Coach Southgate, there is still a long way ahead

With 4th place in World Cup 2018 and runner-upEuro 2020Needless to say, Southgate is still the most successful English coach in the past 20-30 years. What is special is that Southgate was promoted from England U21 coach to interim manager after Sam Allardyce resigned in 2016. Everyone remembers that before taking over the national team, Southgate had only been Middlesbrough coach for three years. The club was relegated from the Premier League in 2009 and in October of that year he was fired. Southgate was out of work for 4 years before leading the England U21 team in 2013.

Building trust

Many England fans still remember Southgate as the man who missed the decisive penalty against Germany at Euro 96. The 51-year-old was ridiculed for years afterwards and has struggled to shake off that past to this day. It was only at the 2018 FIFA World Cup that any doubts were finally put to rest, when Southgate became only the third manager (after Alf Ramsey and Bobby Robson) to take the Three Lions to the semi-finals of the tournament.

Southgate is still the most successful English coach in the past 20-30 years. Photo: CNN

In 2019, Southgate led England to third place in the UEFA Nations League. England qualified from a group that included Spain and Croatia. The win over Spain was their first in 31 years. Although they lost 3-1 to the Netherlands in the semi-finals, they beat Switzerland on penalties in the third-place play-off. It was England's first third-place finish in a major tournament since UEFA EURO 1968.

In the final of the 2020 Euro, Southgate had both merit and fault. He had merit in overcoming his rival Germany to reach the final. He dared to switch to a 3-defender formation to attack the Italian team, proving that Southgate was a fighter. He decided to build an England team that played pragmatically and solidly, rather than pursuing the traditional fast-paced, explosive attacking football. So he returned to a 4-defender formation and gave coach Roberto Mancini the opportunity to turn the situation around from a corner kick.

Need more time

For years, he has always believed in the youth, but in the decisive match, he left Jadon Sancho, Jack Grealish and Marcus Rashford on the bench. Grealish had to wait until the beginning of the first extra time to be put on the field, while Sancho and Rashford did not even get to play until the 118th minute. Is that all his class or is it just bad luck?

England's three penalty misses were all substitutes. Bukayo Saka was brought on in the 70th minute. Meanwhile, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho came on at the end of the second half of extra time just to take the penalty, but both failed.

In fact, it is difficult to blame coach Southgate when facing Roberto Mancini, the 56-year-old Italian coach has been too excellent. Before the Euro 2020 final, the Italian team had a series of 33 unbeaten matches, scoring 86 goals and conceding only 10, which means that many famous coaches in the world have lost to Mancini, not just Southgate. Both the coach and the players of the England team still have a gap with the Italian players who are too experienced and have tricks in the game, so when luck does not come, finishing second is also acceptable.

The average age of England at Euro 2020 is only 25.2 - the youngest in the tournament - so the recent defeat is not a disaster. Coach Southgate can even be the launching pad for this generation to one day fully complete the unfinished dream of England at the 2022 World Cup. The FA and the English people should believe in Southgate, there is still a long way ahead and the England team needs people like him.