Southgate says England are conquering high expectations

It seems the deeper England go at the European Championship, the less pressure their players are feeling.

Subscribe now for unlimited access.

or signup to continue reading

"You're now into that moment of the tournament," England coach Gareth Southgate said, "where it's about what's possible and what's achievable rather than what might go wrong."

Southgate has noticed a gradual shift in mood in his squad at Euro 2024.

In theory, the stakes are higher now England has reached the semi-finals and a match against the Netherlands. After all, the men's team is within one win of getting to back-to-back European Championship finals and of reaching the title match at a major tournament for the first time outside England.

Yet, Southgate said the pressure and "noise" was much higher on the players earlier in the tournament.

England came to Euro 2024 with what many regarded as their strongest squad for 20 years, only to limp through the group stage, require an equaliser in the fifth minute of stoppage time before getting past Slovakia in the last 16 and then need a penalty-shootout win over Switzerland to advance from the quarter-finals.

"One of the strengths of us over the last seven, eight years has been less fear, less inhibition," Southgate said at a pre-match news conference in Dortmund. "But I think at the beginning of the tournament, expectation weighed quite heavily and of course the external noise was louder than it has ever been.

"I felt we couldn't quite get ourselves in the right place. In the end, what was impressive was the players ground it out and found ways to win. I felt that shifted once we got to the knockout stage, definitely in the quarterfinal - we saw a better version of us with the ball. We're freer."

The adversity England have already faced on the field, however, might stand them in better stead, Southgate said.

"When you're having to head the ball out of your box in the 92nd minute or find a goal in the 96th minute (like against Slovakia), there's nothing stronger than that for building the spirit of the team," he said.

Southgate insists the appointment of previously suspended referee Felix Zwayer for the match is "not even a consideration", as the England manager backed UEFA's call.

Zwayer, 43, was given a six-month ban by his country's football federation in 2006, having worked as an assistant referee alongside Robert Hoyzer.

The German referee was one of the officials who brought Hoyzer's match-fixing plot to light, with the relatively short duration of Zwayer's ban a recognition of that contribution. Hoyzer was banned for life.

Later, England midfielder Jude Bellingham was fined by the German federation after he referenced Zwayer's involvement in that scandal following a defeat for his old club Borussia Dortmund against Bayern Munich in 2021.

Southgate said: "I'm not concerned about who the referee is. He will be at the very highest standard because that's the way UEFA make those decisions and the way they monitor the games during the tournament. For me, it is not even a consideration."

Australian Associated Press

Justin Chadwick, Anna Harrington, Oliver Caffrey and Shayne Hope

More from A-League