December 2nd 2023.
Gareth Southgate and his team of Three Lions were pleased to land a favourable draw for the group stage of Euro 2024, as they will take on Denmark, Slovenia and Serbia in Group C. Although Denmark were the highest ranked side in Pot 2, England were relieved to avoid some of the bigger nations, such as Italy and the Netherlands, as well as other home nations.
Southgate was quick to warn the team against complacency, despite the seemingly favourable draw. He said: “Well I’ve stood here after quite a few draws and you always feel the same way. You can look at it on paper but the games aren’t played on paper! Obviously there’s one or two teams you’re glad to avoid, certainly in some of those Pot 3s and Pot 4s, but all of the teams we play are more than capable.”
The England manager had a particularly tough experience against Slovenia during his first match as England manager. He recounted: “Slovenia was one of the first games I had as England manager and I’ll always remember that Joe Hart made a save that day that, if he doesn’t make it, I might not still be England manager!”
Southgate is looking forward to the tournament with enthusiasm and confidence. He said: “We’re hugely excited to be part of the tournament, we know the expectation at home, we’ve developed a lot as a team in the last few years. We’re used to these big games, so we’re ready for that expectation, and we hope we can give our supporters some more brilliant nights like I hope we have in the last few tournaments.”
When asked if he was pleased to avoid another home nation, Southgate replied: “Well they’re brilliant occasions, particularly for the fans, and they’re great games to play in so I was really relaxed about all of it. I guess the advantage we’ve got, having been in a few tournaments, you know the format, you know the next objective is to get out of the group, and then you try to build from there really.”
Now that the draw is complete and the teams are known, Southgate is looking forward to the next steps. He concluded: “We now have clear opportunity to study the opposition, we can look at the timing of arriving in Germany because we’ll have the date of the first game. We can now start to nail down where we stay as well. So it just gives you a lot more clarity.”
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