Original title: Can England still do the first 6 games of the World Cup + UEFA relegation?
A strong and strong dialogue with stars gathered is now more like an encounter between “difficult brothers and sisters”. In the UEFA Nations League Group A match in the early morning of the 27th, Beijing time, England drew 3:3 with Germany.
Since then, England has drawn 3 draws and 3 losses in the UEFA Nations League this season, setting the longest unbeaten record in official matches, and was relegated to Group B of the UEFA Nations League. Coach Gareth Southgate has also fallen into a crisis of doubts and “classification”. The German team achieved 1 win, 4 draws and 1 loss, which also cast a shadow over the Qatar World Cup journey that started less than 2 months later.
A good hand is ruined
Before the start of the UEFA Nations League in June, England was unbeaten in 22 games in regular time, continuing a good momentum. Coupled with the good luck of the World Cup, the outside world is generally optimistic regarding England’s World Cup prospects.
But in the 0:1 loss to Hungary, the 1:1 draw with Germany, the 0:0 draw with Italy, and the 0:4 defeat Hungary was “double-played”, the 0:1 loss to Italy and the early relegation, and now 3 :3 draw with Germany… The situation for England took a turn for the worse.
Even in the first five games of the UEFA Nations League this season, England are the only two teams that have not scored a non-penalty goal, the other is San Marino, only ranked 211th in the world.
If it is said that losing to Italy on penalties in the European Cup final last year was due to lack of experience and luck, then the current performance in the UEFA Nations League is for the England team with Kane, Sterling, Saka, Mount and other stars, It’s kind of surprising.
Southgate ‘sacked’ before the World Cup?
Weak before the big game, England seems to be in trouble once more. England coach Gareth Southgate has also been caught in the biggest questioning and “classification” crisis in the past four years.
However, Southgate made it clear in an interview before that he is the right person to lead the team to the World Cup, which will undoubtedly be more stable. He also said that his future depends on the World Cup results.
Judging from his resume, Southgate has made a lot of history since he took over as England coach in 2016. For example, he led the team to beat Colombia in the 1/8 final of the 2018 World Cup, setting England’s first penalty shootout since the World Cup. Victory, and then reached the semifinals following a lapse of 28 years.
Last summer, Southgate led England to the European Cup final for the first time, but eventually lost to Italy in a penalty shootout. The deployment of troops before the penalty shootout made him questionable.
Will it work following 2 months?
In this UEFA Nations League game, Southgate’s employment has also been questioned. Maguire and Luke Shaw on the back line have not played many times in Manchester United this season, but Southgate still entrusted them. important task. In the match with the German team, Maguire’s performance was a disaster. Not only did he score a penalty kick for the opponent, but the team’s second conceded goal was also caused by Maguire’s dribbling in the frontcourt and being broken by the opponent. was counterattacked.
However, regarding his employment, Southgate said: “We have to support the best and most experienced players, unless we get to a situation where we can’t stand and it is impossible to choose them once more.”
Although caught in the “get out of class” sound, it may not be a wise decision to change the coach before the war, following all, there is not much time left to prepare for the war. For the England team, it is still necessary to do as little as possible and adjust the state and the most suitable lineup as soon as possible.
England’s current downturn has indeed cast a shadow over their World Cup campaign in Qatar. There are still 55 days before England and Iran’s Qatar World Cup opener. As one of the favorite teams to win the World Cup, can they still “bring football home” as they wish? (Reporter Bian Liqun)
