Gareth Southgate: We know the size of the job ahead of us
Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live yesterday, England boss Gareth Southgate admitted his team were favourites to win but was keen to talk up Sunday’s opponents:
“We will be considered favourites. But that doesn’t really mean anything in a one-off game.”
“It doesn’t mean there isn’t any pressure for Senegal because every international team has great pressure in their own nation and externally as well.”
“We have been very impressed with Senegal. They are African champions and are very proud and have great spirit and belief in their team. They have some excellent individual players who can cause problems, but a good structure as well. Cissé has done a fantastic job. We know the size of the job ahead of us.“
He also compared the mentality of the players compared to the last World Cup, when England were under slightly less pressure to succeed:
“We are two tournaments on from when we played Colombia at this stage in Moscow. I think our level of experience is better, our level of ambition is different.”
“When we qualified from our group stage in Russia, we were probably celebrating quite a bit. This time was a great evening for our fans and we enjoyed the win, but we were already thinking of the next game. We know the focus has to be on this one game, nothing else.”
“We are aiming to win the game and avoid extra time and penalties, but if we need to go 120 minutes or beyond that we have to be ready for that mentally and physically and I believe we are.”
