Germany, Northern Ireland, Estonia, Belarus
Group D: Switzerland, Denmark, Republic of Ireland, Georgia, Gibraltar
Group E: Croatia, Wales, Slovakia, Hungary, Azerbaijan
Group F: Spain, Sweden, Norway, Romania, Faroe Islands, Malta
Group G: Poland, Austria, Israel, Slovenia, FYR Macedonia, Latvia
Group H: France, Iceland, Turkey, Albania, Moldova, Andorra
Group I: Belgium, Russia, Scotland, Cyprus, Kazahkstan, San Marino
Group J: Italy, Bosnia & Herz, Finland, Greece, Armenia, Liechtenstein
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